Letter to the Editor: It isn’t condemnation

By Molly Easley

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

This is in response to the letter to the editor on Monday. While I do agree with Ms. Johnson’s statement that “in a perfect world birth control would be 100 percent effective and abortions would be legal everywhere,” I feel it necessary to comment on another assertion she made: “Raising a child takes money, time, and energy. A student, at the high school or college level, has none of these to devote to a child.”

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It has taken a lot of time, money and energy to be both a good mother and a good student, but I will never regret the decision I made.

I have been raising a son on my own for almost eight years, and have been in college for five. I was 18 years old when I got pregnant. Many young women my age would have opted for abortion; I chose not to.

It has taken a lot of time, money and energy to be both a good mother and a good student, but I will never regret the decision I made. While I’ve missed out on things like dorm life, spring break trips to South Padre Island and all-night keggers, I would never trade the experiences I have had as a mother for the typical college life. Motherhood, planned or not, should never be seen as “condemnation.”

Many women are unaware of it being possible to raise a child on one’s own and to be a successful college student. Ideally, all young people should be educated about their options before and after pregnancy. The fear that one cannot be both a mother and educated keeps all too many women from choosing motherhood, and all too many single mothers from choosing to educate themselves.

This does not mean that abortion should not be kept safe and legal; it simply means that more efficient education of young women is necessary in order to allow them to make the best decisions they can about what to do in the case of an unexpected pregnancy.

Molly Easley

Lawrence, senior

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