Here it is, 9:00 on Tuesday night, and I promised to have a post for tomorrow morning.

If you follow this blog, you already know that Servalbear does thoughtful, well-researched pieces.  She has them in “drafts” for days ahead of time.

I do more off-the-cuff, here’s what happened and I gotta talk about it NOW, or it’s the night before and I gotta come up with something NOW.   It’s the differences between us that make us a good team, right?  I can indulge my down-to-the-wire at the last-minute style of meeting deadlines without a twinge of guilt about having the easy part here.

I still have Points of Unity left to do, but am not in the mood for that.  So I decide to look for inspiration.  I google  “quotes abortion.”  I have no idea what to expect.

I’m a little afraid it will be like on the sidewalk ~ videos of anti’s carrying stupid signs and ranting.  I’m relieved to find plenty of quotes, on both sides.

I go to the ones listed under “goodreads” because I usually find their quotes more balanced than some of the other sites.  Here’s what I learn:

Mother Theresa is against it, not a big surprise there.  I have too much respect for the things she did to say anything negative about her.  She’s entitled to her beliefs.

Margaret Sanger is for it.  Also not a surprise. Ronald Regan weighs in against.  Regan says:

“I’ve noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born.”

Deeply insightful there, wasn’t he?

The Clintons, both Bill and Hilary, and John Kerry claim to be anti-abortion, but pro-choice, which I suppose is good enough.  I think I used to feel that way myself.  Seems kind of sanctimonious to me now, but it’s better than being an anti.

Here’s a quote I liked, from notable-quotes:

What is this ban on abortion? It is a survival of the veiled face, of the barred window and the locked door, burning, branding, mutilation, stoning, of all the grip of ownership and superstition come down on woman, thousands of years ago.

~~ STELLA BROWNE, attributed, The Sexual Dynamics of History

And of course this one, you’ve probably seen this one before:

If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament”
― Florynce R. Kennedy

This one made me smile:

Frankly, I adore your catchy slogan, “Adoption, not Abortion,” although no one has been able to figure out, even with expert counseling, how to use adoption as a method of birth control, or at what time of the month it is most effective.

BARBARA EHRENREICH, The Worst Years of Our Live

This one reflects some of my thoughts:

“I cannot understand anti-abortion arguments that centre on the sanctity of life. As a species we’ve fairly comprehensively demonstrated that we don’t believe in the sanctity of life. The shrugging acceptance of war, famine, epidemic, pain and life-long poverty shows us that, whatever we tell ourselves, we’ve made only the most feeble of efforts to really treat human life as sacred.”
― Caitlin Moran, How To Be A Woman

Still looking for something that will be enlightening, or give me a real focus for this post, I turn to the Top Ten Pro-Choice Quotes.  I find this:

“We really need to get over this love affair with the fetus and start worrying about children.”

~~ Joycelyn Elders

Which strikes me as honest and down to earth.

And this last one, which touches on some of what I’m thinking these days.

“Pro-choice and pro-life activists live in different worlds, and the scope of their lives, as both adults and children, fortifies them in their belief that their own views on abortion are the more correct, the more moral, and more reasonable. When added to this is the fact that should ‘the other side’ win, one group of women will see the very real devaluation of their lives and life resources, it is not surprising that the abortion debate has generated so much heat and so little light.”

~~Kristin Luker

More and more, I’m aware of the divide between us.  Not just around abortion, but gay and lesbian rights, gun control, health care, and all kinds of things.   Fundamental differences in how we see the world.

I wanted to end this with some great insight.  Wrap the post up by discovering the paradigm shift that will allow us to resolve it all.  Unfortunately ~

~ that’s not going to happen tonight.  Maybe next week… who knows?