‘Why I No Longer Do Abortions’

Thanks to Dr. George Flesh and his commentary “Why I No Longer Do Abortions,” (Sept. 12). Gertrude says a big “thanks!” that there was no easy abortion available in 1944. She would have been tempted to abort me. I was one of those “worst-case scenarios.” Born one of five children, to alcoholic parents in Philadelphia’s inner city, my mom cried when she found herself pregnant with me. But soon she got passed the disappointment of another unwanted pregnancy, and I was born.

I say thanks that no Planned Parenthood Clinic was available to me in 1963 when, as a virgin teen-ager, I was raped and became pregnant. The state of California would have been taking advantage of me in my crisis state by offering me this seemingly easy out. Because I am no hero, I waited out the crisis decision period.

As an unwanted child myself, I decided abortion was too permanent an answer to my temporary problem, and chose to give life (without the support of my family). That baby girl, the “missing piece” of my life, was born in a Los Angeles County hospital, and adopted out at birth, never to be seen again. Until 1985 when Julie looked me in the eye and said “thanks for not aborting me,” as she passed me a child she announced to be my granddaughter. She, too, was grateful that no concerned legislator had offered a confused teen-ager “relief from her trauma” through a free abortion.

And Eileen Anderson, adoptive mother of Julie, said “thanks for providing us with our daughter,” as we appeared together on TV’s “Geraldo” show. And Julie remarked to the host, “Yes, I am the result of rape, but why give me the death penalty for the crime of my father? I have inherited no evil genes. It doesn’t matter how you began, but what you’ve become.”

LEE EZELL, Newport Beach