As a woman, I understand completely the complexities of the female world. As young women, we are raised to be independent, hard-working, and confident. These qualities are essential for life. Unfortunately, they also get misconstrued. As our roles have evolved over the last century, we have fought for and won serious battles for rights that we should have had long ago. The freedom for women to vote, for example, has not even celebrated its centennial. Nonetheless, the past hundred years have produced great advancements for our gender.
Misguided Beliefs
Along the way, however, it appears that freedom and logic have split into perverse belief systems that condone and actually inspire evil. The values that once held great respect in our country are now merely laughable quotes that people lacking in faith joke about around the water cooler at work.
On Facebook, comments from pro-choice advocates portray the detachment our society has toward human life. One comment I read in regards to a pro-life post trying to teach about the beauty of abstinence, and how it protects women from the possible hard-wrenching thought of abortion, read; “Pro-lifers sex lives must suck.” It is sad that someone’s sex life takes precedent over someone’s actual LIFE – being able to draw air and walk the Earth.
Other reasons that are given in defense of abortion are incest, rape, and lack of family support. While these are all causes for great concern and should never be taken lightly, it is nonetheless NEVER the child’s fault that he or she was conceived. Many, many people are alive, and dearly loved today that are products of these atrocities. They are contributing members of society. As humans, we do not have the right to determine who lives and when they should die. All people have the right to be born, no matter how they are conceived. The only thing that comes from abortion is pain. Pain for the mother, for she has made an irreversible decision that will haunt her for the rest of her life, no matter what she tells you; and pain for the child that we now understand to be butchered, then sold for its parts like any other commodity in our country.
Reaching Out
There are organizations to help people in these situations. Catholic Charities alone has many programs to help women in a pregnancy crisis. The Diocese of Wichita, Kansas, for example, offers services for pregnant women and women who have been affected by abortion. Rachel’s House is a ministry geared toward women who need counseling after abortion. To reach out to this outstanding organization, contact mailto:toombsb@catholicdioceseofwichita.org.
Abortion is never the answer. It never is and never will be. Now that we know the truth about the where the abortionists’ real interests lie, we have an obligation to these children: to help them be born and loved. Take a stand today against Planned Parenthood. All good causes are long and hard fought, and if there is ever a cause deemed worthy enough to fight for, its the right to life.
6 thoughts on “Women Today: A Woman’s Perspective”
I must disagree. I know very well I did not have an entitlement to be born, even if I had no ill intent — because even without intent, I still nearly killed her. Giving birth is not without risk. Pregnancy itself is not without risk. In my mother’s own birth, the doctor in 1951 knew that the two bottles of castor oil he prescribed would be the only cure for what they then termed “kidney poisoning” — preeclampsia. He left the final decision up to my grandmother about whether or not to drink them and when, but recognized that the unborn child’s life is not more important than her own. Fortunately, Mom made it — both when she was born prematurely, and when she told the doctors to save me above her own life (marginal placenta previa with vasa previa, undetected until both ruptured — we both required transfusions).
We are getting better and better at keeping women alive, and babies too. But I can’t say that an unborn child’s life really should be put above the mother’s own. It would have left my older sister motherless, had things gone poorly.
I don’t feel entitled to my own life. Instead, I feel enormous gratitude. People suggesting things like not treating ectopic pregnancies until tubal rupture, just because medical science can usually keep them alive even after one, when the likelihood of a good outcome is slight and the damage left after rupture can be prevented…. it feels like a slap in the face to women like my mother, who did put their children’s lives above their own — not out of obligation, but out of selfless love.
Life is a gift. Not an entitlement.
Obviously the health of the mother is one of the most important things during pregnancy and childbirth, but if you believe your life was not more important than hers, you also need to recognize that her life was not more important than yours either. The moment you become a parent (which is generally nine months before the birth of your first child), God calls you to place the interests of your child above your own. I know that the moment my wife told me she was pregnant, I knew that all my interests came in after her needs and the needs of our child (actually my wife’s needs came before mine from the moment we were married… but we are talking about kids here). Fortunately in the modern world, fathers and mothers are rarely called to make the ultimate sacrifice for their children, but any man or woman should know that they are called to be prepared for that.
Not to sound petty, but wouldn’t those children include the ones already here, too? Fortunately I had absolutely wonderful grandparents who would gladly have raised my older sister, but I thank God that didn’t have to happen.
And believe me, I’m well aware it wasn’t just Mom that saved me — there were so many places things could have gone wrong, but it did work out. Had I put in an early appearance instead of staying two weeks after my eviction notice (heh — a lot of kids don’t even move out after college, but babies are notoriously stubborn) we would have both died. Luckily she’d been having Braxton-Hicks contractions for weeks, and hadn’t been discharged a third time yet.
But I feel like I’d be a totally ungrateful brat if I ever said my mother was “just” doing her duty.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts in this article.
You write:
“As our roles have evolved over the last century, we have fought for and
won serious battles for rights that we should have had long ago. The
freedom for women to vote, for example, has not even celebrated its
centennial. Nonetheless, the past hundred years have produced great
advancements for our gender.”
This is certainly arguable – one piece of counter-evidence being that women of the U.S. are on average less happy now than in the past. If this is truly the case, perhaps some exploration into the causes for women’s unhappiness, in spite of winning hard-fought battles for your gender, might also shed light on the reason why our society also considers it essential for women’s happiness to have ready access to abortion and contraceptives.
It is absurd for us who see abortion for the horror that it truly is to think that making it easily accessible is necessary for women’s happiness. Perhaps it is not the only thing that our society is mistaken about regarding what is essential for women’s happiness. You say that “we have fought for and won serious battles for rights that we should have had long ago.” A good question to ask seems to me to be: Whom were you fighting against to get your rights?
Karen -Fine article, good insights; but with six children and running, how do you find time to write? TV Dinners? If you wish, please share the poem at catholiclane.com, “Wonderlove” with your Rachel’s House Folks. And have a fullofwonder weekend. Thank you for writing. Guy McClung, San Antonio, Texas
Thanks for your comment. I actually wake up quite early to fit in my running. No TV dinners here, I promise! Have a lovely day and thank you for reading.