Saturday, August 19, 2006

"I do not regret my abortion"

Janet Morana is one of the founders of the Silent No More Campaign. She has spoken about how to respond to the counter-move by the pro-choice of putting forward women who had abortions and don't experience the regret that is expressed by the women participating in her campaign.

Associate Director, Priests for LifeCo-Founder, Silent No More Awareness Campaign
More and more women, as part of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, hold signs at public events saying "I regret my abortion." The pro-abortion side, in response to this effort, is trying to give visibility to women who say, "I had an abortion and I don't regret it at all."
Fine, but that only proves our point, not theirs. If the pro-abortion side wants to counter what we are doing, let them gather groups of women nationwide holding signs saying, "I regret my child."
Here's the point. We are saying abortion is hurtful, and they are saying childbirth is hurtful. This is precisely one of the arguments in
Roe vs. Wade for permitting abortion. The Court said, "Maternity, or additional offspring, may force upon the woman a distressful life and future. Psychological harm may be imminent. Mental and physical health may be taxed by child care. There is also the distress, for all concerned, associated with the unwanted child, and there is the problem of bringing a child into a family already unable, psychologically and otherwise, to care for it" (Roe, at 153).
The alternative experience to killing an unborn child is giving birth to that child -- not killing the child and then saying it was OK. The point of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign is that what the other side defends and promotes (that is, abortion) has a negative side that is being hidden and denied. To round up a group of women to continue denying it only proves our point, not theirs. The denial, in other words, continues, and most of the women who now hold "I Regret my Abortion" signs once said that their abortion caused them no problem at all.
If the other side really wants to try to mount a counter-campaign, they need to do what we have done, namely, take what we promote and show the negative side of it. We promote childbirth. The true reverse of our campaign would be to have women publicly come out and say, "I regret my child."
The Silent No More Awareness Campaign (
www.SilentNoMoreAwareness.org) is gaining momentum very quickly.

As shocking as this may be I read at a feminist-oriented site recently where a woman who has publicly spoke about her abortion and her pro-choice convictions actually put forth the idea of pro-choice women and feminists who wished they had not become mothers should stand on the street and hold signs announcing to the world that they felt regret over the birth of their child. It's unspeakable to me but I believe that we can't forget that those views do exist and they do represent a certain percentage of people that we are communicating with.

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