Thank you for your thoughtful comment, and the touching story. My sincerest condolences for the loss of your child.

I also agree very strongly with you that a woman is disempowered by the suggestion that conception is always entirely out of her control. This is the first time I’ve heard it put in those terms, actually.

Thank you for reading, thank you for commenting, and God bless you!
-J

Even if a person condones the murder of the unborn, why don’t women think abortion diminishes them?
By choice, I was married for ten years before my first child was born. My husband was in the service, finishing college, starting a business, etc. before we could afford a family. During those ten years, I had not one pregnancy, therefore, not one abortion.
Now do my children need legalized abortion because they are not as smart as I am - they do not know what causes pregnancy? Are they not as intelligent as I am - they cannot find out how to prevent pregnancy? Are they lazier than I am - they cannot go about doing what is necessary to prevent pregnancy? Do they not have willpower to put off sexual gratification until they are able to take the necessary precautions?
So, exactly what is it about today’s young people that abortion is so necessary and what does that say about being “empowered?” It seems to me that if you are in a position where you have an unwanted pregnancy, you were WITHOUT power over your own body. That is the message we are sending. True power over your own body is not becoming pregnant, - it isn’t letting someone invade your body and kill your child after becoming pregnant.
My second pregnancy, before sonograms, ended in spontaneous miscarriage at 11 weeks. Since my best friend, on whose shoulder I cried, had lost her 22-month old daughter the previous year, I told myself that my miscarriage was meant to be and that actually, compared to my friend, I should be able to “move on with my life.” I soon became pregnant again and bought the book “A Child is Born.” There was a picture of an 11-week old baby in the womb. For the first time I saw what it was that I lost. I cried so hard, realizing I had lost a child, not just a fetus, and that I had not let myself grieve for that child. I decided I had to grieve and I let myself do so. To this day, I cannot imagine what someone would feel seeing that picture after having had an abortion and knowing she didn’t just lose that baby, she killed it. How does someone live with that?