What makes you so egotistical...?

(This letter from "Reyna" is in response to the essay Abortion and Free Choice.
Her quotes from the article are in >> <<.)

>>I remember when I first saw a bumper sticker which stated: "Against Abortion? Don't Have One." I was tempted to get that same sticker myself, but also have one made to put on the other side of the fender: "Against killing animals for fur? Don't buy a fur coat." In fact a myriad of similar questions could be asked: "Against child abuse? Don't hit your child." or "Against drunken driving? Don't..." Well, you get the idea.<<

My name is ... and i have a few comments to make about this page :) Maybe I can explain the view of pro-choice people a bit better at least from my own stand point.

I don't see what's wrong with that sticker. how can people preach against something that they themselves do? So many people for example say "Child abuse is horrible. I don't believe in that horrifying violence." But yet they support war. So many people say "I love animals" but yet they eat them.

I don't understand why people have this overwhelming desire for power, to control each other. I completely agree with the live and let live philosophy. I also believe that it is most important to take care of yourself because you can't really love for and care about other people unless you love yourself.

It's pretty easy for a man to misunderstand abortion in my opinion. Someone who has never felt what it's like to be pregnant. It is not always a miracle, a wonderful thing. how would you feel if you had never before had sex but had someone hold you down and force themself inside you? this happened to someone who was very close to me. because of this, a child was conceieved. she was 16 years old and in high school. quiet and shy. her parents were ultra conservative and upon finding out that she was pregnant, would have kicked her out of her house and on to the street, where she would then be homeless and pregnant. It's kind of hard to raise a child while living on the street. It's kind of hard to spend 9 months in pain, waking up and vomiting each morning, and basically ruining your life due to someone forcing their way inside you. I definitely think she made the right choice in not keeping the child. Why should her life be ruined due to a rapist? Now she is in college and has never had sex again. I don't consider her "bad" or a "murderer" she was not happy about what she did and would never have intentionally had sex before she was married.

>>As you can imagine, I decided not to put such a series of bumper stickers on my car. Some folks would not have perceived the irony and may have thrown rocks--or worse. In fact, I have no doubt that people who feel strongly about killing animals for their fur would react with rage to the preceeding paragraph. They would be thinking, "You just don't get it. We are talking about an innocent, defenseless creature. Who knows if it is really that different from us? We do not have a right to take its life just to satisfy our own convenience. It is just not the same."<<

i personally am vegan which means i do not eat any animal products. however here is what i'm saying: what makes you so egotistical as to assume that what is right for you is right for everyone else on earth and thus should be forced upon them? obviously you would never have an abortion since you are male, and neither would she had she not been raped. however what makes it right for one person to dictate what every other person should do? i don't understand how people can claim we live in a democracy when laws are made that interfere with people's personal freedom. being pregnant is not a barrell of monkeys - it's actually extremely painful and unpleasant, and i can only imagine how painful birth would have been for her.... :( reyna

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Dear Reyna,

Jesus asked, "Has no one stayed to condemn you?"
"No one, Sir." She replied.
"Neither do I condemn you..." (John 8)

What happened to your friend was so horrible. When a woman comes to me who has been abused, I sometimes ask myself how I would react if she were my niece or my sister. I certainly would not condemn your friend for aborting her baby. In fact I do not feel I have a right to condemn anyone. If I did feel the urge to do so, I think Jesus would remind me of my own sins. ("Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.")

As a priest I represent Jesus in the sacrament of confession. He of course is always compassionate and forgiving. That includes any sin, even abortion. Even rape. After forgiving the woman caught in adultery, Jesus did say to her, "Go and sin no more." Forgiveness means that we acknowledge our sin and resolve "sin no more and avoid the occasions of sin." When I pray the absolution over anyone, I pray not only for Jesus' forgiveness, but his healing. I certainly pray that for your friend.

About "forcing our morality" on others: the argument of my essay was that all of us do that when we try to restrain someone from doing something that we consider wrong. I wish I could have forced my morality on the man who raped your friend. I would certainly want him to be punished so he could face the seriousness of what he did.

For that reason I do not see how the "pro-choice" slogan really advances the argument for or against abortion. Everything we do involves a choice and every law implies a right to limit other people's choices. The real question is: Is abortion wrong? What do you think, Reyna?

God bless,

Fr. Phil Bloom

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Exchange of letters dealing with the Presuppostions behind Abortion

Short argument against the Pro-Choice Position.