Help Us Make a Way Where There Is No Way

Because of recent events and the barrage of reactions and responses, I feel I must speak what is on my heart and has been for a few years, now.  However, I do so with trepidation because I have been waiting and praying for the right time and the right words so that my part of the truth will be heard and not perceived as on this or that side. I find I can wait no longer. In Quakerese, I can no longer wear this sword (of silence) and remain faithful to that which we call God.

Is there is a way that we, the religious left, are also responsible for the murder of Dr. Tiller? The polarization of this issue has been manipulated by those in power, but we have played our part by accepting some very basic untruths. Abortion is not synonymous with healthcare, it is not a universal right. Nor does it make up for the thousands of years of women's oppression, or heal the wounds caused by mothers who died in childbirth or under the knife of illegal abortions.  It is, on occasion, a terrible necessity, and will continue to be so until we create the conditions which make it unnecessary. It is a great spiritual truth that destroying is easy, creating, particularly after much destruction, is hard. But with God's help we may repent, that is, rethink and turn around, turn back toward God,  so that we can create a world in which abortion is unnecessary and unchosen- except, possibly, in rare and extreme cases.

I, like so many of us, am a child of the age I was born into.  Feminism was a huge blessing in my life and I was freed from many of the external restraints and false notions of what it means to be female because of it.  But I was duped and lulled into believing that a fetus was not human and that abortion was nothing,  of no consequence, no more than getting a wart removed.  I do understand why so many of us fell prey to this.  Desperate women will risk their own lives to have an illegal abortion, and have done so throughout history.  And it is for this reason alone that abortion must, unfortunately, remain legal until we are able to create those conditions which make it unnecessary.  But it is not a universal right and it is not synonymous with women's healthcare, especially in this society where actual conception control is available, even if not perfectly so.

Are we not all children of God? Is not life sacred? Are we not each gifted with a divine spark, the inner light, that of God within? When does this occur? At birth? Sometime during gestation? Or at conception? How can we know for sure? It is not possible to know these things in a scientific way, for we are not talking about something on the physical plane, but on the spiritual, or where the spiritual and physical meet. So we must take it on faith.  One question we can ask is, "What is the most loving thing to do?" We  will, of course, not all reach the same conclusion about what is most loving.  And here is the rub: abortion is always a 'Sophie's choice', even though it is between a mother and child rather than choosing which child will live. This choice is always heart rending, and spiritually damaging, just as choosing to kill anyone else to save your own life always is.  It has become accepted by many that war is not only devastating because of the destruction of life and resources, but for soldiers the killing of others leaves psychological (and spiritual) damage that may never be repaired. Just so, abortion. There are cases, when it may make some kind of sense to chose the lesser of two evils, but lets not pretend that the lesser evil magically becomes good because no other option was (or seemed) available.

This begs the question, "Can good come of evil?"  Here it is important to admit that God works in mysterious ways, and that from our vantage point, as humans, it seems that what was meant for evil God can use for good. But I would never advise anyone to do evil hoping that God would use it for good, unless there really and truly was no other choice. In these desperate situations it behooves us to remember that God can make a way where there is no way. Prayer matters, how you live your life matters, the choices you make matter... Indeed, I believe that the violent terrorists who murdered Dr. Tiller had convinced themselves that they were either doing God's will or were accomplishing the lesser evil for the greater good. Clearly they were mistaken on both counts, with horrendous results, that no doubt have made God weep!

We can turn this around.  We can, with God's help, make a way where it seems there is no way. We can forge an alliance of people of good will who are determined to see that abortion becomes unnecessary.  We can live in that Power and that Life which makes war and abortion obsolete. And we can start by recognizing abortion for what it is- killing.

The murder of  Dr. Tiller is a tragedy, it was wrong and it's perpetrators must be arrested, tried and bear the full consequences under the law if found guilty (excluding the death penalty from my point of view).  They are true terrorists, for it is clear that their object is not only retribution but as a warning to other doctors who perform abortions and women who have them. This cannot be allowed, or condoned in any way, shape or form.  This only makes it clearer than ever that we must come together- to form a majority, who know that abortion is wrong, and that the only way to eliminate it is to eliminate the need for it. I believe that this coalition can happen, is waiting to happen, will take much hard work and soul searching, much prayer as well as divine assistance, but is the only answer to this deadly situation. How can we fight terrorism non-violently? By offering the good people who are confused into supporting or tacitly supporting the extremists, another way. Can we offer a way of hope, integrity and love? A way to come together and work for a new day, a day when all God's children will be cherished, and allowed to flourish? I believe we can and we must. Indeed, because of this latest act of murder, God is calling, God is crying out for us to do so.

Amy Kietzman

Note: To be completely transparent, I have never had an abortion, and I consider myself lucky, as I am aware that so many of my contemporaries have. Indeed, until the birth of my 3^rd child, I was not absolutely sure that I would not, could not have an abortion.  I was also pregnant accidentally 3 times- but all of them when I was married and economically secure.  One ended in miscarriage.  Only one of my children was planned, my first born, and I had access to conception control, but did not use it wisely or well by any standards- unless, of course, one considers the daughters that were a direct result.