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From: liz@umcp-cs.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.women,net.politics
Subject: Re: CHOICE and the Senate
Message-ID: <415@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 2-Jul-83 14:59:01 EDT
Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.415
Posted: Sat Jul  2 14:59:01 1983
Date-Received: Sun, 3-Jul-83 04:27:40 EDT
References: <192@ihnp1.UUCP>, <470@grkermit.UUCP>
Organization: Univ. of Maryland, Computer Science Dept.
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	From grkermit!jim

	when considering Dolan's points, also bear these in mind:

	1) should a child that is NOT WANTED be brought into this world
	   and go through hell and back, beating, disregard, abandonment,
	   etc...??

It turns out that child-abuse has gone >up< not down since abortion
was legalized.  And there are many couples that want to adopt and
can't.  (Although it is true that adoption is not an acceptable option
for many women with unwanted pregnancies.)

	2) why shouldn't a women have legal control over her own body?

She should -- up to the point that it interferes with someone else's
rights -- the fetus's right to live.

	3) why should we make abortion illegal and inflict (possibly
	   permanent) trauma on young girls and their parents?

I work for a place called the Pregnancy Aid Center which is near the
Univ of Maryland in College Park.  We've found that abortion itself is
a traumatic experience, and that it can cause psychological suffering
years down the road.

	4) what's going to happen to these unwanted births when the parents
	   have enough income to just barely scrape by for themselves, let
	   alone a child.

I've met couples in just this situation at the PAC.  It's not that
they don't want the child...  We try to help them by trying to find
them jobs, teaching them about birth control for the future, pointing
them towards reduced fee maternity programs...

	5) how would YOU like to have been an unwanted birth?? Think about
	   your outlook on the world...

How would YOU like to have been aborted?  You wouldn't have an outlook
on the world...

There are a lot of problems, and I do sympathize, but I don't think
abortion is really the best answer.  At the PAC, we are pro-life
which means not only being for the life of the child but also the
woman or girl the unwanted pregnancy.  This means counseling and
helping her through a very difficult time in her life.  This includes
helping her decide what she will do (abort the child, keep the
child, or give the child up for adoption), helping her to relate
to her parents and her boyfriend or husband...  This is all very
hard, very emotional and can be very traumatic.

	just a few points to ponder, I'm sure we could all pound
	this one into the ground (and disk[s]) around the country...

Yes, I'm sure we could...  It's not an easy question to answer,
and there's lots of problems to solve.

				-Liz Allen