|
| So I was reading Newsweek today. An editorialist wrote about a short documentary on YouTube in which a cameraman questioned protesters at an abortion clinic. If abortion was actually made illegal, what should the penalty be for a woman who has one anyway? There has been a lot of talk about penalties for the doctor who performs the abortion, but the woman did make a "choice" (as we have heard...a lot).
I can say confidently that I believe that a fetus is just as human as I am. Because of that, I believe that doing something to stop that fetus from living is murder. I have a hard time seeing it as an issue of a woman having control over her own body. Justice Ginsberg (and the Newsweek writer) would be very disappointed in me as a woman. I am a young married woman who does not feel ready (financially or by way of maturity) to have a baby. If I were surprised, I like to think that I'd find the resources to find a way to either raise the child or find a better home for him or her.
On the other hand, I often think that I must be missing something. As a teacher of some students living in poverty, I see that some people just don't have those resources. Who am I to make (or encourage the making of) laws telling a woman who is not in a good place to have children that she can't kill the fetus before it continues the cycle of poverty. Then again, I wonder how many women who seek abortions are frightened high schoolers and how many are logical women in their 20's who are responsible enough to raise a child.
I suppose I had always thought that if laws were made against abortion, people would just stop having them. I hadn't even considered the fact that people break the law all the time. So what do you do with the woman who commits murder against her unborn child? Wouldn't a woman plead insanity appealing to her desperate state of mind? If all abortions made illegal could a woman plead self-defense? The unborn child was threatening her physical safety or her mental health because of how the baby was conceived.
This was a really long post, but the question bothered me today because I thought I had considered all the facets of the issue. What do you think? If abortion was made completely illegal, should the woman be penalized for having an abortion performed or just the doctor who commits the act? If she is culpable, what should the punishment be?
| | |
| OK. I can take a hint. I left if for a month. I'll go ahead and put off my bid for congress until...I find better friends. :) We heard good news from one of the seminaries Ben applied to. We're still waiting on news from other schools. We're still not sure where we'll end up next year. I'd been feeling really strange about the whole idea of leaving. I've been unsettled about it, but I couldn't quite identify exactly what the feeling was. Today I discovered it. It's fear. I'm afraid. After all of my fancy ideas about going on a big adventure. Here's the chance and I'm trembling in my boots. I discovered my fear while I was going through some old files on my computer today. I'm cleaning out some of the really old stuff. I came across my speech from my high school baccalaureate. I had almost completely forgotten about it. I had written 2 speeches. I opened the files expecting a trip down memory lane. I anticipated something trite and as sentimental as a high schooler's final goodbye to her senior class of 80 students could sound. Instead I found the exact words I needed most to hear. God used my words to my fellow seniors in 2002 to calm my fears six years later. I talked about how we could trust God because he knows our futures. I wasn't worried at all about what was to come. At 17 I was so much braver than I am now. I could justify my fear to myself by saying that I had fewer responsibilities when I was 17. Does that mean that God has gotten less powerful as my responsibilities have increased? By no means! (to quote Paul) What a great example of God's timing paying off twice. What comfort to know that six years ago He already knew what I would need to hear on April 19, 2008 at 8:00 p.m.! Wow. If He will take care of a detail that specific just to make me feel better when I wasn't even trusting Him in the first place, how much more will He take care of the big issues. Just because He loves me. | | |
| We went to the capitol building last week with the theatre students for Fine Arts Advocacy Day. It made me miss all of that political stuff that I was so crazy about a few years ago. I really liked it there. It led me to some questions about the distant future. So... If I ran for congress (someday in the distant future) would YOU vote for me? | | |
| This evening I went to the grocery store to buy a few items for Spanish class tomorrow. I was looking great in my business dress capris (even though capris rarely fit my freakishly long legs right) and the new top that I got on sale at Maurice's. I picked up a couple of plantains for the tostones and went over to the Latin American foods section to get the juice for the piraguas. I was trying to figure out how to carry four juice cans and my two plantains when I knocked a glass bottle of hot sauce off the next shelf. As I was watching that one fall (and not break), I tried to balance another. It was fine, but in the mean time I managed to knock 2 more bottles off the shelf. Both of these broke into about a million pieces on the floor. The muy picante sauce splattered all over my awesome capris and the lower part of my legs. It was the height of grace and there wasn't a witness in sight! At least that's what I thought. Then, as I was leaving the scene to find an employee to warn about the mess, I heard a call over the intercom. "Clean up on aisle 1." Now how did they know? What type of big brother operation is this supermarket? I sense a conspiracy of some sort. They must have been behind the magic bullet theory and uncovering the Spitzer escort scandal! There is definitely something amiss at PriceCutter. It's been a big evening, but I feel that I've learned an important lesson through it all: 4 cans + 2 super long bananas > the space in 2 hands | | |
| Sometimes I feel like I'm waiting for my "real life" to start. I've graduated from college. I have a good job. We live in a nice apartment. But I'm restless. I need an adventure. I need to make a difference in the world. I'm 23 years old. I'm not ready to settle in for the rest of my life. I'm not ready to buy a house and strive for the American dream. I like having the option of being able to decide to move to Spain next year. I love being married to someone who has the same idea. One day my speech students will be analyzing the pros and cons of plea-bargaining as an essential element of the U.S. judicial system. The next day, I can't get them to write anything but "good", "OK", or "weak" on an evaluation of another speech. One group of Spanish students works quietly and diligently, doing anything to please me. Another group sits planning a mutiny of any kind to keep from actually having to make the least possible effort to pass the class. I'm at the, "What's the point?" period of the school year. What is this going to mean for the future of mankind? Then, I think about what I was like as a student. There were classes in which I put forth the least possible effort. There were teachers against whom I assisted in mutinies. I was just as lazy and wrapped up in high school drama as they are. Then, I went to college. I had to figure out how to get myself up in time for class and budget my time wisely. I got to meet friends and professors who challenged me and taught me. Now, I have a good job and live in a nice apartment with someone who compliments me perfectly. Step-by-step. Immaturity, growing up experience, stable grown up life. So when does the adventure start? | | |
|
