Pro- (Adult) Life

This afternoon I spent a few moments looking through photos of deceased females who died as a result of botched abortions. To be clear, I am not morbid and I am sickened by the images. My heart sinks deep in pits of discomfort when I see nude women, congealed blood about them, after dying from failed attempts to only rid themselves of unwanted pregnancies. But I wanted to remind myself why being pro-choice doesn't make you pro-abortion in every instance and why this stance is so very important.

For me, it's not about being anti-baby and again, pro-choice does NOT mean you agree with every instance, rather it makes you pro-options, anti-death in motel rooms, alleys and unsanitary motel rooms...it makes you pro-woman, anti-hangers, anti-stairwells, anti-suicide, anti- "zygotes are superior to post-birth lives" and this stance won't earn me friends. This stance won't popularize me in the church I call home. But I can't permit zealots who are pro-war but anti-choice to have the only voice, even if mine is soft and heard by few. 

Someone has to remember the dead women who lost their lives along the way, who were deserted in rooms to bleed out with no compassion, who have just as much right to life as any zygote might. I will not forget them, even if the inhumane back alley "doctors" who left them for dead have had to take no responsibility for the murders they committed.  

No, the images I saw aren't easy to look at.  Ill to my stomach, heart grieving and tears in my eyes, I admit this task did not at ALL agree with my senses.  The gruesome site of the dead mother of two children who was separated from a violent husband and left to die by a male companion is not easy to stomach.  But I will revisit these images to remind myself of what we are fighting for. All lives are important, not simply that of pre-birth babies.