Marie’s Story

Marie was the mother of two children when she discovered she was pregnant with a third. But when she told her husband, he scowled: "Only ignorant people have more than two kids. You have to have an abortion." Marie kept hoping her husband would change his mind. Even as she climbed onto the abortion table, she prayed he would rush in and stop her. But he didn't. Marie's story is told in a new book by Frederica Mathewes-Green called Real Choices. The author spent a year researching the reasons women have abortions. She proposed that if we could learn why women get abortions, we could more easily reduce what amounts to consumer demand for a deadly—and dreadful—product. So Mathewes-Green contacted hundreds of crisis pregnancy centers. She studied case histories, and she talked to women across the country about their decisions to have abortions. What she discovered stunned her. Mathewes-Green found out that many women aren't having abortions because they're poor, or because a child would interfere with school or career plans. No, many are aborting their babies because . . . the men in their lives tell them to do so. Now, that's not what abortion advocates tell us, is it? No, the abortion lobby tries to convince us that women are unfettered, empowered, and free—that when it comes to terminating a pregnancy, women are boldly making a choice all by themselves. But the women Mathewes-Green interviewed didn't talk about "choice." They talked about coercion. They spoke of being threatened with loss of affection and support by the most important people in their lives—boyfriends, husbands, parents. In fact, fully 88 percent of the women interviewed said their trip to the abortion clinic was a capitulation, not a choice at all. They didn't feel empowered; they felt isolated, overwhelmed, and sad. Like Marie, many women submitted to an abortion to please someone else. French feminist Simone de Beauvoir recognized this phenomenon as long ago as 1952 when she wrote: "It is often the seducer himself who convinces the woman that she must rid herself of the child." This is a tragic truth that feminists still don't want the American people to know. After all, as Mathewes-Green asks, how would it look if prochoice marchers carried a banner that read: "I'm proud I killed my baby to keep the man in my life"? But the news that many women who abort their babies do so because of their boyfriends shouldn't surprise Christians. We know that God intends for men and women to love and support each other. That's why Mathewes-Green found that even a poor woman is likely to continue her pregnancy if the baby's father loves and supports her. But even a financially secure married woman is likely to abort if her husband demands it of her. During the next four days I'll be telling you more about Real Choices and why women abort. Please plan to listen. Because if we know why women are aborting 4,400 babies every day, we'll be better equipped to help them make not only real choices—but also the right choice.

02/20/95