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What Will Charlie
Crist Do? Florida Ultrasound
Bill Hangs in the Balance
Part Three of Three By Rai Rojas In her day, my mom's older sister Marta was described by those who came upon her as reminding them of a pretty Sofia Loren. Her genteel manner, her sophistication and flawless face and figure caused her to be a much sought after bride in our village. She was finally betrothed and married to an equally exceptional attractive older man. Her beauty was paled only by her kindness – and she took care of my brother and me as our parents prepared our migration out of Cuba. Once both of our families arrived in the US, I spent every summer with her and my cousins. Cancer took her from us much too soon – and I miss her still. I loved her, and would never have purposely caused her agony, grief or pain. During the course of my involvement in the right to life movement I've managed to find a voice on Hispanic Radio, my quotes are often seen in Spanish language print media, and on occasion I have been a featured guest on many Latin-American television shows. This was the case about 15 years ago when I made one of my earliest appearances on Univision's wildly popular "El Show de Cristina" (The Cristina Show.) The topic of this particular program was abortion and its aftermath. The show was taped mid-week and aired the following Sunday. During the taping, and to underscore the point I was making about fetal development, I held up a glossy 8×10 picture of a live beautiful 8 week old baby in utero. When the show aired the following Sunday, my family gathered around the television in my Aunt Marta's living room to watch the show. When the segment where I held up the picture aired (surrounded by her three children, several nephews, her husband and friends) she let out a scream. She was wailing: "No, no, no," as she ran out of the living room and to the back of the house. When the segment ended and the commercial began I went to find her sitting in the den – crying into her hands. She heard me come in and just softly said, "I didn't know. They said it was just a mass of tissues." She went on to explain that forty years before, at the urging of her husband she had had an abortion when the baby was at about eight weeks gestation. The picture I held up confirmed all that she had feared. It wasn't a mass of cells, but a baby she had been forced to destroy. A few weeks ago, Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas of the hugely successful group TLC went on a reality television program and described the horrors of her abortion and post abortion stress which caused her to cry on an almost daily basis for nine years. Those of us in the pro-life movement have forever argued that the more a woman knows about her unborn child and abortion the less likely she is to have one. This is why those who profit from abortion so vehemently fight and lobby against ultrasound bills – bills similar to the one soon to land on Florida Governor Crist's desk. Once he receives this legislation, the Governor of the nation's fourth largest state will have 15 days to veto or sign the life saving bill into law
Sadly for the women of Florida, Governor Crist is a politician and not a statesman – he now appears to be backing away from a bill he would have favored just a few weeks ago. But that was before he started calling Rahm Emmanuel for political help and advice.
Crist was quoted
in Tampa as saying that he and
his brand new wife were both
troubled by the bill's "notion
that women would be lectured
to…during this deeply personal
decision." |
