I Don't Understand

(this is my inaugural post on this blog which should say something about my feelings on this topic)

I was listening to Minnesota Public Radio yesterday on my drive to work and heard a report on the abortion referendum in South Dakota that's coming up next week. As is to be expected, this ballot issue is very controversial with many strong feelings on both sides.

I understand that some people honestly don't believe life exists until birth and even though I think that's not True, I can understand why they don't see abortion as reprehensible as those of us who know life begins when our Creator attaches a soul to a zygote. Beyond your standard, run-of-the-mill, "lets-pretend-we're-libertarians-because-this-thing-inside-me-isn't-a-baby"- type pro-choice citizen, there's another segment of the population that is an order of magnitude more liberal. MPR had the privilege of interviewing one of these individuals.

This individual was a director of the local Planned Parenthood office (I don't recall the city in SD). She expressed her deep concern over the possible outcome of passing such a ban which, by the way, still allows for rape, incest and life of the mother exceptions as a compromise with those that believe it's OK to kill a baby if your reason is good enough (don't get me started). I can't find the quote on mpr.org but she said something to the effect that she was concerned that not enough abortions would be performed in South Dakota if this referendum passes.

Not enough abortions!?!

Think about that for a moment. That's like saying you wished that people ate less healthily and loaded up on a lot more artery-cloggers so that we could have the opportunity to perform more triple bypass surgeries. Or, maybe you wish that people got in more head-on-collisions so that we would have more opportunities to use the Jaws of Life as a demonstration of our ability to help people in need.

I would hope that even the most staunchly pro-abortion activist would see abortion as truly a last-resort option, not as something that they would want as many people as possible to experience. Every time an abortion is performed it is a sign that society has failed that woman (and the man that's partially responsible) by,

A) not giving them the moral fiber to say "no", and

B) not giving her the support she needs to feel like there are other viable choices (and yes, we pro-lifers are pro-choice as well, just with a different set of choices)