I am a longtime pro-life voter, and as much as I wish it were otherwise, I understand that protecting the unborn is a process that has to be done step-by-step rather than — wishful thinking — that a wholesale change (i.e. overturning Roe v. Wade) is in the offing. I’ve donated money and baby clothes and attended fundraising events and gone to rallies supporting Aid For Women, a Chicago-based organization that assists women who choose to have their babies. I’ve prayed outside an abortion clinic.
In other words, I try to walk the walk. I don’t do nearly enough, though, and I need to improve on my “walk.”
I realize that I am on the opposite side of close to half the country, but my 25 years of being a lawyer have taught me that there should always be room to air grievances in a civilized manner. Plus, I do understand what young women are going through with an unexpected pregnancy: When I was a senior in college, I got pregnant, and while I’ve been happily married to my husband for nearly 29 years (with four children), I know the stark choices women face.
But to tell a woman that killing her baby will solve her problems is, literally, dead wrong. Is it easy being young and uninsured and unmarried and unemployed when you get pregnant? Hah! But I’m thankful every day for my wonderful 28-year-old daughter and her three siblings.
The recent revelations about Planned Parenthood selling tissue are unsurprising to me; it is an organization whose bottom line is king.
As Americans we have to have a better answer for a woman than to kill her baby and have it sold for parts. We all need to try a lot harder to make choosing life the obvious and only choice.
— Cindy Mangiaforte, Hawthorn Woods
