I think about this issue a lot, so even though the debate is a difficult and over-done one, I feel a need to get my thoughts out, especially since I do feel fairly alone in my thoughts on the issue. I decided to write this after reading a post at Pensieri di un lunatico minore where he talks about 2 “camps”.
The post left out a “camp”. Those who feel women should be free to do whatever they want to their own bodies as long as it brings no harm to (and certainly doesn’t kill) another person. The person inside a woman’s uterus is alive. No one has a right to kill it. Even if it is going to be born into a life of poverty and despair, it should not be killed.
I agree that unwanted pregnancy leaves women (and others) with two horrible choices - to raise an unwanted child or to kill it. I have been unable to come up with any justification for the latter (other than self-defense in the case of immediate danger to the woman). I wish I could come up with some justification as I feel like a pariah amongst people whom I would consider “progressive” otherwise.
I am not a Christian, so I can’t address that perspective. As far as adoption, I was in the process of filling out (and paying for) an adoption when our son came unexpectedly (and after a great deal of effort that we had nearly given up on) two years ago. I still hope to adopt at some point.
I agree wholeheartedly on tackling the underlying causes and making the debate, if not moot, at least somewhat less pressing. Unfortunately, our nation (and it seems the entire planet) is lurching to the right and an end to poverty is nowhere in sight.
It’s a shame that so many other rights have been witheld from women (and still are) that those who support women’s rights but oppose abortion are left with not much of a platform upon which to stand.
petrilli
| 08-Nov-04 at 4:32 pm | Permalink
I appreciate the third “camp” of which you speak, and I suppose that was implicit in what I was discussing, but the reality is that in my working with poverty and other issues, I’m not sure that dead is worse than what a lot of unwanted children go through, at least morally. Perhaps on a simple black and white scale it is, but the world isn’t that simple, and children most certainly are not.
The only real way to tackle the problem is, as you and I both obviously agree, to root out the underlying reasons so that it no longer is seen a a valid option, not because it’s illegal, but because it’s unnecessary.
Jason Dufair
| 08-Nov-04 at 9:27 pm | Permalink
I don’t work with the poor currently. I have great respect for you and anyone else who does. I volunteered at a homeless shelter 15 years ago. I certainly met people whose lives were an nothing but struggle. But unless you actually advocate killing poor people (which you obviously dont), then there is a fundamental inconsistency in your argument supporting abortion, however unfortunate we both agree it is.
petrilli
| 29-Nov-04 at 6:21 pm | Permalink
I’m not advocating abortion, or even supporting it, as I think it’s a terrible thing. We are, however, treading into a murky world where things are all dark grey, and rather than sit and argue, like so many “Christians” about angels on the head of a pin, I believe we must do something to reduce the number of times people come to that decision point.
Regardless of laws, or anything else, abortion has existed throughout the ages, predating the Bible, and the only elimination of it will come when we have tackled those other, more pernicious problems.