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5/19/2009 Some Thoughts after Marching for LifeMy boyfriend said he doesn’t understand why I joined the March for Life in Ottawa every year. It’s true that I’m a busy person, and taking a day off from work to get to Ottawa is not something I would normally do, so I was thinking how should I explain this. I asked him, “If you know a baby girl is being slaughtered to death by her parents in your neighbourhood, would you call the police?” He said yes without any hesitation. “And what if the baby girl is still in her mother’s womb?” I asked. He kept silent. We both know we can do nothing in this situation. But why is it so different? I start to ponder. A baby girl 7 months old can have her life protected by law if she’s born early, but the same baby girl can be burned alive by chemicals or have her brain suctioned out (by partial-birth abortion) “legally”, as long as she’s still in her mother’s womb. Wouldn’t that just be the same baby? And yet it seems so difficult to explain to other people, because they like to define one as the fetus and the other as a human being. But a definition cannot alter a life’s value, dignity and right to live. I would simply feel the same pain to hear that a baby has been killed, no matter if she was killed in her cradle or in her mother’s womb. It would be the same pain. What is abortion? It is a procedure to “make sure a baby is not born alive”. How was a baby girl before she is aborted? She’s living and growing day after day in her mother’s womb, waiting for the day she’s born and see this world. Abortion prevents her from doing so by “having her dead” before she leaves her mother’s body. And people say it is not killing. We all passed through that stage of life, when we were so vulnerable and reliant on our mothers. But being vulnerable doesn’t mean that it is a stage when people can still decide whether we live or die. Even a twelve-year-old gets this (1). Some people believe a “fetus” is still in a very early stage of life and can be "undone" without pain, and in some poor circumstances it’s better that it never existed, both for the mother and the baby’s good. Listen to Gianna Jessen (2, 3). She’s an abortion survivor, who was born during a saline abortion when she was seven and a half months old. Can she feel no pain at seven and a half months old? She has to bear with cerebral palsy as a result of the abortion, but at least she survived it, unlike hundreds and thousands of other babies who cannot, because 99% of the abortions are “successful”. She is adopted by a loving foster mother and she is happy to be alive. She thanks God for her life everyday. I can imagine the other hundreds and thousands of babies would have too, if only they were given the chance. They are just like us. Unfortunately in Canada, in every three of us, there is a fourth person who couldn't make it alive (4). Because of abortion. What about the mother? Wouldn’t she feel painful? Imagine a teenage girl who loves her boyfriend enough to give her body to him, only to see him throwing money at her to have an abortion after she is pregnant with their baby. Imagine a college student being forced into the abortion clinic by her parents, because she’s still in school and has no money to afford the baby, and her boyfriend went to play golf while she has the abortion. Imagine a woman who wakes up on the surgery table, who thought the problem is now fixed, only to hear the nurse saying to her, “Wait, we’re still trying remove all your baby’s parts from your body…” Your baby’s parts. Imagine that… I can’t. How can I imagine having my own baby killed in my body, and delivered out dead piece by piece, by my own choice? It sounds like a nightmare. Yet hundreds and thousands of women have to live with it. Year after year, I hear painful stories from witnesses who spoke at the March for Life in Ottawa, and from people who helped these women, and I feel so sorry for them. Many people say abortion is giving the pregnant women a choice. But have those people really heard what the women want? 80% of them who had an abortion say they would not have chosen it if they have better circumstances and around 75% of them had no other choice because they cannot afford the baby (5, 6). Many of them are unmarried women, or haven’t even finished school. Do they really feel they have a choice? And have we given them enough support? Well, if abortion seems to be a quick fix to the issue, then once the abortion is completed, the issue is considered “resolved”. But is that true? Listen to the women who went through an abortion from the Silent No More campaign. Many of them suffered depression afterwards, because they know exactly what happened and they condemn themselves for it. Abortion is not a quick fix. Both the mother and the child suffered. Who is to blame? The law that legalized abortion? Look, it's more than that. Think about the 100,000 unwanted babies in Canada each year. They won’t suddenly disappear if abortion is not legalized. They can be adopted if not aborted, but why are there so many unwanted babies in the first place? Perhaps the society as a whole should be responsible? The day it starts to break the links between sex, marriage and new life, the day this problem gets out of control. Having sex is an act that can potentially bring new life into the world. This is a simple fact. People can try all kinds of methods to prevent it, so they can enjoy the pleasure of sex without bringing the result into the world. But women’s bodies speak the truth. Having sex is a reproductive act. This link is in all of us. Is there a solution? Well, abstinence is a silver bullet. But take a look at what the schools and health institutions are doing. They distribute condoms instead of emphasizing the truth about sex, pregnancies and abortions. Obama increased fundings for contraceptive-only education and decreased support for abstinence education (8). But condoms do fail and sex leads to unwanted pregnancies and unwanted pregnancies leads to abortions. This is tragic. People doesn’t want to face it though. A graduating senior at Notre Dame complained that the abortion images made her feel uncomfortable, and yet she doesn’t seem to be disturbed by abortion itself (9). True, if she doesn’t see it, she can remain comfortable, as if nothing happens. But people need to see the truth, because the truth is happening and is hurting many people. And when they see it, sooner or later they will accept it. For the first time in more than 10 years, there’re more Americans voted themselves pro-life than pro-choice, and more people than previous years turn to think this procedure should be illegal in all circumstances (10). In Canada, abortion still has no limits. But the voice against it can be heard, and will be heard. March for Life is one way to speak up. More than 10,000 Canadians did (11). I'm glad I did. Be part of this voice, and keep watching. As abortion is a true injustice and evil in this world, this voice against it will not die, but only gets stronger.     TrackbacksThe trackback URL for this entry is: http://ayylo.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!C450E6AFC9F98576!288.trak Weblogs that reference this entry
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