SORRENTINO:RI's POSTER GIRL for AMERCA'S "KILLING BABIES" HOLOCAUST
SORRENTINO:RI's POSTER GIRL for
AMERCA'S "KILLING BABIES" HOLOCAUST
Opinion/Sorrentino: Truths to be understood and accepted
Mary Ann Sorrentino (thatnaryann@yahoo.com) writes from Cranston.
Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in 1973. Still the abortion debate rages on more passionately on both sides. Pro-choice Americans fight tirelessly to support women’s rights to choose abortion; their opposition fights tenaciously to overturn Roe.
Neither side will concede anything. Compromise is impossible.
I have participated in this local, national, and international debate since 1977 when I became CEO of what is now Planned Parenthood of Southern New England and its pioneer abortion facility. PPSNE has served Rhode Islanders seeking birth control and sex education services since 1934.
While contraceptive and even surgical sterilization services offered in Rhode Island and across the country are a fact of life for most Americans, abortion services as equally necessary are still globally debated.
This ultimately private decision is part of the national conversation and political discourse of America. Candidates — from school committee members to presidents — know voters demand clarity regarding keeping abortion safe and legal.
I have been defending women’s rights to choose for half my lifetime. I have no regrets, no apologies.
My commitment to patients who have used that service for ultimately personal reasons, and those who in the future may use it, is welded in my heart. That responsibility is not only to those patients. Of course I stand with them — always have, always will. My fidelity is documented.
But I also have a responsibility to those who make, rule on, and protect the laws that keep access to abortion possible. That responsibility to lawmakers and enforcers is not to tell them what their job is; they already know that. My responsibility is to constantly remind them exactly who the loss of choice would injure.
Laws restricting access to safe and legal abortions not only tamper with the destinies of strangers, but will directly hurt the women whom lawmakers care for. Such women will also be put at great risk and those who care for them will suffer right along with them. The denial of needed medical services will impact the lives of wives, daughters, sisters, mothers, lovers, granddaughters, and friends, as all men who love these women look on helplessly.
Abortion isn’t just a word: it is a choice, a solution, a possibility, another chance, and sometimes even a salvation.
In my years of advocacy, I have understood those in power need to be reminded regularly who it is that the restriction or elimination of access to safe and legal abortions hurts the most. I am determined to look lawmakers, clergy, and even anti-choice demonstrators in the eye to remind them that those services exist for the women they love.
They and you know those women. You grew up with them, raised them, married them, had children with them, loved them, went to school with them, worked with them, and they, in turn, held your hand when you needed comfort, forgave you when you failed, and were there for you when you needed support. Now it’s your turn.
If you know a woman facing a thoughtful and difficult decision regarding an unintended pregnancy, step up to the plate. Be there for her. Support her. Hold her hand. Pick her up and drive her home.
In my decade at Planned Parenthood I met a lot of men accompanying a woman to the clinic and waiting to drive her home after the abortion. In all that time, I only saw one guy waiting with a bouquet of flowers for the woman he had accompanied.
Whoever you are, sir, you have remained a hero of mine all these years!
Let’s have more heroes!
