One of the consequences of posting my thoughts on difficult topics such as abortion is an onslaught of angry responses about why right is wrong and wrong is right… which has led me to the conclusion that there are various popular lies that we, as a nation, tell ourselves so we can sleep at night as thousands of unborn children are being slaughtered. One of these is that an unplanned child who is allowed to live will be abused. It’s better to abort, we claim, than for that child to endure a life of abuse and poverty—as though the only women whose birth control fails are poverty-stricken, cruel, and unfit to love another human being. To say that an unplanned pregnancy carried to term will surely result in a miserable, neglected child is to say that women capable of love, or with decent jobs, or with loving support systems, or with an education, or who do not mentally or physically abuse children, do not get pregnant before they’re good and ready.

Seriously? Do we really believe that? Of course we don’t! It’s just easier to say, “Kill that wretched, doomed child” than to acknowledge that most women are quite capable of tapping into their maternal instincts and raising a little girl or boy versus dismembering him/her.

But even if the lie were true—even if the 750,000 abortions in the U.S. every year involved only young, inexperienced women in the grip of poverty—even then, how could we possibly back up the claim that the best recourse for a child being born to a young, inexperienced woman with no plan for her life is murder?

“You don’t know what it’s like,” you might say. That’s where you’re wrong. When I became pregnant with my son, my life was in shambles. I was 19 and ridiculously immature and naïve. I made very little money as a part-time dime store cashier, had no education beyond high school, and had no plan for my life whatsoever. Several people asked me if I was going to keep the baby. I remember thinking, “Versus what?” The thought of having my baby mutilated just because he was unplanned was inconceivable. Even as a teenager who had made lots of bad choices, I had sense enough to know that ripping the arms and legs from a child constituted murder, no matter how you sugar-coat it. I was shocked and outraged that anyone would think me capable of killing a child to make things easier for myself.

I had almost no experience with children. My family lived barely above poverty level, in a housing project. I knew I would receive no support from the baby’s father. I knew zilch about raising an infant. In the pro-abortion mindset, my son was destined for a life of abuse, neglect, and destitution. In the pro-abortion mindset, I was doomed to be a sadistic, irresponsible parent. In the pro-abortion mindset, my son—who is now a 34-year-old husband and father of three—would have been better off dead.

To that pro-abortion mindset, I say, How dare you.

How dare you assume that a girl who is ill-equipped for motherhood cannot suck it up, buttercup, and learn to be a responsible, loving mom. How dare you tell her that her child would be better off dead than in her care, or in the care of adoptive parents. How dare you assume that rather than falling head over heels in love with her baby upon meeting him in the delivery room, she will become hateful and abusive.

Granted, unplanned pregnancies don’t always turn out well. Children are neglected and abused every day all over the world. But to say that those who are born to especially young women—or women with little education or low-income jobs—run a higher risk of being victimized and therefore we must murder them is reprehensible.

Shame on you.