Friday, January 06, 2006

er

Last night I watched a very thought provoking episode of "ER". For those of you who don't watch it, bear with me. This episode centered around a young girl, who at 15 found herself pregnant. As you find out close to the end, she was raped at a party. Her parents are very religious and want her to have the baby, obviously. However, the doctors try to talk her into an abortion, obviously. In the end, Luca puts some kind of new thing called a "lucerna?SP?" inside her to help cause a miscarriage - without her parents knowledge. She asked for the procedure.
What do you think? It was a very difficult show for me to watch. I feel so strongly about this issue, however it gave me pause. What if it was Cais? What if this happened to her? It's different than just being irresponsible, she was raped. I don't know. I don't think I would tell her to have an abortion, but I don't know if I would MAKE her have it either. J and I decided that if this were to ever happen, God forbid, we would let her make whatever decision she needed to make and support her in it.
What would YOU do? Just curious.....like I said, it was very thought provoking.

4 comments:

Marlene said...

I'm sure you knew I would comment on this one.:)
This is not an easy subject, and the same answer does not apply to everyone. I saw that episode also, and at first I was appaled that Luca would do that without parental consent. But the more I thought about it, those parents were not listening to their daughter at all, so she took matters into her own hands. One thing I always pray that I accomplish with my kids is that they are never afraid to tell me anything, even if it is really bad, and that I promise that I will listen and reason with them.
I think if it were my daughter, I would probably let her make her own decision, too, as long as she understood ALL the options that are available to her.
Thanks for sharing!
Love ya!

Jenell Coker said...

My three girls all have really tender hearts. I would also support them in their decision, however I think sometimes we don't always think of the emotional guilt that girls feel after an abortion. I strongly believe abortion would be another assault to their bodies and emotions. Rape or not I think because of our values they would feel guilty about ending a life. I think rape would be so awful to go through and I would worry that ending the life of an innocent child might send them over the edge. I just really believe in my heart that doing the right thing no matter how painful is always more liberating in the long run than taking the easy way out. I think this comes down to weather you believe that God’s plan is excellent and good or if you hold the fundamental idea that somehow God's plan is faulty. It really is about faith. I hope that my daughters will have enough faith hidden in their hearts if this comes up. If they don't I will love them and not condemn them.

Alyson said...

I would absolutely not advise or support an abortion under any circumstances. My mom had one when she was 19 I think and I know that it has been a constant sadness for her through her life. Although she was not raped I still feel that this choice would not be the best in any way. I would advise Mazana or any other girl to have the child and either give him/her up for adoption or keep the baby. I thought about this a lot when I was a teenager because of something my brother Jason had written about abortion. I think I personally would have given the baby up for adoption. I think it would have been too difficult to raise the baby who was the fruit of such heartache for me. On the other hand, I know that the baby in the womb would have been half me (or the rape victim) and you can't kill only the "bad" half.

Anyway, I am hurrying so much I don't know how much sense I have made, but as I'm sure Marlene can attest, there a plenty of wonderful people who could love that baby. I know the pregnancy would be hellish, but I believe it would be worth it. So, that's my opinion, very strong I know.

Of course, if she did take the abortion route I would still love her and try to help her through that pain as well. My kids could never do anything to lose my love.

Jen Johnson said...

WOW! Thanks for all the great posts! You all have great points and have given me something to think about.
You guys sure know what you know! HA! Love You All!
Jen