As with most things in life, exposure is always something which helps clarify and modify beliefs or opinions about matters. This is most certainly true with people as well. And I must admit that I was a little hasty or possibly a little harsh on my first article about Sister Simone Campbell.

With the information I had, the picture I had may have been considered true. But more information has recently come to life, and it came when I met her and personally spoke with her. Campbell’s reputation is most certainly heralded for her left-leaning stances, and it may rightfully be so, but I think that how everyone considers her opinion on abortion is not the full picture.

A lot of people see her as tacitly pro-choice, but upon further examination, it’s not quite so simple. Over the course of a recent conversation, I asked her how she would respond to accusations that she was pro-choice and she said, “I’m 100% pro-life.”

She then went onto explain that she doesn’t approve of abortion, but that she actually works instead to provide the services which are needed to keep women from making that horrible choice.

She pushes for social services and women’s care that enable women to take care of the child. She pushes to end the poverty which pushes women towards the clinic door. For her, abortion would be solved by solving poverty.

I must admit I do agree with her on treating the causes of abortion, not just abortion, which is a symptom of a much larger problem. While my previous article could be considered relatively reactionary, my opinion now has shifted a bit. I do not agree with Campbell on everything she espouses, and my reasons why are too long to put in this space. But I do agree with her view that abortion is something to be avoided and that women must be given the means by which they can avoid it.

Sufficient financial, emotional, medical support and other needs must be met, either by private individuals, or by amending the system as a whole so that the ability to care for a child is more available on a large scale. I still disagree with her in that we can’t try to de-legalize abortion while in the process of working on this. We should. We should keep trying to fight for the right of the unborn child to live. But that’s only part of it. It’s not enough that they have the right to live. They should have the right to be born into a livable world. Surely, we could work on both of those at the same time.