I Regret My Abortion. That's a sign I hadn't seen pro-lifers use before. When I saw it for the first time, I couldn't believe how stupid the sign was. But apparently it is the brain child of a charity called Silent No More Awareness. It certainly seems appropriate that they are calling for a lack of awareness.

Apparently this Christian charity reaches out to women who have had an abortion, and then they try to exploit their emotional hurt regarding their difficult decision, in order to push their political agenda.

But what I don't understand is their marketing slogan. What they are admitting is that women made a free choice, which they now regret. So what? I'm sure people regret smoking their first cigarette, but does that mean we should ban smoking? And would banning smoking actually stop people smoking, or just push it underground? How about guns? I suspect there are some criminals in jail right now who wish they had never picked up a gun a shot someone with it. So how about we ban guns too?

However, this wasn't my real reason for writing this post. What I was actually going to talk about was how things really are in a 'pro-life' country, like Brazil.

It was in the news yesterday that Brazil is currently having an abortion witch hunt. Over 1,200 women are being investigated on suspicion of having an abortion. Some of the tactics used during the witch hunt include forcing women to undergo intimate sexual examinations. Thousands of women had their medical records opened to the public. Ex-husbands, ex-boyfriends, partners and other family members were interviewed too.

The clinic at the center of the controversy ended up closing in 2007. So far 30 women have been convicted of having an abortion, and as punishment were forced to work with disabled children against their will.

You know I really get that abortion is a horrible thing. No one is pro-abortion. But I cannot fathom why people are so eager to take us down a path that would make our society like this. Witch hunts? Non-consensual sexual examinations of women? Forcing women who had to make a difficult decision re-live it and suffer humiliation? Releasing possibly innocent women's medical records to the public? How is any of this good, and how is any of it a model of an ideal society?

And for you 'pro-lifers' out there, do you imagine even for a second that outlawing abortion in this country would actually prevent abortion? Have you ever heard of a meth lab? Drugs are illegal right? Yet oddly, people still take drugs all the time.

When people want to do something, but you make it illegal, all you do is push the same behavior underground, with all the risks associated with that. You can't wave a magic wand and make abortion go away; life isn't like that. If abortion is outlawed in this country, poor people will have a back street or self abortion, putting women's health at risk. Rich people will fly off to a free country and have their abortion anyway. And women will suffer. That's all you achieve. You create suffering in women.

I've already written several posts about the horrible infant mortality rate in America, so I won't bore you with that argument all over again. But suffice to say if you are 'pro-life' why don't you campaign to protect the children we have already given birth to? Demand free and unconditional health care for all children, so that maybe we can get into the top 25 countries in the world for infant mortality rate. Thousands of babies die each year in America, because we don't give them proper health care. That's the true scandal and issue here. Being angry about abortion doesn't help society, protecting the rights of children on the other hand could really make a positive difference.