Being Pro Life

THE TWO FERAL CATS, it turned out, were both female, although I didn't know it at the time. They were beautiful, white, apparently Siamese. When they came into my yard looking underweight, I fed them, and this became a habit. When they had my loyalty and I had their trust, they both brought their litters with them, precious tiny ones clinging to them. To me it was a total shock, blindsided, but really shouldn't have been. We reached an agreement wherein I would feed the mothers, and the mothers would do the rest. Both mothers and all five kittens thrived, and became mine, to the extent that is possible. The next project was spaying, neutering, and vaccinating all members of both families, and this I accomplished by degrees, one animal at a time. With six down and one to go, the final patient, a beautiful female kitten, was the hardest part. Its easy when it doesn't matter which cat you lure into the cat carrier. The final female I got to a bit late. Turned out she was, as they said at the vet, "very pregnant", which, in all truth, I had suspected. So, my little kitten girl "Destiny", had an abortion. I saw her in post op, lying there wide eyed but unconscious; my first thought was that she was dead. A little intravenous hydration and a heating pad, she perked right up, and to this day all seven, my "magnificent seven" two males and five females, live preciously in my garage, well provided. And still I think of the sweet baby kittens whose lives I prevented from coming into being. I don't like the thought. Of course I did the right thing. But still I don't like it, and will always lament my tardiness. So yes, I am "pro life". But who isn't? For me, if abortion isn't murder, it is much too close to murder for comfort. Anyone who fails to understand the validity of both pro choice and pro life viewpoints simply isn't fully implementing the moral compass. All the arguments are sound. Women should make the decision. A woman should have complete sovereignty over her own body. Men should have nothing to say about it, without being willing to take full responsibility, including financial, for the life they engender. A pro life man should back up his position with action, and full child support. Those who wish to include God should perhaps have sufficient faith in God to believe that God is aware of every pregnancy, and provides proper guidance for every woman in choosing her unborn child's fate, without any intervention from clergy or government needed. It seems that those who most fervently believe in God and most abhor abortion rights for women are the ones who place the least amount of faith in God's willingness to provide guidance to pregnant women, and to provide it directly, without intercession from clergy or legislators. That is perhaps the most enigmatic aspect of the entire controversial mess.