Cardinal Points

Issue date: 11/16/07 Section: Opinions

Take a trip down Brinkerhoff Street toward downtown Plattsburgh, early afternoon on a weekday, and the scene outside of Planned Parenthood is a familiar, recurring one.

Those elderly picketers with their pro-life signs, chanting hymns in the ears of passing pedestrians are giving each proceeding vehicle something to gawk at on their voyage through the city.

If you're lucky, like myself last Thursday, you may even have the chance to catch a dozen or so protesters outside the health clinic, turning the public sidewalk into a gauntlet of shame and sorrow for those who even say the "a" word.

I've never had to put myself through the agony of an abortion, but just like many other students at this college, I know a handful of people that have.

It's never an easy thing - changing the natural course of events for what it is believed to be a heedful decision for the benefit of all involved.

It's not a clear, concise choice to make either, but it is always a grave possibility and realistic option (at least here in New York State) if the situation is too woeful for those partners to endure.

People do make mistakes, and I'm not saying abortion is a great thing, but sometimes there are circumstances that leave the potential parents and their offspring in a much worse-off situation if childbirth were to take place, so other options need to be assessed.

We've all heard of the many different scenarios - a rape victim bearing the rapist's child, a 16-year-old girl in high school, a poor family that already has children and cannot afford to raise another.

The severity of each position clearly varies, but the bottom line is, sometimes people need an alternative, and whether or not people agree with that alternative shouldn't bear any validity on the procedure.

The majority of the people who oppose abortion usually do so because of religious beliefs, but there are other people who just don't agree with it for personal reasons.

But is this religious populace the same group who shun homosexuality and evolution?

There are some things that are just a fact of human life and regardless of how much a certain person or group disagree with them, they will still exist.

It's understandable that a group of people disagree with this procedure, just like many things in the world, regardless of their beliefs or interests.

I respect difference in opinion and even believe anyone willing to communicate theirs with people should always do so - within reason.

Continued...

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