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Originally Posted by Erin Pavlina  Angela, did it seem like from my post I thought a woman who has an abortion is damned? I certainly don't believe that so I hope I didn't come across that way. And when I say a person will judge themselves I don't mean to imply that the judgement is necessarily harsh. At all. I just think conscious thought should go into the process by which a child is created. |
Erin, you did not use the word "damned," and I do not believe that's what you would ever intend for anyone to feel. However, you did state that "breaking a spiritual contract with another soul has serious consequences" and that "choosing to prematurely end the life of another makes you partially responsible for everything that soul was going to accomplish in this life. It’s a heavy price to pay, and a huge burden to carry..." Which, in a real way, sounds to me like damnation.
If I was a young pregnant woman trying to do the right thing for everyone -- what an incredibly vulnerable, scared, and hormonally awful state that can be -- I might very well be swayed into taking a wrong turn due to spiritual terror. I just feel that women have enough spiritual and religious terror to contend with in making this difficult choice, and I want to offset it wherever I can. I just don't feel women should be pressured into having and keeping a baby because of anything irrational. And it is so easy to be swayed by the irrational when you're pregnant and panicked.
When I was young and unintentionally pregnant, I was tricked by a clinic who had advertised "abortion services" and when I got there I was bombarded by messy, misleading and horrible religious propaganda and extreme pressure. It was the most painful episode in my life to that point. Perhaps I'm a little sensitive because of that experience. I have no intention of making you wrong, but I also am committed to completely support 100% free choice for any woman who finds herself in that predicament.
I understand that you also are 100% committed to supporting women (and men) in the difficult choices that must be made in life. This is one area in which we seem to disagree about what form that support should ideally take. I have no doubt, however, of your loving and supportive intentions.
Love,
angela