Thoughts on Abortion

Part 1 of 2 posts on controversial medical/social issues.

A boulevard in our neighbourhood, situated between two churches, is a sea of yellow daffodils this week. The bulbs were planted years ago by students at the local Catholic school to  commemorate lives lost to abortion. Most people living in the area now do not know this history and I could not find the small plaque describing the display this year. 

The hospital where I worked until my "retirement" had an abortion clinic. Protesters would stand outside the entrance of the property from time to time, but were not allowed on the grounds. While I did not work in the clinic, I had several  encounters and conversations with women who accessed this service over the years.

Abortion is nothing new. A direct relative of mine had more than two illegal abortions in the late 19th and early 20th century. When my mother told me this bit of family history I wondered at the risks taken. What would make a married woman so desperate to terminate a pregnancy? Before 1869, abortion was legal until "quickening" according to British law, but for 100 years after that, it was illegal in Canada with severe penalties for providers as well as patients. Women, including my relative, continued to find ways to terminate pregnancies with huge risks to their health.

I think about my paternal great-grandmother whose mother had over 20 children during her reproductive years. How exhausting it must have been to have another child year after year because there was no birth control. Women had no property rights, no legal personhood, and were usually financially dependent on their husbands. My relative who had the abortions had rheumatoid arthritis, no reliable birth control, and an unfaithful, ambitious husband who possibly encouraged her to have the procedures done. She successfully raised three children and was not a bad person. She met me as a baby, but I never knew her and will never know the reasons for her decisions. 

Over the years, I have met many women who have had abortions. Statistics in Canada indicate that approximately one fifth of annual pregancies end in abortion, although this number is dropping slightly each year.  Some people perceive that teenage girls and single young women make up the majority of those seeking abortions. But women with husbands and partners, new immigrant women, and women with physical and mental illnesses also have abortions. I've talked to promiscuous women who grew up being sexually abused and continue to have multiple partners in socially unstable, abusive relationships. Women carry the blame for unwanted pregnancies even though there is always a man involved. 

While I think that abortion is a tragic event, the reasons women seek them are often complex and personal. I have heard people speak from a pulpit denouncing abortion, likely unaware that perhaps up to 1/5 of the women in the congregation have had one. It is hypocritical to think that church attenders, including parents and men, as well as men in ministry, have not arranged for their pregnant daughters, wives and girlfriends to have abortions. 

The daffodils are a good reminder of our need as a community to be "pro-life" in ways that support marginalized families, single parents and children in poor and abusive social situations. Rather than condemning women who have abortions, we need to provide viable and loving options that span decades, not just a moment in time. Making abortions illegal again is not the answer!