hot topic - abortion

A bit of my very honest, vulnerable self.

After many years of wishing I was on top of the latest news, but finding watching it or reading it really boring, I decided that my morning commute would be dedicated to a radio station that keeps me up to date on what's happening in the country. Internationally, the news about Northern Ireland conflict has probably reached around the world. I am not so certain that the Republic's discussion about abortion has.

To bring you up to speed:
- due to the carpet being lifted on sexual abuse in the Church here, national trust in the Catholic Church seems to have gone out the window

- I would love to do a cultural study on what happens when a nation looses an identity

- there is a considerable part of Irish society that is now rejecting any influence the Catholic Church, or any other church, has over public policy (amongst other things)

- there was the X case this year where an Indian woman died in hospital after requesting an abortion repeatedly before her death (more complications involved here than just the legalisation of abortion)

- Ireland is being forced to reconsider the laws regarding abortion

- I am so not a news person so please don't consider this post as an end all for what is going on

In my experience, anyone in "good Christian circles" who does not have the immediate response of pro-life is responded to as if they are from the devil himself. I might have even been like that at one stage. I wouldn't be so bold as to say I am pro-choice now. Rather, over the last 10 years I have learned that some things are not as black and white as we would like them to be. We have spent too much time judging people who have abortions rather than loving them. If a young woman is going to have to choose between drinking heavily during her pregnancy, not wanting to be a mother, and having an abortion I have a hard time saying which is the better option. In an ideal world, neither would happen. However, if her choice will be between those two...

Right now England is the most common place that I know girls go for abortions. I provide them with the knowledge I have and point them in directions where they can make informed decisions rather than uninformed impulses. Regardless of an abortion is in England or Ireland, I still have a choice to make after they make their choice - will I judge and condemn them or will I love them through all their emotions and choices. As far as I know, there is only one of those options that will bring life and restoration. I wish life were black and white a little more, but it is not. Will I still choose to love well?