Doesn't it seem like people on both sides of the isssue

I think that the anti-abortion people do give a damn... about the unborn baby. But they don't care very much about the women who are pregnant.

On the one hand I can kind of understand that point of view (although I don't agree with it).

But it's pretty twisted that they think it's OK to make up "facts" and manipulate these women who are so vulnerable to get their way.

I kinda think so too. And I agree with your last sentence.

I can only speak for myself. My name is bonnie until his assaination I worked for Dr. Tiller at his clinic. Before that I have voluntered at clinics in California, Washinton State and Texas.

I care alot about this and the way it effects women. The one abiding absolute is that a woman must have the last decision over who how and what uses her physical person. If she does not have this right she has no other rights worth having. To force a Woman to use her body to sustain a pregnancy against her will is slavery. To force her to terminate a pregnancy against her will is slavery.

As I stated on another thread I am as old as dirt. I remember the start of this war and it was not then or is it now about babies. It began with the introduction of the "pill". Immediately there was the reaction of we can not allow this becuase then women would be alowed to decide their own fertility and would escape their punishment for having sex (especially for enjoying sex) with out the consequence of pregnancy.

If women control their fertility they are able to plan their families space out their children or even decide not to have children at all. They are able to work outside of homes. They can choose to postpone pregnancy until they complete their education. And most of all women who can control their fertility are not dependent on staying with a man becuase they have too many children and not enough training to support themselves.

This battle is over who will define what a woman is and what she can strive for. If it was about babies all these folk who oppose abortion would be working to give women in this society the means to provide for post born babies ( affordable decent day care, good free prenatal care, affordable education for women with children that enables them to compete in the job market for jobs that actually bring in enough to feed and house the babies they have).

Other reasons to deepoly care about this issue are that forced pregnancy and forced abortion are two side of the same coin. If we give the government the power to decide a woman must carry a pregnancy to term then we also have given the government the power to decide she must abort. This country and our government has a history of forcing both sterilization and abortion on group it deemed unfit to reproduce.

I think I am about as "prochoice" as is possible. At my core I believe this is an intimate personal decision that must be left up to the woman with the help of her family and her doctor(s) who have the information about her situation and the risks that she faces. It is her decision becuase she is the one who whatever choice she makes who lives with the consequences of that decision.

I have three daughters and six granddaughters, I care about this issue becuase I don't ever want them forced by anyone else (especially for anothers religious convictions) to eeither abort or carry to term against their will.

Back in the 70's I was beaten (broken jaw, ribs lots of stiches) and rapped by a man (using that term is a joke) who had sworn to love and protect me. two months latter I realized I was pregnant. I cannot begin to tell you how horrified I was that he had forced himself inside me and now part of him was feeding off of me. I decided to kill myself and becuase I had two very small children already and did not want to abandon them to the control of this monster I was going to take them with me. I should also say that at the time AI was living in another country with no money or even my passport (he had that). I thought I had no other option and I knew that I would not carry to term under any circumstances. Then I had an Angel of mercy in the form of my landlady. She knew something was wrong, she had seen the results of the beating. I told her my rape had made me pregnant. this kind lady in her widow weeds and head scarf told me she would help me. She gave me ergott and sat with me while I misscarried. She ran such a high risk to help me (prison) and yet she did. (eventually I did get home with my two kids and away from the creep) I had another daughter a couple of years latter by my second husband. My two older kids had a relatively normal childhood. I owe that woman so much. The only way I can repay her is to be their for other women and tomake sure they have a choice. My abortion was illegal and I had no medical care. I had complications and was unable to go to a clinic or hospital for help. I never want another woman to go through that (especially not my daughters and granddaughters).

I will also say something about the folk I worked with at the clinic. Our motto was "TRUST WOMEN" this was not just a slogn or catch phrase. My boss, Dr. Tiller really beleaved in women and their ability to make the best decisions for them selves and their families. Our satff lived and breathed this concept. My boss not only believed in women but he felt so strongly that they must have a safe legal access to this decision he knowingly put his life on the line. The clinic had been bombed and he had been shot in another assasination attempt. He knew the risks. Several times he told me he "hopped it would be a good clean headshot) He was targeted and murdered in cold blood becuase he refused to give in to thugs and abandon his patients. He was a good family man, a devout Lutheren, and a champion for womens equality. His support of women was not limited to abortion rights. He paid for women to go back to school and get their degrees, he worked with alcohol and drug rehab giving many a second chance. If he knew of someone in need he never hesitated to help. I have watched him many times as he sat up all night with a patient in labor next to her bed with her family. I have also seen him stand up for patients that were being coherced into an abortion by family or others giving them the resources to choose to keep the pregnancy.

The rest of the staff endured protests in front of their houses, anonymous letters mailed to their neighbors, being followed as they shopped or took their kids to day care. We were there when our boss was murdered (not one staff member was ready to quit). Our emplyees had been there through thick and thin with very little turn over. You do not work under these conditions becuase you are peeved at religion (besides most of the staff were practicing christians, especially two of our chaplains) Nor do you stay becuase of some political view. Tey stayed becuase of the patients. We after all spent time with them, knew their stories, their histories. We knew them as real people with real thoughts and needs.

I think it is the same in most clinics.


My sincerest hope would be that no woman would ever have to be in a posistion that abortion is one of her options. Until we have failproof birthcontrol, eliminate rape, and do away with fetal abnomalies and maternal complications, provide the economic means and education to raise women out of poverty there will be a need. Everyone should care especially women becuase no one knows what circumstance they may end up in or someone they care about. In the mean time we should all be focused on making abortion safe legal and very, very rare.

My motto is and will always be

Don't believe in abortion...?

Don't have one.

What other people do is between them and no one else should judge what decision is best for them.