Is this the face of the enemy? This is a question posed on a flier to all those meandering around Room 2050 in Agronomy Hall.

This is a rather interesting inquiry. Who is my enemy? Is the enemy of my friend my enemy? Does that make the friend of my enemy also my enemy?

Are you confused yet? I certainly am. I am nearly as befuddled as I was when I passed by the flier hanging on the wall in that room. However, the confusion was not really from the question, it was from the accompanying photo. Right above the question was a sweet, doe-eyed creature, wrapped adorably in a soft blanket.

Right above the question — “Is this the face of the enemy?” —was a picture of a baby.

Initially, I was not struck by lightning that this was toting blatant, pro-life propaganda.

When I read the question, I automatically started placing other pictures above it. My roommate popped to mind for not cleaning the room as promised. The city of Ames slithered in with thoughts of their inability to effectively clear the roads of snow and ice. Then I came to rest on Osama bin Laden.

That has to be the face of the enemy, right? He helped kill our countrymen and is still considered a threat to our safety. Yes, this is the face of the enemy.

Now that I had decided this, I came to the realization that this was indeed an anti-abortion medium. To a degree, a rather successful one. The minute I glanced at it I knew that the baby was not the face of my enemy — Osama bin Laden was.

The flier was the work of Feminists for Life of America, a single-issue special interest group. The group was founded 30 years ago, coinciding with the year the Roe v. Wade decision came down. On Jan. 22, the group was part of the march to the Supreme Court that was commemorating and condoning the 30 year anniversary of the legalization of abortion, according to the group’s Web site, www.feministsforlife.org.

The flier by FFL brought back into my mind my strong views in regards to the matter of abortion, as well as some personal experiences that have shaped my views on it. (No, those personal experiences DO NOT include having an abortion myself.)

I do not tread lightly on this issue. Analyzing and sharing views on abortion is more often than not akin to diving head-first into a shallow wading pool. People are often ostracized by a variety of groups that do not agree with them, and abortion is by far one the most divisive issues.

To end the suspense, I am reluctantly a pro-choice patron. Mind you, that does not mean I am pro-abortion, it means I believe in a woman’s right to choose to abort a child or fetus in a safe venue.

My viewpoint is based upon years of a “love-hate” relationship with pro-choice beliefs. As a child I was adamantly pro-choice. This was roughly through the ages of 8 to 12, which may seem young, but I guarantee the years to be accurate.

During these years my reasons for being pro-choice related mostly to raped women. It would give them the opportunity to not have to remember for the nine months carrying the baby and the lifetime of caring for the child that it was the product of such a mentally scarring crime. To me, it gave them a chance to start healing sooner than it would have if they had to carry the child to term.

That notion drastically changed when I was in sixth grade. A girl I knew, who was like a big sister to me, bled to death in her sleep the night after having an abortion. She was only 16 years old. This tragedy was not a procedural error, it was poor judgment. The girl — whose name I never say in conjunction with the word abortion — chose to walk in a four-mile parade the same day the fetus was aborted.

Although this event currently plays into my belief that minors should be required by law to have a parent present, at the time it turned me into a staunch conservative on abortion. Nothing was worth risking the life of the mother AND the child, regardless of the situation. It did not matter to me then if the mother was raped, a victim of incest or just plain unsafe — abortion was not the answer.

It took me until graduation to realize my stance on the issue was backwards, at least in regards to my reasoning. Banning abortion would not save the life of people like my friend — it would put them in more danger. If a person could not go to a clinic and have the abortion done by someone who is assumably a professional, they may turn to other venues — other venues like “back-door butchers,” where the mother is in much more danger of losing her life as well.

Unfortunately, there are no accurate numbers of how many women die from illegal abortions every year or by how much it decreased when abortion was legalized in 1973. Still, even the Iowa Right to Life Committee acknowledges that statistics that were reported seemed to flat-line in 1974. Although the IRLC fails to link this to the legalization of abortion, the flat-line immediately following Roe is too large of a coincidence to ignore.

One might say that I am pro-choice because I am pro-life. I don’t support making abortions illegal anymore because it puts two lives in danger, rather than just one.

The face of the enemy is certainly not a child, but it isn’t the face of abortion doctors or of the women who receive them. The enemy is Osama bin Laden, “butchers” and perhaps Death himself, at least in regards to abortion.

Ayrel Clark is a sophomore in journalism and mass communication from Johnston. She is the opinion editor of the Daily.