Is There Life after Roe?

I HAVE TO ADMIT THAT I was skeptical when I first started reading "Is There Life after Roe? How to Think about the Fetus" (Winter 2004/5). As a woman who not only advocates for the right to choose, but also who has personally made the difficult choice to have an abortion, I was afraid that reading Kissling's work would leave me feeling judged and defensive. Much to my surprise and relief however, the paper had the exact opposite affect on me. For the first time ever, I feel vindicated.

Unlike many of my sisters who have made the same choice to terminate a pregnancy (or at least the ones I have spoken to), I did not feel immediately relieved and freed after my abortion. Quite frankly, I felt sad. My sadness made me feel hypocritical. I questioned: How could I advocate for something that was so difficult for me to handle? I did feel that the life growing inside of me had value, though I didn't feel comfortable acknowledging it at the time (for a variety of reasons). Though I proudly support the stance that a woman should maintain the right to choose, I've often felt disconnected from the prochoice movement because it seems cold in its collective view of the fetus. Thank you.

JAMIE F.

Gainesville, Florida 

FRANCES KISSLING'S ESSAY on refraining the choice argument was very interesting but I admit to being frustrated. I feel like she got her information more from political leaders than from those of us actually doing abortions. I have been doing abortions since 1974 and in my clinic we were speaking about loss, grieving the loss of life path, of partner, of self-image, of potential babies for the past 20 years at least. I have also performed and taught how to perform abortions with great respect for what we were doing both as terminating a life and saving the woman's life (in some cases literally). I always said that I felt like I was liberating two souls whenever I did an abortion, the woman's and the fetus's. We always tried to validate whatever a woman's ritual was to let her fetus go and I really believe that we would do well to have a socially acceptable ritual for aborted fetuses. Maybe this is all just because I had a second trimester abortion myself many years ago and had to face all these issues, but I really do not believe that our abortion clinic was unique.

SUZANNE T. POPPEMA, MD

Seattle, Washington 

AS DISAPPOINTED AS I AM in the Democrats and other liberals for deciding to go soft on abortion rights to appease conservatives and the religious right, I never thought Catholics for a Free Choice or Frances Kissling would do the same. Abortion was once about a woman's right to make decisions about her own body and life. No argument about the value of the fetus or when life began was needed since this issue is solely about the woman's life. Discussion of the fetus relegates women back to servitude: first to a man and then to a child. Women's lives are always being sold out for political and social gain. I can see now that I long for the days when abortion was solely about a woman's right to control her life and body. The radicals are all gone and I fear our rights will soon follow.

ALLISON HERGENROTHER

Winter Park, Florida 

I HAVE JUST FINISHED reading "Is There Life after Roe?" I simply want to say thank you for articulating so beautifully my deepest feelings and concerns surrounding the choice issue. As a prochoice supporter I am constantly troubled by the lack of value given to the fetus, even in friends of my own who have had several abortions as the result of irresponsibility. I mourn for the lack of reverence given to the fetus, while at the same time remaining staunchly prochoice. It is a difficult place to be at times in this movement and I simply want to commend you for your honesty. Thank you again, your article was very refreshing and moving. I appreciate you and your organization.

MISTY WORLEY

NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota

Saint Paul, MN

I WANT TO CONGRATULATE you on the Winter 2004/5 issue. I thought it very brave and necessary. The cover, to begin with, is the first example (that I know of) of a prochoiee advocacy group having a picture of the fetus in ultrasound realism and including scientific articles on the likelihood of fetal pain. Nor have I seen anything in legal abortion advocacy like the cover's caption, "Unsettled questions in the abortion debate." That caption alone, which could as well appear on right-tolife publication covers, makes the issue an important part of the discourse in abortion politics.

Your suggestions to prochoice leaders required bravery, in that I had never heard them publicly advocated and which, as you note, they go far beyond past and present prochoice discourse and politics. For example, calling on Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Federation to promote legislation that offers reimbursement for the costs of anesthesia taken in recognition of fetal pain; calling on prochoice leaders to promote policies that enhance reflection and good decision making and alternatives to abortion; calling on prochoice leaders to acknowledge the moral unease, even among those unwilling to re-criminalize abortion laws, and about the stopping of a developing life that so clearly belongs to the human family. Your expression of your own unease about the dangers of equating human worth with wantedness was especially welcome. In your otherwise inclusive comments about abortion and the possible "hardening of hearts" I missed only some comment about those who promote a consistent ethic of life.

JIM KELLY

Fordham University,

New York