Dr. Meyer, Dr. Barber, Mr. Carvelho and Barbara Mallut and all:
Just because they are too weak to protest does not make it right for
the unborn to be painfully destroyed in their mother's womb. But I
cannot afford to cast any stones at anyone.
It was around the year 1969 that my first wife and I had a difficult
decision to make. One of our daughters, a high school girl, came to us
asking for our help in getting an abortion. She and her boyfriend had
just made an attempt to get this done in Missouri. several 100 miles
from our home in northern Iowa. It was not legal as yet in Iowa, and
there was some problem yet in getting it done in Missouri. My wife had
been under treatment for schizophrenia for a number of years, and our
5th and last child was only ten. I got airplane tickets for my wife and
daughter and made reservations for them at the Holiday Inn in New York
City and was thankful when they got home safely. In some ways this story
ends happily because the young couple were married as soon as she
graduated from nursing school, and they have had three healthy children
since then. But I suppose I will always wonder about one grandchild that
I never saw.
I hope that none of my pro-choice friends have that on their
conscience. but I am so sorry that abortion became an option. If it had
not been available. we would have managed. So that is why I would like
to see the day when abortion is extremely rare. and allowed only for
truly life threatening situations. I was weak enough then to take
advantage of anything the law allows.
That is why I finally realized how much I needed a savior and made a
heartfelt committment to turn my life over completely to his care. For
those who believe that there is a God who made and loves each of us; it
only seems logical that God should make the life and death decisions.
I really feel sorry for the physicians of this country who live in a
state that legalizes assisted suicide. Surely the responsibility and
burdens they carry will be even more overwhelming if they get involved
with the deliberate ending of life also. We may be on the proverbial
slippery slope becoming more and more the society of death. Who will
protect all of us Parkinsonians from those who think we are becoming too
costly for the system to bear. We may find ourselves targeted for death
without our permission. Our best opportunity to reverse this trend is
having more respect for all life.
Well there you have it, my confession; I do not know any better way to
try to get my point across. I have been there and done that!!
Bill Olson, 68, 1983, 1980
