Tag: Reproductive Services

Clergy Acting On Conscience

The news has been dominated by reactions to the decision by the Arizona Supreme Court to permit the enforcement of an 1864 law that is currently interpreted as a ban on all abortions except to save the mother’s life. Arizona’s Supreme Court recently ruled that a law written in 1864, which is a total abortion ban, and was written more than 50 years before women were even granted the right to vote, is now a law again. The law originated during the Civil War and before Arizona even became a state.

Activism for legal abortion came from a coalition of Christian ministers and conscientious doctors, because women in abusive relationships must be able to determine their own fate and end pregnancies that are not in their own best interest, or that of children that they may already have, or may want to have in the future. Making abortion illegal, practically guarantees an increase in child abuse; taking care of children is hard, physically and emotionally. It is not natural for women and too many women act from their own frustration harshly with their own children. These facts are hard to face, but every person who deals with abused women and children knows this.

Since these are uncertain days for women, it can be helpful to remember how progressive faith leaders boldly responded to bans on abortion just before Roe. Clergy acted on conscience to defy abortion bans through a network called the LINK>Clergy Consultation Service (CCS). Some women who used CCS were married with up to five children. Some had become pregnant in abusive marriages. Others were unmarried students in a time when sexuality was taboo and single motherhood unacceptable.  

They were horrified at the way laws in all 50 states limited women’s freedom and left only dangerous options for ending a pregnancy — brutal back-alley abortions or self-harm to induce miscarriage. These faith leaders shared a core belief: Care for people in need took precedence over obeying what they considered unjust laws.

I will admit that I once had an abortion back in the early 1970s after it became legal. I went to a well-run Reproductive Services clinic in El Paso Texas that included some counseling. My partner made it clear he would not be there to support a child with me and left the decision about what to do to me. He didn’t go with me to the clinic nor was he there with me in the scary hours that evening, when I was bleeding and didn’t know if it was normal. I was totally alone. Still, I was glad to have a safe choice and I haven’t regretted doing it. I have been disturbed by pro-life propaganda but never for long. I do hope as a society we are not determined to go back to the bad old days but only time will tell what the near future trajectory will be.

Abortion Prevents Adoptions

I once had an abortion. The timing of my pregnancy was all wrong (and significant drug use was taking place), the father to be all wrong (not interested), the progression of the pregnancy was all wrong (see drug use above) as breakthrough bleeding was occurring. My sister-in-law gave birth to a son with severe birth defects. While I cannot know if her desperate attempts to hide her high school, out of wedlock, pregnancy played a role, it could have. I know when my first husband discovered I was pregnant at a time when he had an active case of hepatitis (most likely also drug related) he feared our child would be compromised. I stuck with that pregnancy and she is as close to perfect as any of us are (we do all have our individual health related challenges in life).

So, I was grateful for the ability to have a safe and clean, medically provided, mental health counseling included before the procedure, abortion at Reproductive Services in El Paso Texas in the mid-1970s. Honestly, it has haunted me. Not because I think it was the wrong decision but because abortion is such a contentious issue. For a long time, I didn’t tell anyone I had had one.

I am old enough now that whether abortion was outlawed or not, it would not affect me personally. I am wise enough to think, instead of trying to control women’s bodies, men could choose to control their own. For one by not promiscuously pursuing sex. Young men could be given vasectomies that are reversible when they become mature enough to be responsible as fathers. That’s a winning option in my perspective.

I loved the passion in Paxton Smith’s speech because I see my own self when I was that age. I have always been an outspoken person. I loved to debate the boys in my Algebra class in high school (I also had a coach for Geometry class who made it more understandable). I gave impassioned speeches at pep rallies on occasion. I am still outspoken as anyone who follows my Facebook page surely knows. Paxton has said the most meaningful reactions to her speech have come from concerned fathers who fear for their own daughters’ futures.

Paxton Smith had pre-written a speech on how TV and media have shaped her worldview, which had been approved by school administrators. But when it came time to address the graduating class of Lake Highlands high, she switched course. Her nervous emotions are plain to see before they reach that level of impassioned anger. I recognize how that feels.

Texas’s new “heartbeat” measure ranks among the most extreme abortion bans in the US, blocking the procedure as early as six weeks into a pregnancy – before many women and girls even know they’re pregnant. The bill, due to come into force in September, doesn’t include exceptions for rape or incest and allows private citizens to enforce its provisions through what could be a torrent of expensive and time-consuming lawsuits.

Abortion or Pro-Life issues are the hot button for evangelical Christians. It is not lost on me, what the Salvation Army in El Paso Texas told me when I was researching my dad’s adoption through them – they had to close down their homes for unwed mothers (a method of channeling infants to prospective adoptive parents) after Roe v Wade passed because there were simply not enough clients to keep the enterprise going. Another factor is the societal acceptance of single mothers – I know more than one who is doing a fantastic job raising their children – both genders included in this number. I don’t know if the Salvation Army took “donations” from prospective adoptive parents in exchange for infants but it would not surprise me if they did. Adoption is a lucrative business at any level of charitable intent.

Evangelical Christians are very interested in taking heathen babies and converting them to the faith. True, it may simply be emotional, adorable baby feelings that they think causes them to be against abortion and Pro-Life. However, just like Mitch McConnell’s nefarious agenda for our government’s institutions, the powers that be in the Christian hierarchy seek to increase the number of the faithful in part through adoption.