Choosing compassion on a complicated issue

There is no mother like the mother that bore us. (Spanish proverb)

It was 1972 and my grandmother was livid at her sisterin-law’s letter recommending my 33-year-old mom have an abortion — and she had connections to assist as a Floridian with fancy jewelry, cars and fur coats. I was a 12-yearold then, soaking in the moral beliefs from the matriarch of her family of nine siblings.

That December my mom gave birth to a son in a Massachusetts hospital. My little brother came home in a Christmas stocking.

Last week I was conversing comfortably in between two women in their 40s when the conversation shifted to Roe v. Wade. One woman was grateful for her right to have birthed children when she was ready to parent, and not before. The other was grateful her mom didn’t choose to abort her in the womb. The two of them leaned in close and lovingly locked eyes. “It’s a complicated issue,” one of them whispered to the agreement of the other. They lingered quietly over the others right to choose their choices. They held no malice. If anything it strengthen their bond.

I unequivocally respect a woman’s right to choose. I hold no malice towards either choice, unless that choice is to criminalize the choice you don’t believe in. As for me? I choose compassion.

“When the Lord saw her, he felt compassion for her, and said to her, “Do not weep.” — Luke 7:13

— Bill Mash, Chico