Children Are Not Weapons

May 2006

As a typical “good Catholic” my mother was obsessed with the abortion issue. Irregardless of what side of the debate you are on, I hope these lessons will be taken seriously. The fact is a small child has no clue what pregnancy is, let alone understands abortion. These children should not be used as weapons in the abortion debate. I should know, I was used as such a weapon.
One of the earliest memories I have is of an abortion rally at the state Capital Building in Salem. I’m not sure of the exact date, but it was some where around 1971-1972 when states were re-debating the abortion issue after Roe v. Wade. I was about 3 years old. My mother dragged my sister (age 2) and I to this event which consisted of both Pro-Choice and Anti-Choice women screaming at each other. I was completely terrified, which is probably why I remember the event. I recall my mother grabbing me and shoving me to the front while she screamed things like: “You want to kill my baby!”
I think we can see the problem here. She made me think that people there actually wanted to hurt me! I was completely terrified. This went on for hours outside while inside the legislature was holding hearings. Because of the volume of people who wanted to speak, they were drawing names from a hat and of course my mother’s name was drawn. She had plans to have my sister and I with her while she pleaded with them not to kill any more children. Thankfully she gave up her spot to a group of religious men who she thought would state the case better. (Yes, religious MEN know what’s best for women’s bodies!)
What did that day teach me then?

Certain women wanted to kill me and my friends.
The women who didn’t want to kill me smoked and littered a lot.
When you are an exhausted child, even cold, cigarette covered concrete will work as a place to sleep.
What did that day teach me today?

CHILDREN ARE NOT WEAPONS!
If your child is not old enough to understand abortion, don’t take them to abortion rallies! I don’t care what side you are on, this is no place for children!
As I got older (6 - 9 years old) and Oregon remained a Pro-Choice state, my mother became more insane on the issue. She would regularly leave out those “abortion pictures” on the kitchen table. She would make us look at them and explain how that was a murdered child. She would repeat over and over. “Women just throw their children in the trash when they don’t want them!” I honestly thought that if I did anything wrong to upset her, my mother would throw me out with the trash! I did not even fully understand what abortion was until I was in my early teens.
So PLEASE, if you really love your child, do not expose them to this crap. It only confuses and terrifies them. Do you really want your child worrying that people are trying to kill them? Do you really want to terrify your child? Do you really want to use your child as a weapon in a war they do not understand?
Protest or support any cause you like — that’s your right as an American, just leave the kids at home for issues like this. And if you think that somehow taking them will get the child on your side of the debate when they get older — forget it! I am as Pro-Choice as you can get!

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Angela C. Byers