Why I Wrote Life Choices

I wrote Life Choices: The Teachings of Abortion to support the next evolutionary step towards a global consciousness of love and peace. I wanted to bring the conversation to a broader, deeper, spirit centered perspective about the impact of  legal abortion. I wanted to show how  abortion is helping to bring in a collective consciousness centered in love and caring. But not love and caring in the abstract. Love and caring in the context of life and relationships and the life and future of the planet. Love and caring in the context of the lives of real people.

I wrote the book to bring abortion out of the shadows where patriarchy has kept it for centuries. I wrote it to help women know that their personal experiences happen in a historical context and that they are not alone.

I wrote the book to reclaim the word life. Because, there is no such thing as abstract life. Any life form on our planet exists only in relation to other life forms, and in an intimate relationship with death. Life must be nurtured, and the health and wellbeing of the nurturer given the highest priority whether that is an individual woman or the earth as a whole. Nurturing the nurturer naturally includes recognizing her power to choose how and when she goes about doing the nurturing.

Without question, abortion is liberating and empowering for women. I wrote the book to illustrate this by including the stories of women I’ve known who have lived out the complicated pressures of deciding whether to bring life through their bodies at a particular time. I wrote it to normalize the experiences of unexpected and unwanted  pregnancies, and to show that these pregnancies are for the most part unexceptional and common in women’s lives. I wrote it to show how brave and creative women are when faced with the judgments of a hostile world.

Anything that liberates women also liberates children and men. That’s also in the book.

Life on earth is part of the oneness of all beings and things. There is a Greater Consciousness of Being that is always present in our lives. Awareness of this is accessed in new and surprising ways by some women and men in their quest for healing around their abortion experiences. I wrote about that also.

I wrote Life Choices to show that the survival of humanity on the earth requires legal abortion.

• That pregnancy choice is tied to the movement for environmental stewardship and the care of the earth.
• That it is tied to economic equality and the movement from a property-over-people society towards a way of life centered in people and their intrinsic creativity.
• That it is part of the historic return of the powerful, non-patriarchal feminine principle that seats itself in a fierce guardianship of life and death.

Is there room for a deeper perspective? I hope so. Abortion is still legal in the U.S., but in some places impossible to obtain because providers have been driven out of business! This is outrageous and very scary, and I would imagine many people feel like we’re going backwards. I don’t think so though. Yes, it’s pretty intense out there, and occasionally morbidly absurd. However, we’re managing the daily insults and threats that rain down like sharp icy particles. The provider leadership knows how to navigate the territory and is doing a great job. There is a lot to learn and a lot to teach.

The political struggle is an aspect of the teachings of abortion. It is one of the avenues through which people sit up and pay attention to the importance of respecting and protecting the lives of women. It’s an incredible challenge, but in the end as with all big social movements, I believe peace and progress will prevail. We just need to stay as open, focused, and connected as we want everyone else to be. The political part is also in the book.

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I’d love to hear from you. Please comment on this post if you are so inclined, and/or contact me through the book’s website or my counseling website.

I have an offer I hope you can’t refuse. Life Choices is now available directly from me for $5 a copy plus shipping. You need to contact me directly to get the low discounted price. It’s also available as an e-book on Amazon.