The Forum's coverage of pro-choice sentiments commemorating the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade was impressive, but as a former reporter, I found myself feeling disappointed the other side was not given equal weight in news space.
I am one who formerly considered myself pro-choice but has since moved to the other side. The pro-choice influences I found on my college campus were mesmerizing, and I innocently was swept away in the thinking that while I personally did not agree with abortion, I could never make that decision for someone else. Once I came to see the truth that life is life from its beginning, the realization that abortion is morally wrong quickly followed.
Specifically I take exception to the column on Jan. 22 by Jane Ahlin, who gave a misleading impression of how those who uphold life have tried to achieve their goals. She says that because the pro-life movement has not been able to undermine the basic right to privacy, "the front for their energy ... has centered on efforts to elevate embryos and fetuses to legal status." Ahlin states this in a way that makes pro-life folks sound like they have a shifty agenda and are groping for dramatic and desperate ways to sway the public.
That is certainly not the way I, nor the people I know who uphold life at all stages, have come to this stance. No fancy language or wooing was required for me to understand that a society that does not give voice to the tiniest of its citizens cannot be a truly just society.
I agree with Ahlin on some fronts. I agree that we, as a society, have not taken a serious enough look at the implications of fertilization techniques that can result in abortion (i.e., selectively reducing the number of fertilized eggs that can fully mature) and have largely ignored how most forms of contraception have abortifacient potential. These aspects of the issue are ones we who embrace life at all stages must consider more carefully if our voices are to ring pure.
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In response to the latter concern, perhaps it is time for more people who truly proclaim they are pro-life to consider Natural Family Planning. NFP is at least as effective in preventing an unwanted pregnancy as other forms of contraception when used correctly. NFP is not simply "the Catholic answer to birth control." This method of child-spacing can be employed by anyone of any faith or creed who wants a truly clear conscience on the matter. Any Catholic church in the area can offer information on classes being offered teaching the method.
Additionally, I was baffled to read in the Jan. 20 edition that Lynn Gifford, who has been instrumental in giving pro-choice a voice locally, is such a fervent proponent of abortion when her only child, who was adopted, was delivered into her arms only because some woman had made the truly brave and gracious decision to give her child life.
I lost a baby to miscarriage at 11 weeks in pregnancy. To me, this child was more than a blob of tissue. He was as fully human as my other four children; he just had not had enough time to grow into the person he was designed to be. I truly believe that someday I will meet and hold that child for the first time. I anticipate that mother-child reunion with great joy.
I believe that Jane Bovard also will have the chance to meet her fifth child -- the child whose life she cut short -- and I pray that that reunion will be one of mercy and joy as well.
Salonen, Fargo, is a member of The Forum's Saving North Dakota Roundable. She can be reached at roxrox@juno.com
