Sarah, she is 17 and has made an appointment to get her first abortion. In her short life, she has settled for the warmth and acceptance of any guy that shows her any kind of positive attention. She knows the drill, dress, make up and the all-important flirtatious aura that lets a guy know she is desperate for attention. She goes out with her other girlfriends, hoping this night, they will meet that “special” guy, you know the one that will sweep them off their feet and make everything right in the world. To belong, to be loved, is what they all long for.
Her parents divorced when she was young. Actually, Dad bailed. He found someone younger and more “fun”. Sarah talks to him briefly, when she calls him and he always promises he will come around, but never does. She can’t figure out why he doesn’t like her. Maybe if I was prettier, or smarter, there must be something wrong with me, because if he liked me, he would have stayed, he would call.
On the outside Sarah is confident and carries herself like she has it all figured out. She does well in school and has dreams of going to college and making something of her life. She doesn’t want to end up like her mom, working all the time, single and abandoned. Sarah doesn’t blame her mom for her dad leaving, but often wonders if only she had tried harder, maybe he would have stayed.
Fueled by this internal, primitive longing for her dad’s affection and acceptance, she looks for this in any guy that comes around and then, when the brief “relationship” ends, she is left feeling even more empty and abandoned. Once again, left, rejected, and each experience leaves her feeling even more lost and lonely.
This last relationship, she vowed to herself would be different. This guy REALLY cares for me, he even said he loved me and I think he means, it. After he found out she was pregnant, he bailed. Not feeling like she could tell her mom, the shame and guilt, the lectures and conflict was more than she could bare.
Abortion seemed like her only option to regain her fragile place in life. She has heard all the talk about how it is murder, she has seen on TV abortion clinics being bombed by people who call themselves Christians and wonders why they would kill others. She is confused, but mostly scared. Scared of losing her relationship with her mother, her father, her dreams of college and a future.
At the hospital, abortions are routine. It is like going in and getting any other outpatient procedure. There had been some controversy at the hospital due to some nurses who had a moral problem with wheeling girls down to the wing where they get abortions. They felt that they would be contributing to the death of the child and supporting this vile act. These Christian nurses had it written in their contract to be excused from this unrighteous duty. The Christian community applauded this stand for morality. “What a great witness”, they said, “standing up for what you believe in”, … “we all should pray for this kind of boldness and stand against evil”.
Under the banner of morality, the righteousness of our day, Sarah will be wheeled down by a nurse who will show her compassion and understanding in her most desperate hour, but it won’t be a Christian showing this love and compassion, they are too busy making a stand.
