“The Choice: The Abortion Divide in America” by Danielle D’Souza Gill
A book review and commentary
Abortion is in the news again, but I suppose it never really went away. I read Ms. D’Souza’s book because I’ve lived on both sides of the abortion debate and the organization of the book intrigued me. I wanted to see the arguments in virtual print (via Kindle) and see how much the debate has changed in the past 20 years. My conclusion? It hasn’t. The abortion issue remains driven by selfishness and greed.
What is the book about?
The book addresses the talking points most often heard in the media and from activists who advocate for the availability of abortion. Those who want abortion legal, accessible, and available have not changed their message since the days since the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade, so many of them are familiar. Ms. D’Souza Gill addresses them point by point, such as when life begins, abortion as a constitutional right, abortion empowers women, taxpayers must fund abortion, and the list goes on. She provides good sources for the evidence, so if a reader is skeptical, they can read the primary sources themselves.
What I got out of it
It’s been a while since I paid attention to this issue, but it’s time, and this book refreshed my memory. It gave me a lot of insight into the machine that wants to keep women deluded that rampant casual sex is empowering and abortion is healthcare. The people who want abortion legal take advantage of ignorance and laziness, relying on the dehumanization of children and the passion with which the left clings to issues without really knowing what’s going on. All they need are people to jump on the bandwagon and shout the same slogans. For more than half my life, I was one of those people.
This book reminded me why I need to care and why I need to explain the selfishness and greed that pervades the division. Maybe a little light will shine in the darkness.
Is it worth your time to read and why
If you are one who buys the one-liner talking points hook, line, and sinker, take the time to do some research and soul-searching. This book lays out the myths and arguments most often used by those who want you convinced that abortion is good. Ms. D’Souza Gill provides a sensible, organized rebuttal to each of them. The language used in the book polarizes what is promoted by the Left and what is promoted by the Right, but it effectively shows the differences. The book also reiterates that the abortion issue is about more than politics. It’s about right and wrong. Read it from that perspective.
Ms. D’Souza Gill’s book is not the only one out there that lays bare the shady abortion business. Sue Ellen Browder used to be a writer for Cosmopolitan and magazines like it during the 1970s when Roe v. Wade was being argued and decided. You might find it interesting to know that a man led the organization (NARAL) that advocates the hardest in favor of abortion. Ms. Browder explains how he nearly single-handedly shaped the pro-choice agenda. It’s quite eye-opening and made me rethink my experience with the feminist movement. Check out her book Subverted, or if you’d rather watch a video, check her talk here.
I would also hazard a guess that some who shout the pro-choice myths loudest are also the least informed. An unfair assumption, I am sure, but how many people actually know the story of Roe v. Wade and how it came about? Those in favor of abortion talk about how it supports the right to privacy, but does it really? Where in the Constitution is the privacy clause? What were the actual arguments and the actual decision in the case? Why is it that the Supreme Court ended up being the vehicle by which abortion was legalized? Why didn’t state legislatures do it? If abortion is so desired by the people, why don’t they vote in favor of it?
The Choice provides background on all these myths and questions with additional source material for further research. Therefore, it is a good resource for those looking for data to support their pro-life beliefs and those who currently favor abortion but seek truth.
Backstory and commentary
Selfishness and greed. Right and wrong. Cut through the politicized crap, and that’s what this is about.
When my sister came to me in the early 2000s with an unplanned pregnancy, she thought I was going to tell her to get an abortion. I was president of our state’s NOW chapter, a volunteer with Planned Parenthood, and an ardent “pro-choice” advocate. I gave speeches and held up the signs. I didn’t think I would ever get an abortion myself, but I believed women should have the choice. I knew I didn’t want kids because I could barely take care of myself, much less another human. I believed in the feminist agenda, read all the books, and wrote in favor of feminist policies. A feminist would tell my sister what she needed to hear to make the right decision.
Instead of telling her to have an abortion, I invited my sister to my house, where I asked a friend of mine who had had an abortion and a friend of mine who had a baby to talk to her. They both told her about their experiences and answered all her questions. I stayed out of it. Several months later, my sister gave birth to a beautiful baby girl and while she had some super hard times as a single mom, I don’t think she regrets her choice.
Selfishness
I have never had kids. Selfishness ruled my life for too long. That selfishness inspired me to engage in meaningless, casual sexual relationships. That’s what empowered feminists do — whatever they want regardless of who it hurts. To enable my selfish lifestyle, I turned off the equipment. At age 28, I took matters into my own hands and found a doctor who was willing to give me a tubal. Many would not do it because of my age and because I did not have any kids. But I knew better. I wanted to do what I wanted because I was an empowered feminist and nobody was going to tell me different.
That life was lonely, hollow, and wretched — not worth it. I now have a new life and a different perspective on the lies sold by empowered feminists.
Jesus Saves
Two words, exceptional powermedium.com
First, God changed my heart and showed me the withered fruits of selfishness. Then, when I became a stepmom in 2012, my life changed. I did not know how much God can use motherhood to change someone for the better. The first time my son called me mom, my heart sparkled more robustly than any earthly pleasure ever had. Changing perspective from me, me, me, and putting someone else’s needs before mine taught me what it means to truly love someone. My husband taught me the truth about romantic love, but motherhood took love into a whole extra dimension previously unimagined.
People want abortion legal, available, and free in the name of healthcare, when in reality they do not want to deal with the consequences of their actions. That is the very definition of selfishness.
Greed
Planned Parenthood and its affiliates make millions and spend millions to convince women they can take care of the consequences because abortion is healthcare. The numbers are staggering. In Ms. D’Souza Gill’s book, she outlines the finances of this organization and the fact that most of their abortion centers are located in low-income neighborhoods where the population is primarily people of color. Oh wait, that’s right, Margaret Sanger was an ardent eugenicist. Noodle on that for a moment.
Then there is the pathway pro-choice people take to enforce their will upon everyone. Why rely on court decisions instead of letting people choose legislators who will vote for issues they care about? Why cram it down our throats? Why not let the people choose whether they want abortions provided in their communities? Why make taxpayers pay for abortion when they don’t believe in it?
“Ultimately, it doesn’t make sense how someone else’s choices are zero percent my business and at the same time 100 percent my fiscal responsibility.” — Danielle D’Souza Gill
Curioser and curioser.
Follow the science!
That is the mantra of today, correct? Well, science says that by week 5 of pregnancy, the baby’s bodily systems form. By week 10, science changes vocabulary from “embryo” to “fetus.” People who want children are having gender reveal parties around this time and celebrating a new gift of life while those who don’t want to live with the consequences of their choices want to kill the baby inside them. Abby Johnson tells a horrific story of watching a 13-week baby trying to swim away from the abortion tool. Science affirms the living child, and it is only what women tell themselves that changes depending upon what they want for themselves. The primary reasons women choose abortion? It’s inconvenient.
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you…(Jeremiah 1:5, ESV)
Choices
Let’s think about choices. Before the choice of abortion even becomes an issue, there are plenty of other choices.
Choose not to have sex.
Choose self-control over instant gratification.
Choose to use the myriad birth control options that pharmaceutical science has invented, which exist for men and women.
Choose to bless a family that cannot have children with the gift of love.
See? Plenty of choices and none of them involve killing a child.
You shall not murder. (Exodus 20:13, ESV)
Abortion is murder no matter how much you dress it up. For those tempted to scream at me that women who are raped should be able to murder the resulting child, check out Planned Parenthood’s affiliate, The Guttmacher Institute, showing how rare that is. Even so, the child did not rape you. The child did nothing wrong. The child deserves life even if it is with an adopted family.
Feminists promote women behaving selfishly and disguise it as empowerment. I’ve read those books and lived it for long enough to know it’s all a lie. A giant, fake, hollow lie.
True empowerment and freedom lie in the Truth.
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (John 8:32, NIV)
The Truth is that God creates life at conception. Abortion is murder. Abortion is selfish. Abortion is an excuse to avoid the consequences of one’s choices. Abortion feeds a multi-million dollar money machine that could care less about you.