About 3 years ago at my family’s Passover dinner, my family broke out into a spontaneous politics discussion. Since the room was filled with several liberal Jews there really wasn’t much of a debate so my Grandmother decided to bring up abortion. Everyone starts screaming at each other about ethics versus rights and so forth when my Mom says “Drew is 18 now, let him speak.” Being un-barmitzvah’d, this was my first moment of Jewish manly hood and I seized my opportunity and said something around the lines of:
“It’s not a black or white issue, it’sthe right of the mother but she should know the moral implications of her actions and she should be sure she is making the right decision.”
My Aunt suddenly starts crying hysterically for no reason, which I couldn’t understand considering we were both pro-choice. Thinking I said something wrong, I nervously tried to hit a point.
“I mean most people are aware the consequences of their actions. I don’t think there are multiple offenders but in that case there should be counseling and therapy provided by the state to aid the mother and her decisions.”
And that’s when I found out my aunt had an abortion in college.
“Well, at least you didn’t have two.”
Actually, she did. True story.
