The past few weeks of spending the occasional hour in front of the abortion clinic as part of Forty Days for Life have been illuminating. As much for the things we witness as for the people who have shouted insults, waved with only one finger, or joined us in our vigil. What has surprised me the most is the lack of choice on the part of the girls and young women we see entering the clinic, and the broken spirits we see leaving it.
If you are pro-choice, or even a fence-straddler on the issue, I invite you to come and stand with me and see what I see from the sidewalk. Stand peacefully and bear witness to the girls who are too young to legally consent to sexual activity who are brought in by older men. These young girls, all of whom have been molested (they can't consent...remember?) and yet the police are never called. The girls are sent home for this to happen again. How is this protecting them?
Stand with me and see the young women brought by mothers and/or boyfriends who beg not to have this done to them. Hear them plead "Please don't kill my baby" and then see them a few hours later, wailing like a wounded animal. They know. They know that something precious has been taken from them. How does a doctor do elective procedures on a woman who begs him not to? Why isn't this a crime?
Come and see the strong arm tactics of these girls' loved ones who give them terrible ultimatums while standing in the parking lot. Is coercion the same as choice?
I don't think this is what you fought for, and yet it is the direct child of it. Not all the clients of this clinic seem unhappy about their decisions, but enough do that you could come any day and be assured of witnessing their pain.
Be honest about it. Be honest with yourself. If abortion is a good thing, then witness what it truly is. Come and look this horror in the face. See the pain that it brings into the lives of these abused and bullied women. Come and see the truth and then be honest with yourself about what you have seen. This is wrong. Not just for the children who are dead, but for their mothers who never wanted them to be that way. Come and stand with me.
5 comments:
What a beautiful, heartbreaking post. God bless you for doing such a brave and difficult thing. My uncle says the rosary outside PP every Saturday. I have been thinking about joining him and getting others to join, too.
I cried as I read it. I've seen those girls at the abortion mill in San Antonio. I miss being out there, but praise God there isn't an abortion mill anywhere within 2 hours of where I presently live.
Wow, timing is such a strange thing. I came over here tonight to share a link with you, because I know your stance is inline with mine on the issue of abortion, and I know you've been watching the Pres debates. You probably saw Obama's claims tonight that he did NOT vote against helping infants born from partial-birth abortion. Feel free to pass this along as you see fit:
http://www.catholic.org/video/?v=1490
Great post. If abortion is just "getting rid of some tissue" why is it "a difficult choice?" They lie and they know it.
A marvellous post. I stood in the life chain a few weeks ago outside of the hospital that does all the baby murdering in this city. Many drivers honked their approval of our quiet presence, some yelled angry viscous things that I imagine comes in no small measure from their denied pain and suppressed guilt. Some gave us "the" finger. Only three priests from the entire city stood with us. I thank God that two of them are from our parish.
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