THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 17, 1994 TAG: 9407130400
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Book Review
SOURCE: BY LETHA DAWSON SCANZONI
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
ABORTION, MY CHOICE, GOD'S GRACE
Christian Women Tell Their Stories
ANNE EGGEBROTEN
New Paradigm. 238 pp. $12.95.
ANNE EGGEBROTEN, the mother of a toddler and a 4-year-old, found herself pregnant at age 38. This unexpected turn of events occurred just as Eggebroten was looking forward to leaving diapers behind and returning to the college teaching career she loved.
``An unplanned pregnancy means a decision - and I am grateful the decision was in my hands, not that of the federal or state government,'' she writes. ``These circumstances were the impetus that produced this book.''
Eggebroten chose to carry her unplanned pregnancy to full term, and she and her husband welcomed their third daughter with joy. But she knew other devoted Christian women who had chosen differently, and she wanted them to be heard.
In Abortion, My Choice, God's Grace, she presents the personal accounts of 13 Christian women who have had abortions. Some are Roman Catholic; some are Protestant, including many who describe their backgrounds as fundamentalist, evangelical, conservative or Bible-believing. Their stories remove procreative choice from the abstract, placing it in the context of real-life decision-making under difficult circumstances.
In another section titled ``Other Perspectives,'' Eggebroten includes accounts of abortions among earlier generations, a former missionary's thoughtful global perspective on procreative choice, reports of Christian women active as clinic escorts and in pro-choice rallies, and a counselor's report on sexual abuses by Christian leaders.
Eggebroten devotes her final section to an illuminating theological discussion on the Bible and choice. She believes firmly that women must be recognized as responsible moral agents capable of making any choice affecting their lives. That includes the choice to give birth as well as the choice to have an abortion. (One woman had an abortion against her will because her church leaders insisted that she submit to her husband's wishes that she end the pregnancy.) Eggebroten's wise and compassionate approach is a welcome contribution to today's abortion discussion. MEMO: Letha Dawson Scanzoni, co-author of ``All We're Meant to Be: Biblical
Feminism for Today,'' writes about religion and social issues. She lives
in Norfolk. by CNB