This commentary is by Marcia Hildebrand, a registered nurse who since 1994 has lived in Belmont, an unincorporated community in the town of Mount Holly.
I am a woman, mother and nurse. A few years after Roe v. Wade, I was 18 and I used my freedom of choice to have sex, which resulted in a pregnancy.
I made a rather quick decision not to be inconvenienced for nine months with another human being. I had an abortion. I say “nine months” as I could have delivered my baby and offered it to someone who could not have their own baby.
I do not believe this was an example of “personal reproductive autonomy,” as it involved three human beings: myself, the baby’s father and the baby. Autonomy is defined as self-governing — not governing self plus two other individuals. This is not a personal choice but a three-person choice usually made by only one person.
Also, reproduction is defined as giving rise to offspring. Abortion is the opposite of this.
I feel compassion for any woman who finds herself pregnant and does not want to be (especially if she was raped) and I would tell her my experience with abortion. It was the saddest day of my life.
A nation that has no limits on abortion is doomed to destruction from within. Since Roe v. Wade, abortion has been used as “the backup plan” too many times and it has become an industry that receives taxpayer funding and money from desperate women.
I personally believe some abortion providers should pay women for the products those women provide them, as I have no doubt that fetal organs and tissue sell for a very high price. It makes me ill to think of those who profit off of desperate women, who are doing something that will affect them for the rest of their lives. Thankfully, God is merciful and will forgive anyone who asks Him.
Many want Vermont to be known as an abortion sanctuary state. They would be proud to be known for this. We know that most likely abortion will never be outlawed in Vermont but to have no limits on it, no matter what circumstance the woman or girl is in or the stage of the pregnancy, is morally wrong in so many ways.
Vermont is a beautiful state that many people come to for a mostly peaceful and healthy way of life. Do we want to be known for this, or for being the place to go to end an innocent child’s life?
Life begins at conception — whether we value this life will determine what kind of a culture we create. Vote no on Article 22. Choose life.
