I’m going to shelve the rest of my snarky comeback with something far more important. Perhaps a woman considering abortion will read this piece. Maybe she’ll take the words of someone like Regula to heart. Maybe she’ll lend credence to the idea that abortion is nothing more than the removal of unwanted tissue. Maybe this will help her avoid the next Kermit Gosnell.
I was that unwanted child. I was the one in secondhand clothes sitting next to you on the bus. The one teased for not having a Dad. I was the one that moved into your neighborhood with little more than a trash bag full of clothes. I was the one that didn’t get to participate in mother/daughter events at school. Because I didn’t have one of those either.
I was a foster kid.
I spent four years “in the system” after spending the first eight years of my life in hell. A childhood marked by upheaval, tumult, fear, and the kind of loneliness that comes with being abused then orphaned.
Two things saved me. The first was being adopted at the age of twelve. I was given shelter, safety, and, most importantly, love.
The second occurred to me well into adulthood. The very person that caused so much pain is the very person I owe a debt of gratitude. Clearly I wasn’t a baby that was planned or wanted. Even so, I was brought into the world. She was a horrible parent, but the woman whose blood runs through my veins allowed me to live. In a sea of selfish choices, she did one kind thing.
Far more kind than abortion.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/04/201341411431138373.html
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/04/how-the-dea-finally-caught-kermit-gosnell/275172/
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20130423_Gosnell_trial_postponed__attorney_ill.html
