When abortion is not a choice

Charles Reichley
Published: June 18, 2008

I oppose abortion, because taking the innocent life of an unborn child is wrong, and inconsistent with the respect for life embodied in the foundations of our country. One look at an ultrasound reveals the
human qualities of the unborn. I was reminded of this when I saw the fetuses with their tiny hands and feet presented at the recent “Bodies” exhibit crossing the country.

But news stories reveal other disturbing aspects of the culture of abortion, that should give even pro-choice advocates pause to reflect on the dangers of encouraging infanticide as a lifestyle choice.

In the spring of 2007, a 16-year-old girl got pregnant with her 16-year-old boyfriend. It seems the girl decided she’d have the baby.  But Cindi Cook, the mother of the boy, had other ideas. Cindi thought
having a child would interfere with her son’s plans for college. So, she pressured the girl into having an abortion. 

Now, Georgia has a parental consent law, which some pro-choice advocates oppose as unnecessarily restrictive. So Cindi pretended to be the girl’s mother, and paid for the girl’s abortion at the Northside
Women’s Clinic in Chamblee, Georgia. Cindi is now serving a year in prison, and the girl is coping with the loss of the child she wanted.

If abortion was illegal, there would be little chance a woman like Cindi could force a girl to get an abortion or find a doctor to perform the procedure. But some women are pressured into having abortions by
their own parents, the fathers and their friends and peers — pressure that exists at least partly because the procedure is legal, acceptable, and even encouraged.

Manon Jones was an 18-year-old girl living in England with her Muslim boyfriend Naeem Muzzafar. She got pregnant, and was looking forward to having the child. But an out-of-marriage birth would “bring
shame” to her boyfriend’s parents, because of their faith. It was an agonizing decision, but in the end her love for Naeem, and fear of losing him, drove her to an abortion in June of 2005.

Two weeks later, she was dead of complications from the procedure, a victim of her choice to kill her child and the pressure of the acceptability and legality of the procedure. We talk about the “woman’s
right to choose,” but some women don’t really get much of a choice.

In other areas, our laws recognize the problem of women, and especially younger girls, being pressured into actions against their best judgment. We have statutory rape laws because we know that older
men can talk younger girls into sex that isn’t “consensual” — but we then allow those men to talk those same girls into abortion. And places like Planned Parenthood are alleged to have protected some
men by hiding records and violating reporting procedures.

And we have support groups for women in abusive relationships. But if those same women show up for an abortion, we assume they have “chosen” when it’s just as likely the same abusive man who has
violated the woman has forced her to “choose” to take the life of her child.

Now, the fact that some women are forced or coerced into abortions is not by itself a reason to ban abortions. But most pro-choice advocates claim they oppose abortion and wish nobody ever needed
one. So when women are having abortions against their will, or their better judgment, you would think we could at least agree to enact laws to help protect women from this pressure. Like strengthened
parental notification laws, counseling to ensure women are making a free choice and informed consent laws.

But instead, the big push is for something called the “Freedom of Choice Act” — a law that will eliminate every single state and federal law currently regulating abortion, including parental notification,
counseling, and informed consent laws, as well as the law against partial birth abortions.

Barack Obama supports FOCA, which isn’t surprising because as a state legislator, he even opposed a law to protect already born babies from being killed.  He argued that even though the baby was
alive and breathing, it still couldn’t be a “person” because the mother wanted the baby dead.

Gianna Jessen is one such baby.  Her mother had a saline abortion 31 years ago, but the procedure “failed,” and she was born alive. Fortunately, her abortionist wasn’t in the room, and the nurse called
an ambulance. She won’t be voting for Obama. 

Charles Reichley has been a Prince William County resident since 1981. He can be reached at critically .