SINCE when did abortion, the killing of nascent human life, become a point of pride? Women don't exactly party in the streets following an abortion, but this month, a campaign in Ms. Magazine has initiated an effort to shed the stigma associated with abortion and, it seems, to celebrate it. In 1972, women signed a petition saying "We Had Abortions" to give a public face to the procedure. Today the same petition has resurfaced to keep abortion law out of the hands of pro-life politicians and activists. In 1972 and in 2006 women signed on to "save lives, to spare other women the pain of socially imposed guilt and to repeal archaic and inhuman [anti-abortion] laws."
This tactic takes a radical approach. Instead of positing the usual "Safe, legal and rare" dogma, it seems that these women want to say, "As long as it is legal and safe, who cares how often it happens. In fact, let's promote its occurrence." 30 million abortions are not enough. Sadly, this tactic fundamentally denies the reality of abortion.
The petition is supposed to "speak truth to power." I am stunned by the irony. Just to clarify: The body parts of a dead fetus are not glamorous, a 14-year-old in an abortion clinic is not an image of the triumph of women's rights and a petition signed by women to convince the world that abortion is a source of pride is not truth.
Stunningly, the same activists who hope to "speak truth to power" on the abortion issue are also likely to criticize and protest American involvement in the Middle East. They raise money for Darfur and donate their resources to AIDS research. They appeal to the "human cost" of war and decry the violence that often racks this broken world. It is clear that they value human life in its many sundry forms and personalities -- except, of course, when it comes to the (very) human life found in a uterus.
Ms. Magazine recognizes that some women who have had abortions will not be able to sign the petition and publicly admit to an abortion. They attribute this to the social stigma and guilt, followed by a life of silence, that surrounds abortion. Ms. Magazine and abortion supporters don't see any possibility that women often recognize after the fact that an abortion kills a human life and subsequently suffer from regret. Disavowing the trauma, deception and powerlessness that abortion really offers is not healthy or a sound way to address post-abortion women or American policy makers.
The truth is that many women do regret their abortions. According to afterabortion.com, a website dedicated to cultivating awareness about Post Abortion Stress Syndrome, women have a variety of symptoms ranging from self-harm, depression, "inability to perform normal self-care activities," the "inability to take care of or relate to her existing children or function normally in their other relationships" and a "desire to get pregnant again immediately and 'replace' the baby that was aborted." This admission comes from a group that, at the end of the day, makes no judgments about whether or not women should have abortions.
An alternative campaign called Silent No More also bears witness to the emotional and physical scars in the aftermath of abortion. This campaign seeks to help broken women who regret their abortions. In the same way, Silent No More helps to alleviate the shame and guilt associated with abortion, but it seeks to do so by realizing that the pain is real and that a hard heart will never help alleviate sorrow.
In another website, Caroly Gargaro compiled the testimonials of over 50 women who gave their heart-wrenching stories about the naivety, immaturity, selfishness and deception involved in their abortions. Those are their own descriptions. Many said they posted their story in hopes that they might prevent others from choosing their path. One woman said, "I tried for months to hide my pain [by] feeding myself on the feminist dogma that has been so trumpeted in this society. I had exercised my choice. I had made myself independent of a 'problem pregnancy.'" At the end of the article she poignantly said, "The baby you rid yourself of is so light in comparison to the stone you will carry in your heart." If that is not real, I do not know what is.
A woman's right to choose starts with many choices about lifestyle and responsibility; before and after a woman chooses to have an abortion she should be met with reality, not with political ideology. The abortion debate will not see the light of truth until partisans of the issue realize that there are lasting and severe consequences related to the taking of human life.
Christa Byker's column appears Tuesdays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at cbyker@cavalierdaily.com.
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