“Working in an emergency room in those days, nurses saw the aftermath of personal abortions, and the results were heart-wrenching,” Janice Lanier
Westerville resident Janice Lanier is a registered nurse.
This column is hard to write. The subject is personal.
I fear by sharing it in this forum I am opening myself up to criticism and even personal attacks. But I also believe remaining silent — playing it safe — is a disservice to my daughters, granddaughters, and great granddaughter.
So, I write with trepidation, but I write.
Whenever I am asked if I am “pro-life” my response is “of course I am pro-life. Who could not be?”
But I know what is really being asked is whether I support abortion.
My answer: “I am pro-choice.” I am for a woman’s right to be the steward of her own body; to be free to make a very personal decision about her physical well-being based on her own circumstances.
I remember a time when abortion was illegal.
That did not mean there were no abortions, but that they were done in dangerous conditions, using whatever devices might work.
Not only were women risking their own physical lives, but they were also facing personal traumas with few support systems in place. Working in an emergency room in those days, nurses saw the aftermath of personal abortions, and the results were heart-wrenching. Thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs, we are back to those untenable days unless voters in Ohio decide otherwise.
Issue 1 allows voters to send a message that Ohio really is the heart of it all.
It cares about women. It believes women’s rights to make personal decisions about their reproductive health and parents’ rights to make decisions about their minor children should be free of government interference. Those rights come with some boundaries that also protect the unborn.
Those boundaries are recognized in the actual Issue 1 amendment language.
Ideally, it should be unnecessary to address this issue in a constitutional amendment, but in today’s world an amendment seems the only way to preserve women’s freedom to make incredibly personal decisions about their own reproductive health.
Source : Dispatch
