While I believe that the illegality of abortion would make a positive impact in reducing the number of pregnancies, I still maintain that more focus should be given to the promotion of contraceptives, both in their usage and their availability. While abstinence can and should be offered as the most effective method in avoiding an unwanted pregnancy, the reality is that this is not a feasible option in our current culture. There is no dearth of contraceptive products available and people’s reluctance to avail themselves of them may have arisen due to using abortion as a post hoc contraceptive. Removing that option as a legal alternative should increase preventative measures. I fully acknowledge there is a concern in offering free or low-cost contraceptives, especially to young people; however, in this case, the benefits of increased contraceptive use would far outweigh the dangers of not using them. How could it be wrong to fight to prevent pregnancies, rather than terminating them.
Of course, none of you (or I) seek to control women’s bodies. Throughout modern history, more force has been used to terminate pregnancies than to “force” babies to be born. Communist China, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union all used forced abortions to reduce the population of those they deemed to be undesirables. Even in our current society, white supremacists like the Ku Klux Klan cheer on Planned Parenthood in New York, where the black population is shrinking because more babies are being aborted than being born. It’s well established that Planned Parenthood targets poor and ethnic communities for their clinics and as you all know, their founder, Margaret Sanger, was an unabashed racist, a guest speaker at KKK gatherings and an avowed believer in eugenics.
Rapists love abortion because it gets rid of the DNA evidence. Pimps love abortion because it keeps their prostitutes working and making them money. Child abusers love abortion because a pregnant girl, especially a daughter or a niece, are difficult to hide and so their abuses can remain secret. These are the most pro-abortion people out there. Most men (or to be more apt, boys) love abortion as well. I believe that far from being empowering, abortion is the ultimate concession to the patriarchy. I’m not sure where this notion of the patriarchy trying to force women into giving birth perpetuates itself outside of a fictional novel by Margaret Attwood, or since the 19th century or in religious enclaves. The fact is, outside of these narrow environs, men are not forcing women to give birth. However, the reality is that abortions, while being sold as somehow empowering women, actually reinforce the strictures of a male dominated society in which women must sacrifice their bodies and their babies to conform and to succeed. What are some of the common reasons for abortion? Finishing school, getting a job, succeeding at a career – the prevailing message is that you can’t do those things if you are pregnant or even worse, a mother. What an ignominious message to women. The message is that women are too weak to bear the burden, and somehow the answer hasn’t been to remove those barriers or to change the narrative, but to surrender to them.
The fact is, and I know this statement originated with one of you, but I love the line, “I don’t care what you do with your bodies, you can set your uterus on fire for all I care, just don’t kill another human being.” In the eyes of the pro-abortion movement, bodily autonomy, like the concept of “choice” seems to be limited only to abortion. Bodily autonomy is not a consideration if a woman is planning to self harm. We would do everything in our power to stop a woman from committing suicide, or willfully drinking poison, or mutilating herself; “her body, her choice” is not an option to consider when she is bringing harm to herself. We do not think it is OK to watch someone suffer through drug addiction as a means of self-care. Abortion, with all the health factors to the mother – both physical, emotional, and spiritual can and should be viewed in the same light as the points listed above and obviously avoided at all costs.
Finally, my last thought is that motherhood, especially a temporary state of motherhood, should be celebrated. I think beyond the death of the unborn, the greatest injury done to women by those who suggest that by killing their children, they are being strong. Abortion as a solution is insulting and demeaning to women. It tells them that they are not strong enough to deal with giving birth and taking the easy way out is the best way to go. What a slap in the face.
To me, when a woman is faced with an unwanted pregnancy and yet carries the child through to birth is committing an act of heroism. The more terrible the circumstances (rape, incest, etc.) the more those mothers should be acknowledged for their selflessness and their strength. They are the reason that I maintain that pound for pound, mothers are the most powerful beings alive. To those that overcome, they are superheroes.
And you all are too. History remembers the brave, the ones that fought against oppression and cruelty and brutality. You are pro-life and truly pro-woman. Your faith in women and belief that they can endure motherhood, whether it is for a matter of months or years, is truly empowering. Your efforts are truly amazing – you are all such a gift to the world.
All the best to you and yours.

For the record, I have not received a reply. That’s OK, because I never really expected one. I think I just needed to get it out of my system. I hate the idea of punishing women who have had an abortion. I think that they have suffered enough. Despite the misleading words of reassurance, the lies they are told, and the insufficient treatment of post-abortive women, what we are doing right now is not enough. If we believe that we act from a place of love, then we must do more.

Thanks for reading…