So I'm shocked and amazed at what occurred on TOWS yesterday (which I believe was a rerun that I saw when it first aired, but somehow I missed the miraculous occurrence). Amidst the wavy gravy new age babble, out came the strongest pro-life message I have heard on the show in ages.
Of course, the declaration came not from O herself -- she was too lost in a blather about a silver bubble wand from Tiffany's (in an utterly nonsensical moment, she proclaimed that the appearance of that bauble was "a miracle"!) One of her guests, a woman who writes a column for O Magazine, brought it up -- almost out of the blue -- but it drove home that affirming the value of all life comes from the heart.
Martha Beck recounted her experience as a doctorate student at Harvard. She was only 25, but she found out that the baby she was carrying had Down's syndrome. She admitted that her first thought was that she should have a "therapeutic" abortion. She then realized that was "the shallows" of herself, reacting in fear.
"For the first time in my life, my inner core of peace said 'No, I want this. I want this experience,' " Martha recounted. "I believed that this child would teach me how to be happy. And that's exactly what happened."
Martha went on to explain that she had to go through "a ring of fire" before she was able to go from the shallows to her core to find that happiness. But she declared it was worth it, because anything that anyone seeks in a state of fear just won't work.
How many of the one million women who will lie down and have an abortion this year -- 700,000 or so of whom say that they wouldn't do so if they felt they had the support they needed -- are stuck in that shallow place? How many feel unable to find peace because they are afraid of what they would have to go through to get there?
Eighty-nine percent of the preborn diagnosed with Down's syndrome are aborted in this country. A virtual genocide is occurring mainly out of fear, by those not given the fortitude to go where the joy of raising a special child lies. Hundreds of thousands of perfectly healthy babies are obliterated because of the overwhelming sense of dread their mothers are unable to shake.
Is that what feminism is about? Clinging to a sacred cow that has brought nothing but sorrow and regret simply because women are petrified? Being afraid to stand up to a society that says that only by sacrificing their children will women find "equality"?
Women are the compassionate ones. The seekers of peace. We look beyond the materialistic, and are willing to go through whatever life throws at us to reach our goals, with integrity and without compromise.
At least that's what I was taught by the strong women in my life. Why aren't other women, at all levels of importance and influence, on the same page? What are they afraid of?
Maybe they just haven't got the heart.
Thank God there's another REAL feminist out there in cyberspace. I agree. Abortion is genocide. I'm shocked that women who have given birth can deny this fact. Our warped society has women running in circles, trying to fit a certain image of beauty and strength that the media has taken the liberty of defining for them. Filling our brains with all this junk leaves us so empty. Thank you for having the heart to write this post.
Posted by: Loren Christie | October 18, 2008 at 10:51 PM