It’s a real shame that religion and abortion have become so closely entwined. Like many things that religion gets involved with, the effect tends to be an upping of the rhetoric and a muting of the sane. This is true particularly in America.
I wish we could cut through the rhetoric and debate abortion on its truly philosophical and moral foundations as opposed to fogging things up with religion and faith. While it is a religious subject for many believers, it is not by nature a religious debate. It is an ethical one. It can be discussed in a less emotional and more productive way if we look at it strictly from that perspective.
I don’t believe that anyone can truly argue that life does not begin at conception. I think pro-choicers have been forced to argue this because they don’t know how to nicely put that they recognize it as life but do not want to treat it as such. I think what needs to be debated is not whether a fetus is alive but whether it is a person. The real question is whether the fetus is equally deserving, under the law, of protection and whose rights are more valuable – those of the mother or those of the fetus. Pro-lifers try to argue that the fetus, regardless of its stage of development, is as entitled to protection as any other human walking the planet. While that may be true, one has to at least admit that culturally we do NOT treat fetuses like babies. As someone who went through three miscarriages I can tell you that not a single person, doctor, friend or even family member treated my miscarriage as a true death. At some level we recognize that there is a difference.
The issue requires a balancing of rights and protection which is obviously very difficult. I think it is a sad and sensitive issue and despite what many crazy pro-lifers will tell you, women are not walking into abortion clinics laughing at the baby they are about to kill and planning their next big unprotected sexual heist. It is a traumatic, sensitive and tender subject that needs to be treated as such. I completely understand that people feel bad for the babies and feel that they need to stand up for those who cannot protect themselves. I get that the idea of killing an unwanted baby is a horrible thing to imagine, let alone witness or endure. I also understand the utter terror many women and girls must feel when they find out they are unexpectedly pregnant. The life they had imagined suddenly becomes threatened and they are often alone. I understand the desire to have it all just go away.
I think the first goal should be to decrease the number of abortions that happen. I think we can all agree that they are not a good thing – it is not an easy choice to make. I would like to see less women have to make it. The other thing that needs to be considered is where personal beliefs should make their way into law (if at all). The desire to inflict your own personal views on the rest of the population by making them law is the hallmark of the conservative right. What’s wrong with making sure YOU never do it and leaving it at that? Why is it that in order to feel satisfied and morally righteous, you must force your views on others? That is not freedom – something I’m pretty sure democracy is founded on.
I personally would not have an abortion at this point in my life. Having said that, I do not feel that removing that choice from others is the right thing to do. I think the right thing to do is support comprehensive sex-education classes and access to birth control. To support adoption programs and facilities that help young mothers who do decide to keep their babies. I don’t believe that for those women who absolutely cannot carry that baby (for whatever reason) that I should have the right to refuse them help.
Criminalizing abortion will not make it stop. It will drive it underground and into back alleys. It will mean abandoned newborns and sick young mothers who are trapped. It will mean mental illness and poverty and lives unlived which can sometimes be just as bad as death.
Before we condemn those who choose to abort we must work to prevent unwanted pregnancies and support women who do end up unexpectedly pregnant. And to get there we are going to have to cool down the rhetoric, tone down the religious fervour and find a common ground in humanity and compassion.
Hi, good post. I have been wondering about this issue,so thanks for posting. I’ll definitely be coming back to your site.
I wrote something about abortion – but haven’t had the guts to post it yet. Making abortion illegal WILL not save lives. It will cause more death, if anything. Women who want one will just be forced into getting one done in a different (dirty) setting – or they will kill THEMSELVES.
Being pro choice doesn’t mean pro-abortion.
You are right on the money. Abortion is an ethical issue, not a religious one.
But I don’t think that comprehensive sex-education and access to birth control will ever address the real issue. You have to first understand that people have sex for pleasure. When a person engages in ANY behavior for self gratification, the desire then becomes to do it more and more at ANY cost. Sex education has turned into lessons on how to attain pleasure without unwanted consequences. Mutual Masturbation, Oral Sex, Birth Control, are among the “methods” being taught. NONE of these address the issue. The real issue is that people are having sex BEFORE they are emotionally ready for it. Religion views sex outside of marriage as sin. “Sin” may not be the way you wish to describe it, but the bottom line is that it’s NOT a good idea. I don’t care how much you want to have an orgasm, having sex before you are in a committed lifetime relationship has negative consequences that extend far beyond sexually transmitted diseases or unwanted pregnancy. Personally I can not think of a single “GOOD” reason why people should be having sex before marriage. I had A LOT of sex before marriage and I did not gain an ounce of wisdom from it. Sex outside of a committed relationship is about SELF gratification. Sex inside of a committed relationship is the exact OPPOSITE!
I know this is a seemingly impossible expectation. And clearly society agrees it is impossible because it would rather be “realistic” and eliminate the consequences instead of addressing the behavior. Filling in the cracks is not a substitute for laying a good foundation.
Now, for the sake of argument, and in order to tie this in with Religion, I want to say that God’s original plan, was PERFECT. You can disagree all you want, but the paradise that is described in Genesis is a place where any conceivable reason NOT to have kids, was obsolete! There was no disease, no shortage of food, no rape, no careers to be ruined, no college to finish, no health risks, NOTHING! But we don’t live in paradise. So having kids IS absolutely something that needs to be taken seriously and there ARE tons of factors to consider. I don’t think birth control is bad thing at all. But again, I would suggest abstinence before marriage. And birth control after marriage. The key is that both focus on PREVENTION. The minute you go from “how NOT to get pregnant” to “how to get RID of a pregnancy” it becomes an ethical issue, and a very messy one at that.
In my heart, I do believe a woman should be allowed to make the choice. But the reason I can not support a pro-choice campaign is because women are NOT being presented with a choice. They are being presented with a solution to their “problem.” A real choice can only be made when a person is fully informed. How many women get to see the dismembered body of the “fetus” that is taken from their womb? My guess is NONE. Why? Because having an abortion is hard enough and no one wants to add more emotional discomfort to the situation. I’m not saying we should be heartless and make a mockery of the procedure. But any woman that has an abortion because of CHOICE (as opposed to the tiny percentage that require one for medical reasons) should be required to LOOK at the consequences. Plain and simple. Protecting people from consequences is NOT the loving thing to do. We must face reality sooner or later.