President's Message

Abortion: A New Perspective

N.H. Tucker, III, M.D., President

The following was written by a student at Episcopal High School and I would like to share it with you.

"Abortion is a controversial issue. Everyone has their own opinion why it should or should not be legal. My personal view is not so much anti-abortion, but pro-adoption. Why should an unwanted child be killed, when he or she could be given to those that cannot have children and want a baby to love? Adoption provides a child for the adoptive parents, and provides the child with a chance to grow up happily. Abortion destroys the unwanted fetus. The advantages of abortion, in the long run, are not as positive nor as far-reaching as the advantages of adoption. I have never had an abortion, but I was a result of an unwanted pregnancy. I was adopted, and the events of my life led me to promote adoption over abortion.

My birthmother, whom I never knew, was only fifteen. She, like many other girls who get pregnant accidentally, never expected to be a statistic. But a casual sexual encounter with a young man resulted in an unwanted suprise: me. This teenager was left with disappointment from her parents, no support from the father, and very few options. Should she have the baby and raise it herself? Should she have the baby, but give it to other people to raise? Or should she rid herself of this burden completely with an abortion?

The girl knew that she could not raise a child at fifteen, when she was really just a child herself. She did not have the maturity, nor the discipline for motherhood. It is unknown why she did not choose the option of abortion. Perhaps it was because her parents forbade it, or because her own morals kept her from killing her unborn child. Whatever prompted it, she chose to have the baby and give it up for adoption.

My parents had been married for eight years. In that span of time, something kept them from having children. It was not a medical problem. It was not for lack of trying. Fate simply did not intend for them to have a child that was biologically their own. After eight years of just the two of them, my parents decided to adopt. A private dealing with an attorney led them to my birthmother. It seemed like an act of God; my birthmother, seeking parents to love her child, and my parents, seeking a child to love, finding what they needed in each other. On August 23, 1981, I was born. I do not know if my birthmother ever saw me or held me after my birth. But I know she cared, because I was alive. Three days later, my parents came to get me and bring me home.

When I think about the difficult situation my birthmother faced, I am forever grateful that she did not choose abortion. I could have died before I ever took my first breath. My limited existence could have been cut short by the request of someone else before I had even begun to live. Instead, she chose to give her child a chance at life with others, who could give the love that she could not. From that choice of adoption, two people who could not have their own children gained a chance to be parents. And I gained a life and a family."

Well done. Oh, by the way, the author of this essay is my daughter, Jennifer.

August, 1999/ Jacksonville Medicine