This is where I alienate myself from literally everyone I have ever met. You see, I have a moderate stance on abortion. I know, how does such a thing even exist? Let me tell you why.
#1) Legal limits on abortions can be really dangerous.
For instance I know a woman that labored for over 26 hours because they could not stop her contractions and it was illegal to medically assist with the birth of the child because it would technically be a late-term abortion. The baby who had almost no chance of survival out of the womb to begin with was denied any chance of survival due to the traumatic labor. It very nearly killed the mother as well.
Pregnancies are weird. Circumstances change. "Medically necessary" is hard to define. Crap, "abortion" as strange as it seems, is also hard to define.
#2) Statistically, abortions are often performed on women who can't get their crap together.
According to the Guttmacher Institute (which I assure you, is the opposite of a Right leaning institution), 48% of US abortions are performed on women that have already had one. That accounts for significantly more than half a million terminated fetuses a year. Obviously, Sex Ed is failing and abortion clinics need more teachers.
#3) Having the right to surgically remove a baby from your womb is perhaps the worst consolation prize in the history of mankind.
Women have an indelible right to be the gatekeepers to our own bodies. We have a right to refuse anyone in whatever manner for any reason at any time. Let me say that again. Women have the right to refuse anyone in whatever manner for any reason at any time. Let's not forget that these millions of women with unintended pregnancies are also subject to life-threatening infections.
Women desperately deserve the education, resources, and most importantly, the ability to say "No, not without protection." Yeah, fifteen-year-olds shouldn't have to be saddled with parenthood. But they really shouldn't be saddled with HIV, and there's no surgical procedure that can undo that one.
#4) A fertilized egg doesn't have any rights.
Theologically, I have no idea when a body gains a soul. But, the State has no business trying to determine the answer to that one. Setting aside for a moment the perennial question of who counts as a person-- let's just look a the embryo for what it unequivocally is- an organism. We have several laws to protect non-person organisms. It's not animal cruelty to dump bacteria into an oil spill to help clean it. It is animal cruelty to operate on a hamster without anesthesia.
"Who feels pain" is an interesting philosophical question. It's also one that many neurologists feel they can answer. However, as a word of caution to all of humanity, we've historically been really, despicably bad at answering this question, so let's err on the side of caution. And for that reason, I don't believe that a single-cell can really be protected legally. It has a hard enough time being protected biologically. But, I honestly believe that anything with a heartbeat should be treated humanely, even if you don't believe it should count as a person. That means anesthesia at the very, very least.
#5) Abortion is not a woman's rights issue.
Yes, by definition, abortion is a woman's issue. However, abortion does nothing to promote a more just and equitable society. Abortion also helps prolong depressing cultural assumptions about the worth of women. In India and China, abortion takes 35 and 25 million more women, respectively, than men. Gendercide is a thing. How is it more legal to say "You can terminate a pregnancy simply because it's unwanted, but you can't terminate that pregnancy due to the reason its unwanted."
I'm not a huge fan of the restrictive laws that have been introduced around the country. But, I'm also disgusted that abortion is being used as a contraceptive method. Even if you don't think a fetus is a person, abortion is like burning a bunch of MRI machines because they still need to be wired. There is so much beauty and potential in those babies. I'm just not sure that tighter legal controls are the way to go about protecting them.
Mostly, I'm a big, BIG fan of education. Sex Ed. Community Outreach programs. Free clinics. Anything that gives women a better understanding for the responsibility of having the coolest organ on the planet, and the ability to watch out for themselves.
All in all, whatever your stance on abortion (which is almost assuredly different than mine), I believe you are trying to make the most moral decision about it, and I don't think you're Hitler.
Let's be good to each other,
Stephanie
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| Computer generated dolphin fetus...Isn't it cute? (Source) |
Did you know that by 20 weeks of age, the female fetus already carries all of the eggs that she will ever have? In essence, a mother carries what will become her grandchildren inside her daughter's womb, insider her own womb. Man, women are awesome.
Women are great. I want to make sure I reaffirm that myself. They are amazing and intelligent and capable of making hard choices. I really hate that we try and mask that abortion is very like murder, though. And it makes me REALLY annoyed when people pretend that being a male means that anything you say about abortion is invalid.
ReplyDeleteThere's really very few reasons that even remotely come close to justifying abortion to me, and I don't think it'd be hard to make a law that makes abortion a bad thing, but obviously sometimes you have to do it. Just like any other form of justifiable homicide. Killing someone else sucks. It shouldn't be a free for all, though.
Stephanie I love how honest you are with yourself!! Discernment is such a God given desire to lead us eventually to all truths!! Think away!!
ReplyDeleteLove Ya!
Addie
Definitely Peter. Unintended, embarrassing, and inconvenient are not acceptable justifications to kill a baby. That was the point I was trying, but obviously missed making, with the gendercide point. If we permit abortions on those grounds, we also permit girls to be killed for being girls.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking something like a quota system for hospitals and clinics. Only x number of abortions can be performed per quarter. They should be reserved for rape victims or for the survival of the mother. Hopefully that prevents selfish, irresponsible women from seeking one. But I dunno. Really it's a mess. I don't want rape victims to have to prove they were raped. Nor do I want mothers to die wading through red tape.
But I truly agree. It's a cataclysmic tragedy that there are millions of babies being killed every year. And men have a right to be upset by that, even if they will never know what it's like to be pregnant themselves.
^ That's me, Stephanie
DeleteYeah cool. Guess I am also moderate, haha. :) I try to be in most things. Or at least accepting of that fact that there's exceptions to pretty much every rule.
DeleteQuotas are an interesting idea. They just seem so arbitrary. Sigh. It's SO HARD, haha. There's got to be a fair way of protecting life while supporting women, though.
And, yes I know you are Steph. :D