I was reading over the comments of the recent Planned Parenthood / Susan G. Komen de-funding. There are many heated arguments on both sides, not only from the pro-life/pro-choice crowd, but also the “valued health services”, “they want to set women back” crowd as well.
I don’t know if we will ever know the true #’s when it comes to the percentage of abortions to “other vital services”, as both sides seam to exaggerated the statistics to fit their particular agenda. For me it is simple. I do not believe that federal funding should be given for either. The moral question is simple when you get federal funding out of the picture.
In reading these comments, one in particular caught my attention. I do not know if this individual is truly 16 or not. I would like to think that her comments were truthful. I believe she get’s it. I believe she understands a true meaning of conservatism and liberty. Her comments give me hope.
Read her comments below:
I will undoubtedly be attacked for saying this, but I don’t care. The problem with planned parenthood isn’t so much that some of them perform abortions, it is that government is funding them. There’s about a 50/50 split when it comes to people being pro-life or pro-choice in this country. Abortion is a highly politicized and controversial action that the government should not be funding in any form. Many people who oppose abortion do so because of religious beliefs. So from their point of view the government is spending their taxes on a belief that goes against their religion. These right wingers aren’t against women’s rights, they simply are driven by their religious belief to fight against abortion. Just like pro-lifers aren’t for murdering babies like many on the religious right would conclude.
I am a16 year old sophomore who identifies myself with libertarianism. I am a strong advocate for individual rights as long as those those rights do not infringe on the rights of others. I personally believe that life begins at conception, and because of that I am compelled by my belief in individual freedom and liberty to preserve that liberty for even an unborn child. This has absolutely nothing to do with me wanting to limit the rights of a woman to choose, it has to do with me wanting to preserve the rights of that unborn child so that they aren’t infringed by another.
We all know how to become pregnant, and we all know how to avoid becoming pregnant. Sometimes pregnancy isn’t a choice, sometimes it is forced on someone because of a rape. This is specifically something that I know a little about. I was raped last year and I became pregnant. Although I was just 16 then and still am 16, I chose to keep the baby. I didn’t make that choice because I wanted to put my body through more than what I had already been through. I chose to keep the baby in spite of the fact that a 16 year old is way to young to be having a child. I chose to keep the baby because I knew that baby was innocent and I knew that finding a family who was willing to adopt this baby would be easy.
Not too long after I began the adoption process I ended up having a miscarriage. In many ways I was relieved that this burden was removed from me, but I promise all of you that I will wonder who this child would have grown to be for the rest of my life.
I tell you all that because I know what it feels like to be scared and pregnant. I know what it feels like to be brutalized, beaten, and raped, just to later find out that I am pregnant. I also know that more unborn lives can be saved not by fighting against Roe vs Wade in an attempt to get the law reversed, but by providing more resources to young people who need the help when they do become pregnant.
I totally empathize with anyone who has become pregnant when they didn’t want to, and especially I empathize with those who have become pregnant during something as awful as rape. That being said I could never support someones choice to end a pregnancy out of a fear of temporary discomfort.
This doesn’t make me a fascist, or a woman hater, and it most certainly doesn’t mean I want to take away equal rights of women. What it does mean is that I believe life begins at conception and life is more important than 9 months of discomfort.
I know someone will say that the only reason I believe this way is because my parents believe this way. My mom died when I was 14, and I never had the reason to ask her what her belief is on this. My dad on the other hand suggested that I have an abortion after I was raped. I made the choice, according to my beliefs.
