I have been a computer geek since my teen years.  On my early days, I learned to program on a TRS-80 Model 3.  It literally had no ability for any graphics; it was all text.  We saved data and programs on cassette tapes, which predated floppy diskettes.  Yes, you read that right.  My sister got the first legitimate computer in our house which ran MS-DOS.  This computer had a handle and its own screen.  Toshiba sold it as a ‘portable’ only because it was completely self-contained.  I don’t believe that this computer fit in any backpack I’ve ever owned, and it weighted about nine pounds.

In high school, I carried a lot of books.  I lugged around both a backpack and a purple duffle bag with school colors.  Once I entered college, I continued to carry more weight than I needed to, opting to keep books or other items with me in case I wanted them.  This included music in the form of cassettes, and later CD’s.  I opted to be prepared at the expense of lugging all that weight.

I didn’t own a real computer during college, even being an engineer.  We conducted much of our engineering work in mainframes.  I would’ve enjoyed having a computer like my sister’s, but I could not afford it.  Furthermore, I might’ve carried it everywhere, all nine pounds of it.

And years later…

Decades later, practically everyone has a pocked sized computer that they carry everywhere.  Long gone are the nine-pound ‘portable’ computers.  I get into an animated discussion on Facebook with a friend from high school.  He and I were good friends; I hold no ill will towards him today.  However, I changed significantly since those days, as I’m sure he has as well.  While it varies on each issue, I tend to lean towards the left, since I value civil rights.  He definitely leans right on most issues.  This is fine as long as we may have a civil discussion.  While we weren’t discussing women’s reproductive rights, he does a what-about… and asserts that Democrats want full access to abortions, even into the third trimester.  [Sigh…]

For the record, I do support giving women more reproductive freedom.  I believe that abortion is health care, and women should continue to have access to it.  Though truthfully, my position on this is more subtle than you’d expect; allow me to elaborate.  If I were deaf, I should not pick the music for a party.  If I were blind, I should not pick the colors for a wedding.

Therefore, if either of these conditions presented themselves, I would simply abstain from voting.  As a cisgender man, access to abortion does not directly impact me, so in that principle I should not get a vote.  Furthermore, I personally believe that only women should be allowed to vote on their reproductive rights and freedoms.  Since that’s not how it’s currently tallied, I’ll cast my vote such that it aligns with the majority of women, and that is in support for more access to abortion.

“You are monsters.”

There are two camps when it comes to women’s reproductive rights.  On camp number one, the only reason to have sex is to produce offspring and thus contraception should be inaccessible to everyone.  They believe that pregnancies are actual people from the point of conception, even if they haven’t reasoned through the twin scenario.  Camp number two, abortions should be accessible like Slurpees at the local 7-Eleven to everyone, simply because you couldn’t be bothered to get condoms.  The most people fall somewhere between the two camps.  If you’re firmly on either camp, then ignore the remainder of this post; I won’t persuade you.

For everyone else, the further along the pregnancy continues, the more difficult it is to get an abortion.  A pregnancy is the size of a Lego minifigure at 11 weeks, yet there are now laws that forbid it after 6 weeks.  The debate surrounds when does the pregnancy get a soul, which is ultimately unanswerable.  Those who lean closer to camp one will paint horrific pictures of what happens during an abortion.  I won’t debate any of those descriptions but also won’t dignify them by repeating them here.  All these stories are told with the tacit implication that if you (mostly the woman, in this case) had taken the appropriate precautions, you would not be pregnant.

But what is the real story?

Hence, as my high school friend implied, if you should happen to seek a third trimester abortion, you are simply a new form of horrific evil… that Democrats want to allow everyone access to this.  The opposition, ironically the party of smaller government, wants to regulate how, when, and even if you may get this procedure.  The story that you spin in your mind is that these are promiscuous women with dozens of lovers; they use abortion when contraception fails (if used at all).  You scream for ‘accountability’, though you somehow forget the men.  However, there’s part of this narrative that eludes you…

Years ago, my friend walks into my office and asks to borrow a Lego minifigure.  While I’m curious, I simply allow her to select among the ones that I have.  She later tells me that she’s expecting, and that’s about the size of the fetus (around 11 weeks).  When do you start to tell friends and family?  At what stage do you think about a new car or new home?  When do you buy a crib or a child seat?  Have you started to think about names?  Remember that nine-pound laptop from the start of this post?  An expectant mother gains around 10-15 pounds by the third trimester, and it is weight that she carries with her literally everywhere she goes.

Why now?

If an abortion was considerably easier to get at ’24 weeks – 3 days’ (before the third trimester), then why would anyone wait and seek one at ’24 weeks + 3 days’ (into the third trimester)?  A pregnancy is not like an overdue library book that you may forget in your bag or bookshelf; you literally carry with you everywhere you go.  Seriously, if getting it done a week earlier would’ve attracted less scrutiny (and criticism), why wait this long?

The answer is tragically simple; the circumstances have changed from a week before.  If you have made it this far, you had every intention to carry this pregnancy to term.  Yet something now leads you to seek out an abortion.  It’s something that will shatter your heart and lead to one of the most difficult decisions you’ll ever make.

These families will endure quite possibly the worst day of their lives.  To legislate the circumstances by which this is permissible, to indeed tell someone that which led them to make this decision is not sufficient.  You will compartmentalize how much and what kind of suffering is enough to allow them this procedure…

That is what is truly horrific evil.