Is Pro-Choice Actually "Pro-Choice"?

People in support of pro-choice believe that the expecting woman should be able to choose the outcome of their pregnancy. Some may even disagree with abortions, but they still think that it is the woman’s choice. Without really bringing the baby into this article, I want to focus on the whole “choice” word. If someone is pro-choice, they should be for the option that has more of an actual choice. Is the legality of abortions the option that gives women more choice?

I’d like to start by sharing a couple personal experiences. A few years back, I tagged along with my mother who volunteered at a women’s center near Planned Parenthood. This women’s center was owned by Catholics and thus offered alternatives to abortion along with help for the women and babies, among other things. Quite often women would come in with their significant other, or relative, believing they were at Planned Parenthood. One particular girl came in with her grandparents. She was in tears. I didn’t understand why. After one of our councilors talked to her, they found out she did not want to abort her baby who she loved already so dearly, but her grandparents were forcing her. At that time, I had no kids of my own, but I still felt like sobbing alongside her. You could just see the pain in her eyes. Sadly, she felt she had no other choice and went through with it.

I went another day and had a similar experience, this time a boyfriend was forcing his girlfriend. She also wanted her baby, but the boyfriend ended up forcing her into having an abortion. These two experiences were just during a few hours with my mother, but my mom told me that it is a very regular occurrence. As statistics show, about two out of every three abortions are coerced. These poor girls will often times be given an ultimate decision: if they do not have the abortion, they will be kicked out of the house, left homeless, or their boyfriend will leave them. And if they are not being forced, they are being told lies by their parents, grandparents, significant other, and even Planned Parenthood. Girls who were considering having an abortion would come to this women’s center questioning the things Planned Parenthood told them, only to find the information and reasons were complete fallacies.

As for those "one out of the three" that are not coerced, most of them feel it is the only way to go, that there is no other option. As Frederica Mathewes-Green of Feminists for Life of America states, "No woman wants an abortion as she wants an ice cream cone or a Porsche. She wants an abortion as an animal caught in a trap wants to gnaw off its own leg." As a Christian, we should hope to give her other options than chewing off her leg. A place called St. Gerard’s Campus takes in girls who have been kicked out of their house because they chose not to go through with the abortion. St. Gerard’s houses them, feeds them and their baby, and clothes them. If the girls did not finish high school, they offer classes so that they can finish their education, and when completed, help them get into college, if that is their desire. They also have daycare for their little ones while they are in school. If the mother does not want to keep her baby, they also have their own adoption service. They do all of this for free. This place is always in a financial struggle since everything is based on donations. Instead of the government supporting places like Planned Parenthood, they should be putting their money into places like St. Gerard’s.

So as I am pro-life, I am also pro-choice. Having abortions legally, does not give women more choices but quite the opposite. Before Roe v. Wade, there were boyfriends that might have brutally killed their child in the mother’s womb, but you can still hear this happening even today with legal abortion. Roe v. Wade did not change that, but only made it easier for those less brutal people to coerce abortion on millions of women. We need to show these women love and that there are other options. We need to pray for these women and for those forcing them. But most of all, we need to stand up for the real pro-choice movement. We need to end abortion.

*St. Gerard Campus is always in need of donations and help desperately. They are a non-profit organization. If you feel the Holy Spirit guiding you to make a donation, please visit their website www.stgerardcampus.org.

Reference

The above statistic used can be found at http://www.mccl.org/forced-abortion.html.