The Supreme Court, March 2016
Sometimes I get so caught up in just getting through days, trying to get as much done of the things that need to be done, that important things slip past my notice.
Like today’s Supreme Court case. TODAY’s. Involving the sanctity of human life… of unborn babies and their mothers.
Again, I’m sidetracked from intended bloggage by current events.
Thank you, Sharon Glasgow, for your FB post!
The Supreme Court will hear the most important case on abortion in 25 years, TODAY! Pray-Intercede! It is about abortion clinic’s needing to have the same standard as hospitals that do out-patient surgery. It could close most clinics! JESUS!!! #ProtectThemBoth
Life, My Right
A few years ago I wrote a blog post from my perspective of being the product of an unplanned pregnancy when Roe v. Wade gave women the legal right to kill their children as long as they did it before the children were born. I also adapted if for a Sanctity of Human Life Sunday presentation at my church.
I am…
My name is Melinda. And I am alive.
This blog didn’t just spring from nothing. At this moment you’re reading words that I wrote. This blog is full of them, full of my thoughts. You may agree with some, or many, or even none of them, but you can’t deny that they are here. If for no other reason than you are aware of my words, you know that I exist.
And you have no right to do anything to change that fact. I see no reason any of you would ever be given that right, and, with one exception, no one ever has. For several months in 1973, one young woman, still in high school, held the legal right to end my life. She had never seen me. I could not speak to her. But it was up to her whether I lived or died. A vocal segment of society told her, and the Supreme Court affirmed, that it was her right to choose. But I had no say.
As a result of a choice she had already made, I grew inside her body, completely dependent and powerless. I had no way to even speak in defense of my own right to live. But even then I was one-of-a-kind, the only me there could ever be. My unique DNA had been established when egg and sperm combined. No one else would ever have the distinct whorl of my fingerprints or the same flecks in the same shifting shades of green of my eyes. No one else could have my voice or my thoughts. But, according to the law, I was unnecessary. The Supreme Court denied the reality of my existence.
In April, my legal status changed as the next stage of my life began. Doctors and nurses began fighting for my life. Because they could see me, hear me, touch me, hold me, they were obligated to help me. I needed them. Their knowledge, experience, and equipment. I was still dependent on others for survival, but these others were now bound by their oath to do no harm. My little body fought to do what it had been doing for months, hidden from their sight – I fought to live.
Nine days later, my life outside the hospital began as I was taken home as the daughter of Nancy and Glen. I was dependent on two new people. They had waited a long time for me.
As days, months, years went by, I became less and less dependent. Eventually I became responsible to bring a unique individual into the world. His name is Jonathan. He was followed by a younger brother named Joel and a sister named Nora.
According to the law of our land, we didn’t need to be here. But we are. Life isn’t always easy or pleasant, and I haven’t always used the time with which I have been blessed in the best ways I could have, but, regardless of the law, no one should have had the right to deny me my right to live it.
Thank you, Sherry, for not terminating your pregnancy. Thank you for not terminating me.
When will we stop deifying sex and self? #sanctityofhumanlife Share on X
Imperfect but Blessed
There have been times I resented, even hated, being alive. I have regretted being born, and wished I never existed. But that doesn’t change the fact that I’m supposed to be here.
My conception may have been a mistake for one young woman and man, but it wasn’t a mistake for God.
I get frustrated by people so shortsighted and blinded by expediency that they believe abortion is merely a matter of a woman’s choice, of her autonomy over her own body.
What about MY body?
Abortion has become birth control.
Self is supreme.
We live in a society in which sex is held as a fundamental right, while life is disposable.
#abortion is not sinful. It’s self-preservation and that, my friends, is the ultimate homage to life. #StopTheSham
— Maureen Shaw (@MaureenShaw) March 2, 2016
and abortion is totally a normal thing and is a women’s right
— kanayo (@kayytoodank) March 2, 2016
“My abortion allowed me to have agency over my life.” @TheAmyBrenneman#StopTheSham
— Religious Institute (@ReligiousInst) March 2, 2016
The Delusion of Right to Choose
It makes me tired. And sad. Then there is the anger. And the nausea.
Many women are proudly stating that having an abortion was a great choice for them; they claim to have no regrets. Other women, those who speak and those who cannot, are shattered.
I searched for more Tweets about today, because I didn’t see much about such an important event in my feed. I noticed how many more posts that I found attacked attempts to protect life and adamantly claimed that taking unwanted life must be protected.
Other, more disgusting, abortion-related Tweets popped up, too.
I was going to share some… but will sum it up by saying that there were numerous Tweets along the theme of “surprising” the woman carrying your child with a trip to the abortion clinic. One “father” mentioned the name the woman had already picked out, and how he looked forward to seeing her face when they got to the clinic.
This is the opposite of autonomy over one’s body. But this is the reality of easy access to abortion. This should give proponents of abortion on demand pause. But it doesn’t. They continue to shout for what makes it so much easier for women to be forced or coerced into having an abortion. It makes it easier to wipe out evidence of child rape and child sex trafficking. You’re a minor brought here by your rapist or pimp to remove unwanted evidence of illegal sexual activity? No problem! You have the right for us to protect your abuser.
Life is a fundamental right; sex without consequences is not. #sanctityofhumanlife #beresponsible Share on X
When will we stop deifying sex and self?
Sooner or later we all suffer when life is not valued.
Amy Brenneman followed up her quote above with how her abortion gave her the ability to become a mother when she was ready. “It drives my critics nuts that I have no shame.”
Like I said, this all makes me sad.
Life “on my terms” doesn’t count as valuing life.
Sooner or later we all suffer when life is not valued. #sanctityofhumanlife Share on X
June 27, 2016 Update:
It was just announced that the Supreme Court struck down the Texas law that protected the lives of unborn babies and their mothers by mandating that abortion clinics meet basic medical safety standards. It is frightening that abortion rights proponents are more interested in quick and easy access to legal abortions in facilities that don’t meet basic health and safety standards than they are making sure women who seek abortions are physically and psychologically safe. It is an “undue burden” for women to have to go to a facility that is deemed sufficient for the performance of surgical procedures by qualified doctors with access to a higher level of medical care should something go wrong. Whatever else abortion is or is not, it is a surgical procedure. How is keeping it easier for there to be facilities run like the infamous Kermit Gosnell’s better than so called back-alley abortions? Unsafe but sanctioned.
If you appreciated Life, My Right, check out the following posts on the value of life:
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Thank you for sharing your beautiful story!! Visiting from Moments of Hope.
This is a beautiful story and I am so glad that you are here to tell it. I often feel like I have to stand up for the rights of the unborn because they can’t speak for themselves. Thank you for sharing your story! Our government needs so much prayer.
Bold post. Hearing this from an adoptees perspective is powerful. (We adopted our oldest child. )
As the mother of two adopted children, now grown, and an adopted daughter-in-law, I live daily with the consequences of a woman’s right to choose. Three young women, unmarried, unprepared, two with virtually no parental support, chose to give life to children they were told they could abort. One even managed to hide it from her parents to this day, 32 years later. All of these brave young women chose to sacrifice their “rights” for the rights of the unseen, unplanned child they carried. All have been able to remain in contact with the children they birthed. All have taken advantage of that opportunity. These three adults are now responsible, positive contributors to the society that said they had no right to live. My son is the most compassionate, loving, self-sacrificing individual you could ever hope to meet. His wife is an EMT working on the Navajo Nation, saving the lives of people, many of whom are wretchedly poor and in desperate need of help in many ways. My daughter is a paramedic in a major city, just last week she and her partner succeeded in converting an abnormal heart rhythm that basically brought a man back from the dead and allowed him to make it to surgery for a chance to continue to live his life. They routinely give away hats, gloves, meals, etc., to street people who have nothing beyond what possession they carry in their backpack or shopping cart. Think how much poorer our society would be if three young women had not chosen to forego their own comfort and convenience to give life to these amazing people. It is a daily joy to be called “mom” by such hard-working, God-loving, humanitarians. I wonder what all those children who have been aborted might have accomplished in this world if they had been allowed the right to life?
Thank you for sharing sharing your story. The loss since the Roe v Wade decision is staggering. I can’t wrap my head around it.
I agree! I cannot imagine how people can continue to deny babies are alive from conception. They operate on babies in the womb but if you want to kill it that’s okay too. It defies logic!
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