It’s true that not every woman should have a child. Not everyone is capable of giving enough of themselves, of sacrificing any part of their lives to raise a child, but every woman who is physically able to carry a baby should allow a pregnancy – wanted or not – to go full term and right through to the birth.
For those who call pregnancy a “woman’s health issue,” it’s mostly a woman’s “mental health issue.” This is not to discount the rarity of the danger that pregnancy might inflict on a woman, but because it’s such a rarity, I’m not even going to discuss it here. Which leaves me plenty of space to address the “mental” part of carrying a baby.
It’s hard to admit that one is too selfish, too self-absorbed, to raise a child. When we heard actress, Jane Fonda, jokingly suggest allowing the murder of pro-life activists, I momentarily wished her parents had made the decision to abort her instead of allowing her venom to spread. I know! It doesn’t sound very nice to suggest that Henry and her mother, Frances Seymour, made a mistake by not aborting the child, but I am, of course, kidding.
When one reads some of her early history, Jane didn’t have the happiest of childhoods, but who does, anyway?
The mistake that Jane always seems to make is letting her political activism compete with her personal activism. She has an over-inflated sense of her own importance in the world at large. It wasn’t enough to be born and have Hollywood’s doors automatically opened to her, giving her an opportunity to become a good actress, a well-known actress, and one, who appears to have had the world as her own private oyster.
It’s rare that anyone as well-known as a Jane Fonda wouldn’t take advantage of popularity and the stage that comes with it, to promote their views on everything (from America’s war in Viet Nam to abortion). What Jane doesn’t realize, however, is that she looks, to even the most casual observer, like a sad and troubled person, and to be sure, a narcissist. Even the cohosts on “The View,” who themselves are known for their sometimes outrageous statements, sensed Ms. Jane might have gone a wee bit too far when she allowed her hatred for women who don’t wish to carry a baby the heroines of her story.
I wonder how her son, Troy, feels about his mother’s position. Does he ever feel she really wanted to abort him? Only Jane knows for sure. I suspect that Ms. Fonda is a person who is not – nor has ever been – well equipped to handle the brutality of a life surrounded by other narcissists. I feel sorry for her but not enough to wish she would just shut up and let other people have their opinions on having babies.