Editor,

It took great courage to write such a supportive article on this subject.  It sounds like you agree that it is a woman’s right to decide what she does with her body. Bravo my friend!  The abortion battle is one that has been fought here in North America for many years but now all women have the right to decide whether they will carry a baby. 

I don’t believe that women should use abortion as a form of birth control at all but when the circumstances are unfavorable for them to give birth to a child, who is not wanted or who cannot be cared for properly, then the mothers are the only ones who have the right to decide what will happen to their pregnancy.

I just returned from your beautiful Rwanda this past Saturday and have seen with my own eyes precious babies who have been abandoned by their mothers because they either did not want them or could not care for them. 

Thank goodness, my dear friend up in Ruhengeri has been able to find homes for the little ones left in the market and by her small pre-school.  What would happen to those children otherwise?

The Catholic Church is a huge influence in Rwanda, as in many other countries, but I don’t believe they have the right to make a woman feel so guilty because she has made the decision to have an abortion. 

The laws need to change to protect and help women, not punish them.  It is an incredibly difficult thing to decide to end a pregnancy and a woman lives with that decision for the rest of her life.  I hope Rwanda’s lawmakers take a hard look at this issue and make the right choices for the women of Rwanda.

As always...I keep all my Rwandan brothers and sisters close to my heart.

Marie Collins