Perspective

I saw something a week or two ago and though I don't obsess over it, it keeps coming back to mind: "Pro-Choice does not mean Pro-Abortion."

I have to stop and think about that. I feel similarly but from a different perspective. I am pro-life. I've always been pro-life. I was never the kind of person who would stand outside a clinic and scream at women but neither I didn't understand how women could be so "unfeeling" and "uncaring" to abort her child. Now before anyone reading this gears up to scream let me say that I've grown and evolved from this thought process, especially now that I've been pregnant and had a child myself.

My pregnancy, although fine, was not pleasant compared to others. And once I went into the hospital to have Gavin, things were really not so great but I won't rehash the particulars. A few weeks after the birth, a friend asked me about the experience and if it was hard and I said something that I hadn't realized I'd intended to say: "If I'd had Gavin 100+ years ago, we both would have died." I had pre-eclampsia. Gavin got stuck and wouldn't come out. Without today's technology we would have died. Wow. That's an incredible and humbling statement.

He may not remember this but I talked with Rob once about the possibility of a difficult pregnancy/labor/delivery and if we would have had to choose between me or our child. Without thinking (remember I've been pro-life forever) I just said that my baby should live. Rob was quick to disagree with me on that. He would choose me and hope to have more children some day. I remember leaving that conversation still quietly disagreeing with him but now I've had more time, more experience, to think and to re-evaluate.

The results? I'm still not sure. But I know that I'm not quite so quick with my answers. I am still pro-life. I think I will always be pro-life. But to me that means the life of the unborn child AND the life of the mother. So maybe my response to the initial phrase that lead to my ramblings is "Pro-Life does not mean Anti-Choice." It really is all a matter of perspective for some people.