I’m sick of hearing about the “pro-life” movement. This movement is only “pro-birth.” Sister Chittister, a Benedictine nun, said it best: “I do not believe that just because you’re opposed to abortion, that makes you pro-life. “In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed. And why would I think that you don’t? Because you don’t want any tax money to go there. That’s not pro-life. That’s pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is.”
Life extends much beyond birth. Whose life is being considered here? The mother and child who die because of an ectopic pregnancy? The children and family who lose their mother because she dies in dangerous pregnancy? The horribly handicapped child and family who try to cope with little or no assistance?
What right does the government have to decide if people live or die in their private lives? Obviously the government will not provide them with the assistance they need, and it is none of the government’s business. Neither is it anyone else’s business. It is a decision that should be made between the woman and her doctor.
I am 81 years old and the mother of five daughters. I have lived in Alaska since 1967. Growing up, I well remember the days when women who were desperate had to seek an abortion from backroom butchers and often were seriously maimed or died. Going back to that is not an option.
— Catherine Bishop Herrnsteen McCarthy
Homer
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