Abortion: For Me It's Personal

Hi~Lori here again. This is my last guest post for Angie.  She will be home Wednesday and plans to start blogging again as soon as she unpacks, takes out the garbage, and cleans the kitty litter box. I've enjoyed visiting with you and hope you'll come see me over at Life, Love, and Laughter in a Large Family.   

I am a substitute teacher at our local middle school and high school. While subbing the other day, after we'd finished the lesson, one of the classes talked about the different speech topics they'd had that year.  The students debated many issues: Should college athletes get paid? Are casinos good for states? Is the death penalty a good thing. The kids debated each issue from their personal point of view and experiences. I contributed here and there, but mainly listened. You can learn a lot in a high school classroom.

The kids were passionate about the topics and loud~because apparently the louder you talk...the more right you are. The kids exhausted the topics they had and cast around for a new topic to discuss. They landed on abortion. The usual arguments came up about what if the woman is a rape victim or her life is in danger. They talked around and around, with sadly the general consensus being that abortion should remain legal.

On this issue, I put in my two cents; not overtly, but as they made statements...I countered~What about women who get pregnant from being raped? While this scenario is sad and tragic, the number of women who get pregnant from rape are small and the percentage of abortions for this reason is very small. What about when a woman's health is in danger? Again, this is only a small percentage of the number of abortions performed each year.

As I talked, the kids recognized that this might be important to me. They commented that I had done a little research and that opened the door for me to share why this topic is personal to me.

In 1969, a young woman attended college. She was only 20 years old when she became pregnant. She wasn't married and the boy~man responsible for her condition was also a college student whom she didn't love and didn't want to marry. She kept her pregnancy a secret for 8 months before telling her family over Thanksgiving break. The young woman gave her baby up for adoption in December of 1969...and I am very grateful...since I am that baby.

Just four short years later, she would have had another option: one she wouldn't have had to share with her boyfriend or her family and no one would have been the wiser. No one would have known that a baby girl had been there and then was not. My parents, the ones who raised me, would not have been able to adopt a baby so quickly after trying for seven years to have children.

For me, the issue of abortion is personal.

For my parents, the issue is personal.

For my birth mother, the issue is personal.

For my kids, the issue is personal.

I also personally know several women who have had an abortion. For them, the abortion is issue is personal~there is much that is not stated about the consequences of abortion...the long lasting emotional trauma along with physical side effects an abortion can cause.

After I told my story, the classroom was silent. The students who moments before had boisterously stated their opinions on everything were reluctant to say anything. It is very easy to talk philosophically about an issue, but when it gets personal...when someone you know and love has been personally affected by an issue you choose your words more deliberately...more carefully.

I am personally thankful that when I was the baby in an unwanted pregnancy abortion was NOT legalized. I am also thankful that I had an opportunity to share my story with the young people in my children's class so that the next time they talk about issues they realize that people are directly affected.

Thanking God daily that I was allowed to live, love, and laugh,