‘A Priest on Abortion’

I am so pleased to read Regas’ most sensitive and informed views on abortion. It is important to me, and to people like me, that religious leaders break their silence (because most are pro-choice) and speak out in defense of a woman’s right to choose.

I am a baptized and confirmed Episcopalian. Thank you, Father Regas, for making me feel proud of the church I was brought up in. You inspire me to share a bit of my own story.

I had a safe, legal abortion a year ago. It was a very difficult decision that I arrived at only after much prayer and introspection. Those who would make abortion illegal claim that abortion in this country has become too easy an answer. They push for more restrictions in the hopes that women will make what they consider to be moral decisions.

There is nothing easy about being faced with an unplanned pregnancy (no matter what solution is chosen) and there is nothing moral about decisions that are forced upon us. In my own case I know this to be true. My situation was painful and serious enough without the added danger of illegal abortion as the only alternative to carrying an unhealthy and possibly unsafe pregnancy to term. I ache for women who are poor and alone, because they are the ones who will suffer the most from the Supreme Court’s most recent decision.

Because I was not coerced by lack of funds or government restrictions, I was emotionally able to hear the answers to my prayers. With those answers I made what was the most moral and loving decision--for me and for the potential human life I was carrying.

Thank you, Rev. Regas, for reminding us that women must be allowed to make these most intimate decisions for themselves.

DOROTHY MAE WHITE

West Hollywood