The Pink Elephant in the room

I kept wondering why in the world the left would keep attacking Sarah Palin when it was clear that attacking her was backfiring. I wondered why Obama's request to leave her family out this was ignored by his supporters. Surely, I thought, they see that all these nasty smears are only helping rally people around Sarah and only making themselves look bad.

Then I realized what all these type of over the top nasty stuff was about, abortion.

My brother once said to me, "It's always about abortion to you." And I replied, "Because it is always about abortion."

I wrote recently a post titled "The issue that haunts us." In that post I wrote that until the people of America have a real debate on this issue and the people look at all the evidence, and then decide what is right, this issue will continue to raise it's ugly head.

I've worked in the pro-life movement for over 20 years. I've listened to the despair of women affected by abortion and I've heard from women through my blog who feel abortion didn't affect them at all. The Alan Guttmacher Institute of Reproductive Health, states that "At current rates, 43% of all women will experience abortion at least once by the time they are 45 years of age."

That is a great many women. Many who have forgiven themselves and asked God to forgive them, and they now are pro-life. Many staunchly believe they did the right thing and are pro-choice. But the vast majority, in my opinion, clench their teeth at the Doctor's office when asked how many pregnancies they have had. They don't talk about it, they don't want to think about it, and they try not to vote based on it. They just want to forget it.

When you read the testimonies at places like "Silent No More" you see that so many cannot forget. Their stories will break your heart. So many women who were coerced into abortions by husbands, boyfriends, bosses, and parents. In a hundred different ways, it was never their "choice."

But for the pro-choice side, they don't want to hear those stories. They don't want admit that women are forced into abortions every day in this country.

For feminists it's one thing for some male politician to be pro-life. Feminists figure, "what do they know?" But for a women to be nominated for the Vice President of the United States and be pro-life? Well that is unacceptable. This brings out rage. Literally. Especially for those feminists who have justified and even sometimes celebrated their abortions. To them Sarah is a slap in their face. Every time they see her, they see someone who says that aborting their baby was wrong. It's made worse by the fact that Sarah even chose to bring a disabled child into this world. Trig's mere presence reminds them that some mothers choose life no matter what the circumstances.

These women lash out in anger at Sarah Palin. They feel that her candidacy questions their choice. It opens the book of their life to a very painful chapter that they never wanted to remember.

These attacks on Palin will continue no matter what Obama says or does. Because this isn't about Obama now. It's about the choices we make and have made. Palin symbolizes a woman who has made a very different choice than they did. And they cannot forgive that. They will not stop proving to the world and to themselves that Sarah is wrong. She must be wrong for them to continue to hold on to their "right." She must be wrong for them to resist opening up that wound that they refuse to treat.

She must be wrong, because her being right is just too painful to imagine.