Take a stand - The unintended consequence of abortion legislation

We all have choices.  In fact, we are reminded in Deuteronomy 30:19 (NCV) of our free will (aka freedom of choice), which is actually a gift from God.

"Today I ask heaven and earth to be witnesses. I am offering you life or death, blessings or curses. Now, choose life! Then you and your children may live."

One of the most controversial issues of the 2012 Presidential Election is the stand on Abortion and Women's Rights.

I would like to go on record that I am pro-life and I am pro-blessing.    

But I must begin by saying that I personally know more than a dozen women that were sexually abused by fathers, uncles and neighbors, not just once, but repeatedly throughout their young lives.  Others of my friends made bad choices in marriage and found husbands that were just as abusive as those that abused these other women in childhood.   My heart goes out to these friends.  I have watched up close the impact on their lives and what it has taken for each one of them to overcome what has become a part of their life story.  Their courage is amazing and they have healed over time and with lots of prayer and learning about the power of forgiveness, even of their abuser.     

Rape and incest are horribly wrong on so many levels and the pregnancies that stem from them are indeed tragic.  The men that perpetrate this behavior on young women have already chosen death and curses on their own lives and when there is a pregnancy that results, it often ends in physical death (abortion) but more often a tiny piece of the young woman dies.

But this discussion is not about them.

My tale of unintended consequences today is about what happens when we make abortion not only completely accessible, but socially acceptable and an alternative to an unplanned pregnancy, simply for convenience.   A woman's right, if you will.  If she conceives and doesn't want the baby, let her decide what to do with her own body.

This discussion is not about the morality of abortion and when life begins.  I've been pregnant and seen the heartbeat on the ultrasound and I think that issue is fairly well substantiated by science.    

What I want to do here is take that decision down from a mature woman making a decision about an unplanned pregnancy to that of a minor.

• A young girl today can choose at any age to have sex.  Exercising her free will.
• If she gets pregnant, she can choose abortion.  Exercising her free will.

But here is where the unintended consequences come in.  She cannot control the heartache that can occur when abortion becomes a part of her life story.  And since her privacy is protected under health care reform, her parents may not even know in order to be able to be of support during the recovery process.  And even if the abortion is "done well", she can't choose the physical implications, which may include not being able to have a child later when she is in a loving marriage.  

Yes, we have the freedom to choose.  Even God is pro-choice, or he would have made us all robots, doing his bidding, day after day.  But he gave us a choice.  If we choose death, we suffer the resulting curses.  If we choose life, we are blessed.  

If you are a parent, particularly one of a teen girl (or boy), think the unintended consequences of a pro-abortion culture through carefully.  

I encourage you to vote for a President that chooses life and morality.

Vote your conscience, but please vote.