Sadness that needs comment

I just read a breaking news article on boston.com about a doctor in Kansas who was shot and killed. He provided abortion services and in particular, late term abortions to women (his clinic was one of only 3 in the nation that provided abortions to women after 21 weeks). The incongruity of someone who thinks abortion is murder yet they turn around and murder a doctor is something I will never be able to wrap my brain around.

There is no question it is a divisive issue and I don't claim to have all the answers about the morality behind the decision. What I do know from having worked at Planned Parenthood trying to educate people on how to not get pregnant and having had an abortion myself, is that it is a deeply personal and difficult decision. A decision that should be made by no one besides the woman in need.

There are so many arguments I could present about why I think abortion should remain safe and legal in this country, but the bottom line is I wish someone would stand up and say that the reality is as long as there is no 100% effective method of birth control. abortions are necessary. No one enjoys going through it and I'd bet most women just live with the hope that they won't ever need to to have one, but if they do, they deserve to receive the best care possible.

I have very distinct memories of my mom telling me how grateful she was when Roe V. Wade was passed in 1973, the year I was born. The case determined women had a right to terminate up until the point of viability - usually around 7 months, but sometimes 6. I remember her telling me how glad she was that her daughter would not have to grow up in a culture where abortions were forced into back alleys causing women to be maimed or killed from dirty instruments and a lack of provider training.

As I prepare to bring my own daughter into the world. I hold onto the hope that abortion will remain safe and legal in this country, that birth control become more readily available so fewer abortions are needed and that the doctors who provide them will not have judgement passed by another mortal being.