Once upon a time, I was a liberal feminist.
Like so many other young women, I was a product of my societal environment. As such, I was a firm believer in abortion. After all, why should a woman be imprisoned by an unwanted fetus for nine months? How awful. How terrible.
Fast forward to my first pregnancy. I was a little older than most women for that milestone of life – 33 – and my husband and I were ready to start a family. When it came time for my first prenatal exam, the nurse proceeded to fill in my chart. She asked me about getting an ultrasound to determine the baby’s gestational age as well as to determine any kinds of “issues.”
“What will be your decision if the baby has Down syndrome?” asked the nurse.
With the confident arrogance of youth, I replied, “I would elect to terminate the pregnancy.” The nurse duly noted this response on my chart. At the time I remember thinking how calm and mature my reply sounded.
That was then. This is now.
By the time our second baby was expected, my response to the nurse’s question had changed. It’s also worth noting I was then 35, the medical “tipping point” for increased chances of Down syndrome. But we decided that if “issues” happened, we would handle them. That’s because, having felt the lively movement of an unborn child through the joyous months of my first pregnancy, as well witnessing the wonders of a growing toddler, I knew I could never kill my baby.
My liberal mindset was slipping away.
Fast forward to 2009, when I attended a regional homeschooling conference. I saw a high number of Down kids, a phenomenon that puzzled me until I realized – duh – here was a segment of the population with the strength and integrity not to abort a baby with “issues.”
At that conference I witnessed a seemingly trivial incident. There was a little girl with Down syndrome, probably 4 years old. Her father, who was talking with another man, reached down and picked her up. They exchanged a lot of face-patting in what was clearly a ritual. Then the father handed the little girl over to the man he’d been talking to. The man had a beard (the father did not) and the little girl was fascinated by his facial hair. In a modification of the game, she patted the man’s face to feel his beard, smiling all the time. The father was smiling. The friend was smiling. The combined love was so tangible it rolled across the room in a wave and smacked me where I stood, riveted.
That flippant, arrogant, evil response I gave the nurse 20 years ago has haunted me ever since. How could I have ever thought such a thing? If the mere verbalizing of my intent to kill a baby with “issues” was enough to linger in my soul for two decades, how much worse would it have been if I’d followed through? The mental agony would be unspeakable.
Now step back for a moment to consider how children grow up in our progressive culture. From the age of 5 (or even earlier), they’re told sex is no big deal and has no consequences. If it feels good, go for it. Of course if any “issues” arise, it’s still no big deal. After all, girls have “choices” (except, apparently, the choice to keep their knees together), and abortions are simple, easy and free. Girls are told it’s “empowering” to rid their bodies of those unwanted clusters of cells.
So, duly steeped in progressive logic, girls allow their boyfriends free access to their bodies, then make an annual pilgrimage to Planned Parenthood to take care of their issues. After the emotionless, clinical procedure is done (often without parental consent), girls are congratulated on their initiation into the mysteries of feminism and encouraged to repeat the cycle. I knew someone who darkened the door of Planned Parenthood three times before she was 25. Remember, it’s no big deal!
All the while, Planned Parenthood painted itself as the salvation of girls and women with “issues.” They’re there to help, to rescue, to set girls back on the track of their normal lives without the inconvenience of consequences for their behavior.
But now a darker side emerges.
For decades, feminists suppressed any hint of “issues” resulting from abortions. Everything from breast cancer to mental breakdowns were seen as coincidental and unrelated.
Now we learn the heroes at Planned Parenthood, far from performing the sanitary, sterile, emotionless procedures they would like us to believe about abortion, have been shown in a series of devastating videos to be little more than brutal chop shops for human parts, where still-living babies have their beating hearts ripped from their chests. All for profit.
Had I followed through on my flippant remark to the nurse 20 years ago and aborted my “issue” for whatever reason, I can’t even begin to fathom my anguish at knowing my baby had been chopped up and sold like meat. No wonder Planned Parenthood kept that little profit enhancement a secret for so long.
Up to this point, I understood why women chose abortions. Unless you’ve grown up steeped in progressive feminist ideology, it’s hard to comprehend how much ignorance abounds on the realities of abortion. Women are told their entire lives it’s “no big deal” to get rid of those cells and not to bother their silly heads about the details. Decades of feminist brainwashing convinced women they shouldn’t have to “interrupt” their (pick one) schooling / career / unmarried relationship / slim figure / single way of life in order to face the consequences of their behavior.
Even now, the mainstream media have desperately downplayed the realities of what happens behind closed doors of abortion clinics. Planned Parenthood is in full damage-control mode, lying through its collective teeth and accusing those untrustworthy blabbermouths of cutting and splicing videos, altering content, or taking everything out of context. But it’s not working any longer. The clinical sterile sheet of ignorance has been ripped away.
I hope and pray girls and women will understand that they, and they alone, control their bodies. The core issue around the entire abortion industry is the belief that women simply cannot control themselves sexually. Or, more specifically, it revolves around the belief that women should not have to control themselves. (By the way, according to the Guttmacher Institute – which, I’ll take pains to point out, is extremely pro-choice – in 2004 less than half a percent of abortions were due to incest and 1 percent due to rape.)
Avoiding pregnancy is the easiest, most foolproof thing in the world, but feminists have convinced untold millions of women they can’t do it. Ladies, it’s up to you to take responsibility for your bodies. Unless you want the stain of guilt upon your soul, keep your knees together until you’re married and put Planned Parenthood out of business.
Media wishing to interview Patrice Lewis, please contact [email protected].
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