Abortion *isn't* Genocide

This is, I think, the group's 3rd visit to campus this year. It's ridiculous. They put up signs saying "Genocide pictures ahead" and then it's a big anti-abortion display. I don't see why UT keeps letting these people come. They infuriate me. First, aren't we a university? Shouldn't we use terms correctly? It demeans genocide to compare it to abortion. It ain't genocide unless it's against a particular ethnic or racial group. You can claim it's murder, if you like. That would at least be arguable. I find myself filled with hatred against them for their lack of compassion, but to act on that would be doing exactly what they want. They think abortion isn't compassionate, but they quickly forget about the kids after they're born and they don't protect the mothers. How is that compassion? I hate what this does to me. But today I'm proud of myself. On the way back from the library, I refused to take another path or be intimidated. When they asked me if I wanted a pamphlet, I said, No, I'm in favor of abortion and women's choice. This woman frowned, taken aback, and said, what about the children? I shrugged and said it isn't a child until it's born. Not my best argument or reaction, but soooo much better than what I really wanted to do, which is to yell at them about learning lessons from the past--I mean, look at Costa Rica. You don't stop abortion by making it illegal. You have to change the conditions that lead to it. You need to guarantee that a woman will still have her job if she had to take medical leave. I don't have that right in my current position, by the way. They might be able to give me a section or two in future, but I'd never be fulltime here again if I had to stop teaching in the middle of a term. You have to provide some sort of national subsidy for daycare, change adoption laws, change the entire attitudes surrounding childbirth, and above all educate people about birth control, make it free, make sure it's covered by all insurance companies and welfare. And even then, well, if a woman doesn't want to have a child, it isn't right to force her to do it. Don't make abortion illegal; change the social conditions.