:: The S.I.C.L.E. Cell ::

:: Tuesday, March 18, 2003 ::

I am disappointed in Tim McGraw for recording the song "Red Rag Top". Upon reading the lyrics you can see the song is about a couple who broke up after aborting their child.

Jason White wrote the song and says that while it does talk about abortion it takes no sides. Anyone who says they don't have an opinion on the subject supports abortion. The song itself perpetuates the myth that abortion is what most people think it is: just one of those things that will become a part of a managable, mistaken past like drinking your first underaged beer and throwing up or getting your sophomore cherry popped by the senior skating rink Romeo. The song says: "You do what you do and you pay for your sins. There's no such thing as what might have been." Talk about wishful thinking.

Most people walking into an abortion clinic know that what they are doing is far from compassionate or ethical, but they do it anyway. Why? Because they're freaked out. They're in a crisis and they don't fully understand the implications of abortion. I can tell you from personal experience that even I didn't really understand the full consequences or gravity of my actions. I'm not alone. Just go to the Seriously Grieving board and watch as the new posts mount up. Abortion is a big huge deal, much more than "deciding not to have a child" as the song would have you believe. I had a child alright... a dead child who was born in pieces.

"There's no such thing as what might have been." Typical denial reaction (and abortion supporting rhetoric). The message seems to be "There will be consequences for aborting a child, but when you are hurting, just remember there's no such thing as what might have been." In other words, just keep telling yourself the child was a very young "pre-child" in the early unconscious stages of humanity. It probably couldn't feel or think like a "real" child can, so don't torment yourself with who that child might have been as that is not reality. You nipped pregnancy in the bud before the child ever really was. So while it was more than deciding to don a rubber it was still less than ending the life of a child. It's just one of those inbetween things that, after the fact, is better left alone. Typical, typical, typical point of view (particularly from the male perspective).

If I had heard an artist I like singing "Red Rag Top" at the time I was thinking of abortion, it would only have perpetuated the false impression that abortion was just something that had to be done sometimes, a necessary evil that you just dealt with and moved away from. But it's a tad more than that for many people, and Tim had some idea.

McGraw says he knew the song would cause something of a stir, but he defends it saying, "...I don't think liking this song compromises your integrity." Integrity?

Once there was a young woman who had a passionate moment "in the back of a red rag top". Later she found out she was pregnant. She was scared and upset and felt she couldn't possibly raise a child. Abortion was illegal at the time which probably factored into her decision to carry the baby to term. The mom made an adoption plan for the baby, and two loving parents were blessed with a beautiful new daughter. The little girl grew up and got a job singing. She met a guy at work, fell in love with him, married him and had three children with him. Their life together became an incredible fairytale. One that would not have been possible if the girl's birth mother had simply "decided not to have a child".

Tim McGraw ought to really consider how abortion hasn't affected him, because his wife was that little girl. She was what abortion supporters describe as an "unwanted child". This should mean more to him than recording a "neutral" song about abortion.

I love Tim's music, but he made a grave mistake in the choice of "Red Rag Top". I guess when you have it made like he does, it's hard to think of all the other young guys out there who will never quite find their soulmates because those little girls were aborted. He ought to be thanking God that Faith's birth mother wasn't pregnant when abortion was legal. He ought to be eternally grateful that Elvis wasn't singing a song that described abortion as just doing "what you do" without ever looking back or thinking of just how much the loss of one child affects the world.

SICLECell@hotmail.com

:: ashli 10:54 AM # ::
...