45 million and counting...

Back when I was a young and somewhat confused Freshman in College I began to wonder if I really was a Republican.  I signed up for the Hope Democrats.  I attended meetings.  I began to grow horns and a tail...OK not really :)  But that would be interesting.

This all carried on for several months - then I stumbled on an article about abortion - and I remembered.  That was why I got involved in politics in the first place.  And it was still by far and away the most important issue facing lawmakers and voters.

"What?" you say, (especially you 'tea party folk') "How could that be more important than the crushing national debt or two unjust and expensive wars?!  How could that be more important than high unemployment?!"

Lets set aside for one moment the reality that killing off thousands of Americans a day is hardly a recipe for economic growth.  Lets set aside the Biblical arguments that state very clearly that killing is wrong.

And lets go back to a bus trip sometime in my high school days.  At that time I was a bit outspoken and sometimes too harsh - and on this day I was in all my glory, loudly proclaiming the evils of abortion.  One girl, whose name I cannot remember, became quickly angry -
"You don't even know what you are talking about" she yelled.
"Oh don't I - abortion is murder."
"Sometimes people don't have any other choice, like my sister." Silence. "She is only 23 and in college, a baby would have ruined her life."  By this time the tears were streaming down her cheeks.  Longer pause ...

And then:  "And how do you think I feel - I never got to meet my little niece or nephew".

At the time we were all too young to recognize the weight of her words.  Here she was - trying to defend her sisters actions, probably because she loved her and didn't want to think of her as "murdering" anyone.  But her final statement revealed that deep down she knew it was wrong, and she was grieving not a group of cells, not a medical procedure, but a person.

Lets stop trying to justify the actions of the women around us who have made an incredibly painful choice and had to pretend that it was OK and lets just say what we all know to be true.  This is wrong.  It is wrong and it is having very very negative consequences.  Will it be hard to cope with the thousands of "inconvenient" children that otherwise would have been killed.  Maybe.  But I bet if you asked the sister of the girl from the bus - I would bet every penny I have, she would say it would be worth it.


(BTW - for those interested - the moment I read that article I sold my soul to the Grand Old Party - I taped it to the wall of my dorm room with bright red letters written across the top "This is why you are a republican, this is why you do what you do"  And to this day - it is)