Are They Willing?

I have been mulling over my thoughts on the topic of abortion rights in the United States. I was never in the forefront of the fight to gain this right, but I silently cheered on my sisters who worked towards this gain for a woman’s control of her own body, and therefore her ability to lead her life as she wanted.

There are many reasons a woman might choose to not become a mother. And those reasons may vary greatly at different stages of her life. Some remain constant throughout the years she is fertile. I strongly feel that if a woman does not want to bear a child, she shouldn’t have to.

How many unwanted children are born each year? How many of those unwanted children are abused and/or killed each year? How many children are born with birth defects and suffer because of the defects? (The abuse or suffering might be either physical or emotional, or both.) How many mothers of these children also suffer along with their child? How many young unmarried women suffer through the scorn of those who pass judgement on them for having committed the act that caused the pregnancy?

It’s easy to say they shouldn’t have engaged in that act. It’s easy to say they should know what causes pregnancy. Here’s a fact: no birth control method devised by man is 100 percent effective. Even the Pill, touted as being one of the most effective, fails 5 percent of the time. I’ve heard a woman remark, “They enjoyed themselves. Now they can pay the price,” as though loving another should come with a punishment, or as though having a baby is the expected price for sharing love with another. And why are the men involved with this act not deemed equally guilty? Where’s the price they pay?

It’s a very expensive proposition to bring a man to court to prove he’s the father and must pay child support for the child he fathered. And it can be an ongoing expense to get them to pay more as their income increases. We know the cost of raising a child keeps growing as the child grows. Some men refuse to work harder or earn more just because they’ll have to pay more child support. Some women won’t name the father because they don’t want that man (who has shirked his responsibility) to then have a legal right to have a role in that child’s life.

Not every child conceived is wanted, nor are they all loved. I’ve heard pro-lifers claim that all life is precious. These same pro-lifers bemoan the necessity of some of their tax dollars going to welfare to help support many of these same precious lives when the mother is forced onto welfare because she was unable to finish her schooling, unable to find reliable affordable day care so she can get a job, and unable to afford healthcare.

The March of Dimes tells me that 64 percent of children born to unmarried teens, who are also dropouts from high school, live in poverty. These children are also much more likely to perform poorly in school and may have to repeat a grade. They don't do well on standardized tests. Seventy-five percent of teen mothers go on welfare within five years of giving birth.

These same pro-lifers readily support our armed forces, where children (young men and women) are trained to take the precious lives of other people’s children. (Don’t get me wrong, I grew up an Air Force brat, and fully understand why we need our armed forces.) Are these pro-lifers willing to pay more in taxes to help our poor? Are they willing to help the poor improve their stations in life? Are they willing to support these women so the children can have a better life than their parents had? Are they personally helping others?