I appreciate the civil tone of your piece. It is as though it arrived here from a time machine from very long ago. From a time when civil discussions and civil tone still existed....something that just hardly exists at all in America now.

I myself...mostly because of being pushed and harrassed to it...have become a militant supporter of abortion and abortion access... something which I was NOT previously.

Evangelical Christians might do well to ponder, and have the self-awareness to understand, that angry rhetoric bordering on hatred towards them, as well as a flight away from them and their values in general, has less to do with the world turning away from them, and more to do with THEM PUSHING US away.

Once upon a time, I was quite amenable to a compromise wherein there could be some restriction to access to abortions late in the term of pregnancy, as long as there was still allowance for legal access in the early stages, first 16 -18 weeks or so of pregnancy. A compromise between the interests, needs and concerns of both sides. Not a perfect solution, but a solution, and Roe walked that line.

Now, they (Christians) are enacting laws (I live in a State with such a law) that says, in effect, a 13-year-old impregnated by a rapist will be forced to carry to term that product of unspeakable violence. My fury over this has led me to uncompromising animosity and anger towards Pro-Life. I would like to think I have not yet succumbed to feeling "hatred" toward Pro-Life and Christians, as my religion (which is not Christian, but one of the other religions that do exist, something Christians might want to remember--that there ARE other religions) teaches that giving in to feeling "hatred" is the single greatest wrong one can commit, as it is a crime against oneself, and destroys oneself. Hatred is a poison that destroys the hater.

However....I have been pushed...shoved actually...so very close to "hatred" for those who would be so very cruel to women, and who show no respect for differing religious beliefs (I do not believe life begins at conception, and that is a religious concept that the soul enters the body then....It does not enter the body at conception in my religion, but I digress)

In any case, sorry to have made a speech here, but I did want, in the midst of the burning rage I have been wrestling with since the decision of the Supreme Court, want to take a breath and give a nod to you for speaking in a civil tone. In that respect...you are better than me...as I think that on the subject of abortion, I have lost the ability to be civil anymore and all I can do is scream. Literally, scream, at protests....I have another protest to go to now. And I will be at a protest on July 4th as well, since I do not feel like celebrating liberty, when I no longer have liberty, not liberty over my life, not liberty of control over what happens inside my body, and not liberty to pursue my own religion and live according to it. All of that has been taken from me....by Christians...They have pushed me away so hard, they can never bring me back to any compromise with them again. Sad to say...I wish I were a better person than that, and could forgive them. But I am only human.

A human filled with rage...