While I don’t view abortion protesters per se, I am pro-choice for the simple reason that rich women will have and have always had access to safe, doctor-performed abortions. Why should the Karadashian sisters be able to have an abortion when they have an OOPS!, while a girl who was hit on by daddy, or a woman worn down by dealing with the eight kids she already has, and bound by her religion to not insist her husband wear a condom, have less? Opponents of abortion should also put themselves in the shoes of those poor sisters. Amy
ABORTION PROTESTER (WWP, walk in the shoes of enemies)
Man and women together in mutual embrace
create life within the woman’s womb
At first it looks like tissue, merely a cyst
but so quickly it assumes human form
How can a woman who created in love
vacuum away this baby like so much flotsam?
How can a man stand by with no opinion
as this precious fruit is torn ruthlessly from the vine?
A doctor who swears to “first, do no harm”
is murdering an innocent child
and, offering no counseling to the mother,
calmly points her toward the desk so she can pay
Small wonder I’m out here with my sign
and a fake fetus in a jar, here in the hot sun
I’ll scream til this profitable industry is ended
I don’t believe in the death penalty, but then again…
© 2010 Amy Barlow Liberatore, Sharp Little Pencil
Sharp Little Pencil 
JOY
There are many reasons why women consider abortion, and I doubt that for many it is an easy decision.
I often wonder if those that protest against abortion, would be willing to take on the care of a young child themselves.
It is all very well blowing a trumpet against abortion but what about the day to day realism of raising a child in circumstances that are ‘challenging’? Some women will opt for abortion because they know they are either not mentally, emotionally, physically or financially able to do a ‘good job’. In this regard, it is a difficult but loving choice.
Common sense and reason tell me this. Perhaps religion would teach otherwise, but religion also fuels wars…
Sharp Little Pencil
I agree. Since the point of the prompt was to put yourself in the shoes of “the other,” I was trying to figure out WHY people so vehemently protest abortion, while I believe it’s a right of all women to get equal access to health care. This was a hard prompt for me, as it’s easily misinterpreted as espousing your OWN beliefs. So I tried to get inside the head of folks like my sister, an Evangelical.
You mention religion – funny thing, the local Pentecostal minister (colleague of my husband, a United Church of Christ pastor – he and I are both longtime civil rights activisits – said this: “You’re protesting abortion. Are you willing to adopt the child that girl carries? Feed and clothe it, send it to college? If not, sit down and shut up!” Now that’s something, coming from a Fundamentalist!! Thanks.
One more thing on religion – people who misuse their religious beliefs – see my poem on bin Laden and Bush – fuel wars. It’s from the oft-misquoted Proverb that fully reads, “The LOVE OF money is the root of all evil.” Amy
ravenswingpoetry
Amy: You did an excellent job getting into the head of that protester. “When the doors of perception are cleansed, man will see everything as it truly is…infinite.” What I mean by quoting this is that to see another person’s perspective requires a simple turn of mind…and I see the fervor, I see the outrage. You did a good job of communicating that without caricaturising your speaker. Well done. Bravo!
-Nicole
Mary
I have found oftentimes that those who protest abortion are pro war and killing in this way. That doesn’t make sense to me. But as far as abortion goes, I would never encourage anyone to have one (just my opinion), but I believe it does need to be an option. You did a good job of getting into the mind of someone protesting.
Sharp Little Pencil
I would never encourage it either, except when the girl was underage, victim of incest (I was, but fortunately he stopped before that became an issue), etc. Used to be, back in the early feminist days, that having an abortion was like joining the club.
As for war, etc., yes, I find it curious how many people are yelling at young girls outside clinics but unwilling to adopt her baby. And how many consider themselves good Christians but also cheer at the death penalty. It’s like, decide on a Testament and stick with it, guys! (Pastor’s wife talking here, but I follow Jesus’ command to love all equally and to love my enemies. That’s why I pray for them every night, all enemies, corporate, foreign, domestic, terrorists…) My, I’m a complicated one!
Dan Rako
Grappling with deep, dark Things is tough. Nice work.
Stan Ski
Double standards or practical solution…? Every situation is different.
SandyCarlson
I can’t imagine having an abortion. I can’t imagine having to face one. Still, when I look at my 11-year-old daughter, I know I would kill before I would see her destiny determined by some lecherous pig. Without a doubt.
Mr. Walker
A difficult poem to read. I think you handle well the charged language that is used in these “debates”: “torn ruthlessly” and “murdering an innocent child”.