I wanted to respond to the Alligator’s April 10 article on the abortion rights event at the Civic Center because on April 7, I hosted a campus event with UF’s Pro-Life Alliance in the Reitz Colonnade for Floridian women who regretted their abortion, an event called “Silent No More,” which WCJB TV-20 News featured on the 6 o’clock news. This event, juxtaposed with the women Saturday, significantly enlightens the personal repercussions of post-abortion.
Regardless of your stance on abortion’s effect on women, I believe everyone must acknowledge, like Whitney Mutch, that abortion changes the trajectory of one’s life.
At the event, Mary Huston had a similar story to these women: She was 19, in college and pregnant.
Huston did choose abortion, but her flippancy turned to regret, and 30 years later she admits to the negative effects abortion had on her health (she was unable to conceive), her psyche (she spent years as an alcoholic) and even her current marriage and some of the tension with her new husband that the abortion caused.
To be statistically accurate, abortion does actually hurt women. A 2006 New Zealand study shows 76 percent of post-abortive teens experience severe depression, versus 31 percent of non-abortive teens. Pregnancy should change the trajectory of one’s life.
It’s not Whitney Mutch’s first child’s fault that he or she was conceived at an “inconvenient time.”
I think our children deserve better. Florida’s legislature realizes there is better than abortion for our men, women and children.
Editor's Note: This letter refers to this previous article.
