It came to me while I was thinking about my own sweet mother. For years, this woman helped me with infernal science fair projects, drove me to violin lessons and birthday parties, and endured my tantrums with a patience that astounds me more and more the older I am. She made sure that I ate my vegetables, paid for my braces, and allowed me to host slumber parties that would inevitably result in my giggling and screaming pre-pubescent friends running all over the house in the middle of the night. Even now, almost a quarter century after giving birth to me, she pays for my education, sends me cute cards and letters "just because," and loses sleep over my well-being. She does all this in spite of the fact that I am a legal adult. And it's the same with my dad. Parenthood really is a life sentence, or at least a binding contract.
Pro-life protesters trying to deter women from entering clinics often call out helpful incentives to keep their babies, such as offers for a free baby blanket or pacifier. This is a huge insult, as it implies that the pocket change needed to purchase baby supplies is the biggest obstacle an accidental mother will face. Leaving aside the enormous financial investment that a baby requires, raising a child demands maturity, patience, stability, and life-long devotion.
Not to be entered into lightly
The crisis pregnancy centers that manipulate women into becoming mothers and the pro-life activists who just succeeded in defunding Indiana's Planned Parenthood are, in essence, grossly undervaluing the enormous commitment that parenthood entails. Parenthood doesn't end after a 9-month gestation, nor after 18 to 26 years of tax dependency. While I'm celebrating my mother today for choosing to have me, I fully acknowledge that she didn't have to do so. Women deserve every chance to decide whether to enter into the biggest (and longest-lasting) commitment of their lives. And children deserve parents ready and willing to make that commitment.
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