**Warning. While this post will be considered PG by son, it deals with a book that and situations that not ALL people may agree with. While personal viewpoints are expressed, and you are welcome to your own, this is not a hate forum topic, or a place for political debate – but rather an opinion – hopefully you will form your own thoughts about an issue you may not have previously considered. **
This was an amazing book. Very honest. Very clear. Very well written.
I did found a few parts “uninteresting”, some parts quite long, and others not long enough – but that is my opinion.
Gianna Jessen http://www.giannajessen.com is a abortion survivor. Her mother at the age of 17 became pregnant, and chose to abort the baby. Of the many procedures out there, the one used was a saline abortion. The process after the “injection” did not go as planned, and in the clinic that night (after the doctor had left), her mother went into labour, and gave birth to a VERY alive baby, Gianna.
Growing up mother/daughter was not to be, and through a series of events Gianna was eventually placed in a foster home, and adopted by Diana. Life was not easy for Gianna, as she had complications due to the abortion attempt all her life (and still does).
At the age of 12, Gianna found out that she was an abortion survior. At this point she became a very big activist for pro-life campaigns, charitys, talks, debates, discussions, and law panels. She has travelled world-wide to share her story and viewpoint on the issue. Gianna is strongly pro-life, and while she has met many people who are pro-choice, and seen first hand people enter and leave abortion clinics, she still continues the fight for unborn children’s rights.
Now many people (my husband included) where shocked when I picked this book to read. I am very much pro-choice. Very much. That said, I do not believe all abortions are preformed for the “right” reason, and therefore can also be said to be pro-life in some situations (though I would not call myself a fence sitter, I have very strong and concrete beliefs). I picked it up to learn about Gianna. To read the other side. Who knew, maybe the book could change my viewpoint (it didn’t). That said, I am not upset I read it. I enjoyed it very much. And I understand, and respect the views of the people in the book. I even agree with a fair number of them.
That said, I do not believe all abortions are wrong.
And I do not believe the way people handle them is the best way either necessarily.
Part of this is due to aspects of MY life story. I was born. I was abused. I was taken from my parents. I was put in a foster home and placed for adoption. I was abused there. I was adopted. I was abused some more. When I was old enough to talk, and speak out, I was returned to foster care. Do I hate my life? No. I am glad for it (well, most of it, obviously not the abuse). However it is my life, and I am thankful for it and thankful I was not aborted due to being unwanted, and my parents not being able to financially support me. However the life I have lifed I would not wish on any child at all. Many people would take their own life in the same situation. And that is not a positive experience for anyone either. And not all adoptions are rosy (like mine shows), and not all children are adopted. Some remain in the foster care system forever. Made to feel by MANY people as unwanted. Unloved. A nuisance. That is not fair to a child either. And many of these children turn to self-harming behaviours because of this. Many of them girls. And that is an unfair burden to place on OUR children.
Even a child who is not placed in “the system” but is constantly abused and/or made to feel inadequate in their biological family can have many of the same problems above. Again, that is not fair.
A family that truely cannot afford a child – not all governments give aid to people in need. And many of the ones that do (as well as organizations designed to aid these people, families, and children) have strict guidelines of qualification. Many cannot help anyone. What happens to these children? Malnurishment, health problems, and so much more. Is this a life to force on to a person?
What about the ones we know are going to be really sick? Suffer awful disabilities. I know Gianna had Cerebral Palsy, a generally mild form, but I mean the ones that are more disabled. The ones that will never walk/run/talk/play/see/hear. The ones that will forever have the capabilities of a newborn? The ones that will never know what life is, but be trapped in a body forever, almost like a prison cell?
As I write these situations, I can think about the arguements and the examples, and debates on why these people shouldn’t be aborted, but it is wrong to terminate a life, even in these examples. But like I said, I am pro-choice. Not pro-life, and not necessarily pro-abortion (pro-death would be the opposite of pro-life, and I am not that either). I think it should be a choice.
Do I think a woman should be able to abort in the third trimester, definately not.
Because the child is the wrong gender? Definately not.
Because they changed their mind? No.
For pure reasons of self interest on either “parents” part? No.
In the case of minors, should the child be able to make the desision all on their own? No. If a family member is willing, and able, to care for the child (and legally adopt), that should be the FIRST option.
I don’t think abortion EVER should be the first option. Or the second. Or third. It should be the last option. When the rest don’t make sense.
Think about this, for a second.
A doctors oath is to do no harm. And if harm is necessary, to do as little as possible.
In this situation, all parties should be considered.
To abort, is to cause deffinate harm to the fetus. It also causes harm to the mother, and the extended family. Harm that is always there, in the back of the mind, ready to hurt like the day it happened.
However, to not abort can also cause so much harm. I will give to examples.
In the unwanted child.
To the child, who is constantly made aware of the fact that they are unwanted.
To the parent who feels jealously, contempt, or a number of other feelings to wards the child.
To every one who feels guilt for what others are suffering. Family members, friends, everyone.
To the government and citizens who need to help this child/family in crisis.
To the sick, severly disables child.
To the child, constant doctor appointments. Lack of friends. Lack of normal childhood experiences. Lack of normalcy. Emotional, physical, social pain, loss, and anger at the situation.
To the family. The financial hardship. Paying for the treatments, being at the treatments, the pure costs.
Also the hidden costs, lost wages, lost support as others find it too much to deal with. The emotional pain of seeing the child in pain, in constant doctors appointments, not being like their other children, like the other children outside.
And so much more.
While neither situation is all inclusive, it is just meant to start on the though process for anyone who reads this.
And like I said, should late term abortions be preformed. No. Personally even abortions at 13 weeks are too late (unless it is a medical circumstance such as the date where test results are available etc, but personal choice decisions should be well before the 13 week mark!)
Are all the methods used appropriate? No.
The methods used the further the pregnancy is along is absolutely rediculous (in my opinion).
Saline abortions (Did you know this method was INVENTED in Nazi concentration camps…. so wrong).
Intracardiac abortions (like a saline, but injected right into the heart)
Hysterotomies
“partial birth”
And many others.
The fact that I find most disturbing with late term abortions is what can happen when the baby is born alive. Many doctors, and/or nurses, will finish the procedure outside the womb. There are methods used – typically before 32 weeks gestation, where the child is actually born, however the child is considered premature, and at that age can RARELY survive without medical assistance, and there is denied all care, and left to die on their own.
In closing, I will share a couple links, not all are child-friendly, or approprate.
http://www.nonprofitpages.com/mcfl/abtypes.htm (NOT childfriendly, and VER descriptive)
http://www.abbyjohnson.org/ (a woman who worked up the ladder in Planned Parenthood, and then left, and became STRONGLY pro-life – I have ordered her book to read as well)
http://prochoice.com/
http://www.giannajessen.com/main/octoberbaby.html
http://www.giannajessen.com
http://www.morgentaler.ca (the Abortion clinics in Canada, and more information)
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/
raisingpositivekids 