James Kyriaco
Recently, the News-Press ran a story having to do with abortion — and the impending repeal of Roe v. Wade — from the perspective of James Kyriaco, a member of the Goleta City Council (“Different possibilities,” May 7).
Mr. Kyriaco explained he didn’t spend “a lot of time thinking about life in terms of its possibilities” in his 20s. And shortly after a tumultuous relationship ended, he learned his former partner was pregnant. He relived the onslaught of emotions he felt — scared, trapped, uncertain — and carefully described the shame his ex-girlfriend kept internalized from a previous abortion.
Mr. Kyriaco prepared to support his former partner, however that might look. Ultimately, she made the decision to have an abortion. He drove to the nearest Planned Parenthood and waited outside, warily keeping an eye on a “lonely protester carrying a grotesque sign.” His key takeaway? “Abortion allows for new possibilities. Different possibilities.”
Mr. Kyriaco, who invited a dialogue on this subject, believes that men should speak up about their experiences with abortion, including how they benefitted and the role they played.
When I was a teen, someone close to me became pregnant. Even though this was “not my baby,” I felt some of the same emotions as did Mr. Kyriaco and thought this person should consider an abortion. This had to do with the fact that I was scared and embarrassed, and I wanted what seemed to be the easy way out of a tough situation. Thankfully, my selfish advice was ignored.
As I grew older, I realized that the “easy fix” would have resulted in a hole in my soul that could only be ignored to the degree that I could manage to harden my heart to dull the shame and guilt of such a decision.
Mr. Kyriaco and his former partner’s feelings of being scared, trapped and uncertain were certainly reasonable and natural emotions. However, the shame his ex-girlfriend internalized was also an authentic emotion rooted in one of the most basic indicators of something American society discarded decades ago — a conscience; not to mention one of the most powerful forces on earth, maternal instinct.
Hence, abortion, the proverbial “right to choose,” goes against the nature of every fiber in a woman’s heart, mind, soul and spirit, having been overridden by something terrible in its essence: the tyranny of selfishness aided by a futile attempt of living in denial.
Moreover, Mr. Kyriaco’s bravery to take his former partner to Planned Parenthood, “to wait outside and protect her from a protestor carrying a grotesque sign” was an abrogation of paternal instinct, best defined as “the instinctual bond which develops between a father and his child throughout pregnancy and the life of that child.” That is, the grotesque act that Mr. Kyriaco should have been concerned about was the dismemberment and disposal of his own offspring in the name of “new and different possibilities.”
President Bill Clinton once famously stated that abortion should be safe, rare and legal.
Safe? Unfortunately, it is never safe for the baby or parental instincts to have an abortion.
Rare? Abortion is not rare in that 60 million aborted Americans never had the opportunity to meet the two people who should have instinctively done everything humanly possible to protect their innocent life.
Legal? Well, that is a slippery slope indeed as California and other states are now considering legislation that will hold harmless anyone involved in the death of a 28-day-old child who managed to see the light of day, even in instances of malign neglect, read that murder
Anyone with a conscience knows this effort to legalize infanticide is pure evil. Anyone who will speak up, that is.
Andy Caldwell is the COLAB executive director and host of “The Andy Caldwell Show,” airing 3 to 5 p.m. weekdays on KZSB AM 1290, the News-Press radio station.
