Abortion an issue of respect for sex
Letter to the Editor
I often read the columns in the Observer, and most of the time I am content with letting the writers' opinions go by without even thinking about ways to disagree. This is not one of those times. I am responding to the Inside Column that appeared on Wednesday, April 5.
I am against abortion — not because I was raised Catholic, not because I go to church on Sundays, not because I attend the University of Notre Dame — but because I firmly believe that abortion is an immoral act that is fundamentally wrong under any circumstance. Being against abortion is not a question of being Catholic; it's a question of having a human sense of morality. Implying that people who are Pro Life blindly follow some teaching set by some religion that brainwashes people is ludicrous, and frankly, that way of thinking offends me. I know people who are Pro-Life and are not Catholic. By the same token, I know people who are practicing Catholics and are Pro-Choice. Lumping Catholicism and Pro- Life together, claiming one causes the other, is inaccurate. Numerous religions find abortion unacceptable. I don't think it's a bad thing that mine happens to stand up for it.
Since when is it our choice to decide who lives and who dies? Abortion is not about a "right to choose." The choice is already made the minute two people decide to have sex. If those two individuals are not ready to deal with any and every possible consequence of their actions, whether they are 13, 23 or 43, they are simply not ready to have sex.
The author of the column claims she believes "that the rights of an unborn child should be protected," yet it is okay to kill that unborn child just because mommy and daddy didn't think things through beforehand. That is protecting no one. By claiming abortion is everyone's right, we are only encouraging people to keep having careless sex at an immature age. Thus, the cycle continues. Who cares if you get pregnant? Just have a quick, easy abortion, right? Wrong. Abortions are anything but quick and easy. The author is glossing over the countless women who go through pain and mental agony after the abortion. Years later, some women still wonder about the lives they ended — all because they, along with the fathers of these children, were not ready to accept being pregnant. I don't see how this could possibly be a good way to deal with a pregnancy. The author admits that having sex at a young age when the two people are not ready is a mistake, yet she is giving them an easy out. By making an abortion easy, we are saying it is an option. I say it is not an option, ever. Don't demand that this University consider it an option. And don't be shocked and shaken when they don't budge on the issue. They shouldn't.
The bottom line is that fighting for or against abortion is not going to solve the problem. We have to get to the heart of the issue. Don't encourage women to have abortions; encourage people to wait to have sex until they are ready to deal with all possible outcomes of it.
Mary Schreck
Sophomore, McGlinn Hall
April 5, 2000
All Viewpoint Stories for Friday, April 7, 2000
