Part 2 of an interview with Rosemarie and Erin outside the Science Complex at Los Angeles Harbor College. February 6, 2019. Read Part 1 here.

You said you hold the Catholic standards – does that mean you believe marriage is between one man and one woman and that abortion shouldn’t happen?

Erin: Yes, I kind of do follow the standards. I’m not really that strict on it. You know how U.S. laws have been evolving over time. I’m not that conservative, but I don’t like abortion and I like the marriage between man and woman.

Rosemarie: For me personally, I really don’t like abortion but there are a lot of circumstances which I understand. Especially how most women who do want an abortion usually aren’t able to take care of it, maybe their partner is not in their life, maybe they just can’t afford it, maybe they’re just not stable, and I really, really, really understand that they consider that option. But from a religious standpoint, if I’m fully able to, I’m financially okay, I wouldn’t want to [have an abortion].

Erin: Yeah, that’s true. Most people want to do abortion because they can’t financially or emotionally take care of a child since like, woah it’s so, so sudden, like life-changing, but there are other people who are like, you can’t abort it. But I heard from a priest that, when you’re pro-life, you have to take care of them all the way from when they’re born til death, and I thought that makes so much sense. I guess it changed my viewpoint on abortion. I don’t want to be really offensive but I feel like it’s okay to abort because the child won’t live a good life.

Rosemarie: He won’t be born in a healthy environment.

Erin: It won’t be given the needs the government should have for kids. They can’t really achieve a good life because of the environment they have, what they’re going through. Kids don’t have the resources they need growing up.

Rosemarie: Considering the majority of people have the same view that abortion should be allowed based on the situation, that’s for the good of most people. Personally, I would agree that that if it’s not a life-or-death situation, and if you’re financially stable and mentally stable, I think that you should keep the baby rather than abort it .

Erin: I also think that there are people who really don’t go far for taking care of a child. You hear stories about so many people, even though the environment is bad and all that stuff, they still do whatever they can for the child. But there are some people who don’t do that. I don’t want that child to live in a bad environment and grow up feeling bad. Thinking about the future, I don’t want to say it, but I think that abortion sometimes has to be.

Some of your classmates here had rough childhoods. Some probably grew up in the foster care system. Would it be better for them to have been aborted if we were pretty sure that they were going to have a bad childhood?

Rosemarie: Well, see, now they’re alive already.

Erin: This is a different situation because they’re already-

Rosemarie: But she’s just trying to make you think about how the child probably could have been okay even through a tough situation. Like all of us have been through tough situations.

Erin: It’s not my decision to make but it depends, honestly. Honestly, I don’t know actually, when you put it that way. See, things happen and you can’t really know what’s going to happen in the future. When you pointed that out about the abortion thing, I don’t know. I wouldn’t want to abort that child if you know that person’s going to go through a bad time but they’re going to make it. I guess when you put it in that perspective I think that I wouldn’t want to abort the child even though they’re going through bad situations. That person’s going to meet a lot of people in their life that will give them a rough time or give them a good time. So I don’t want to abort the child.

Rosemarie: It kind of made you change your mind.

Erin: Yeah, yeah. When people bring up perspectives, I’m like, yeah, that’s true! When you put in other perspectives such as that they actually do want to make it through life, then I’m like, yeah, don’t abort the child. No, let them live their life!

Rosemarie: Well, the good thing is we live in America so we have so many programs and a lot of schools that really enforce education. We really put emphasis on mental health and stress-free living. I feel like we do offer so much to help individuals. I’m very proud to be an American for especially that reason. I think that it’s not worth aborting a child, if you put it in perspective. Everybody deserves a chance to live, discover themselves, find their own true happiness. I think we can all do that no matter what kind of situation we’re in.

What do you think about the option of adoption for a woman who can’t, or doesn’t want to, raise her child? Does she really need the option of abortion?

Rosemarie: That’s a good one too, unless she’s scared of childbirth or something. [But I think she should give it] a chance to have a life like every human gets to. It’s just very lucky to be able to have a chance in this world, especially as a human. There’s so much we’re capable of. Our brain size capacity, our talents, down to our opposable thumbs. Everything we can do with our tools – I feel like there’s just so much, much, much potential being born on this earth, this beautiful earth as a human being. Yeah, I think every person should at least get a chance. Even adoption, at least there’s a chance. And being in this country, I know we’ve gone through a lot of history, but I feel like modern government really does try to protect you and your rights, so I think there’s a really good chance of really making it.

Erin: Even if you don’t expect it.

Rosemarie: Especially when you don’t expect it.

Erin: I mean there’s other people in unexpected situations and they want to have abortions because they don’t want to change their lifestyle. But I guess when it happens, let it be born. Because it already happened. You don’t want to go through all that pain and trouble of trying to get rid of that baby that’s already alive. You don’t want to kill it off. You’re also placing risk on yourself by doing that. I guess I’m just saying let life grow. Let it happen. Then, if you can’t take care of the child, there’s always adoption. I mean, there are people who have family connections so they can help the child, but also there are other people who don’t have that. There’s daycare. There’s just so many options. I can list so many.

Rosemarie: That was really cool how you made us flip our perspective. I love it.

California Catholic Daily exclusive by Mary Rose.