Thanks to Todd Akin's recent statements regarding "legitimate rape" (and other politicians' statements, I am sure), my facebook feed has been bombarded with statuses, posts, links, etc...regarding abortion, a woman's right to choose, and so on and so forth. I have refrained from getting involved in any major discussions about the subject on facebook, because honestly? Arguing on facebook is kind of dumb, especially when you're arguing with someone who obviously has very different views than you. It's like arguing with a wall. Neither party is going to change his or her mind and shouting at each other over an internet forum is pointless.
With that said, I will now lay out my personal views and again I will ask, just as I did with my post about homosexuality, that you read the whole blog before you start screaming at me. Thank you.
The issue of abortion comes down to one simple question...well, perhaps "basic" is a better term, because apparently, the question is not so simple. But the question is this: when does life begin?
When one answers the question, "when do I feel that life begins" one usually finds out where he or she lands along the spectrum of the abortion issue.
**Some people like to bring religion into this issue at this point--I am going to try and refrain from doing so, because this issue can be discussed without it. And as a friend just pointed out, religion and government should be separated, with which I agree. So, if we are going to discuss abortion as a government issue, religion should be left on the sidelines.**
My personal belief is that life begins at conception. Period. End of story. In my book, as soon as a baby is conceived, it is indeed a baby, not just a bundle of cells, and it is alive. Therefore, it is a human being and has just as many rights as any other human being currently in existence. So, when a person, like my above-mentioned friend, says, "Well, it's her body and she has the right to choose," my immediate response is, "What about the baby's rights? What about the baby's choice?" This is my immediate gut response, because I believe that life begins at conception. The problem with this is, for someone who doesn't believe that life begins at conception, this argument is completely moot.
For those who believe that life does not begin until later on in the pregnancy or even until actual birth, abortion, especially as a "woman's right to choose," is not an issue. They see nothing wrong with it because they see no living person's rights being violated. They don't view abortion as "murder" as some (and I) do, because in their minds there isn't any person present other than the mother and it's her body, she can do with it what she pleases.
Now, being of the opposite opinion, I don't have to agree with people fighting for abortion, I don't have to like it, but I do understand it and trying to convince someone they are wrong in one of their fundamental beliefs is a very tricky business and one that I'm not terribly fond of. Many people's beliefs about the start of life are as strong and as unchangeable as those I have regarding my faith. And I know how upset and aggravated I get when certain people try and convince me that I am wrong for believing the way I do. So in my mind, the best I can do at this point is support my own beliefs without raining down hate on those who don't believe as I do.
As to the rape/abortion issue, which is all hot and bothered right now, I stand by my original statement. Regarding the abortion, the specific act of what is in my mind, killing a child, I think it is wrong. HOWEVER, that does not go to say that I do not understand completely, why a woman would choose that route. The trauma of rape is severe, physically, emotionally, psychologically, and it affects a woman permanently, even without the added issue of a conception. With a conception, with that permanent visible evidence of a trauma that one would give anything to forget--I'm sure it's hell.
The thing is, there are women who have been in that situation who have fallen on either side of the fence. My mother knows personally a woman who was raped, by a family member no less, who was impregnated, and she had her baby to term, gave birth and has raised the child lovingly ever since. She views the child as a blessing, despite the negative situation in which the child was conceived and her life is fuller for it. She is one case. I also know there are plenty of women out there who , when faced with the idea of raising a child that was conceived in violence and violation, want nothing more than to run in the opposite direction. And they cannot be blamed for that, especially by people who have never been in that situation.
I personally believe that it is not fair to punish a child for the sins of his or her father. But again, that all goes back to my belief that what is growing inside the mother is a child, a person, and that to abort that child kills a life. For someone who does not believe that way, the opinion is very different. And that also goes to say, that I have never been in that position. I will not lie and say that when I found out I was pregnant for the first time, outside of marriage, that the thought of aborting it did not cross my mind. It did, very briefly. I wondered if it wouldn't be easier to try and do that behind my parents' backs, rather than admit to them that I had gone against how they had raised me, had sex before marriage and gotten pregnant. But the thought was followed quickly by a bout of shame, for the thought, and even more quickly by a bout of protective love for what I believed to already be my baby. But that was me. That's not every woman.
I have come to view the issue of abortion similarly to the way I view homosexuality. Just because I do not personally agree with it or support it, doesn't mean that I shouldn't try to understand it and be more tolerant of it. Judging those who are gay or those who have had an abortion is not my job, for their wrongdoing (what I personally believe to be wrongdoing) is no greater or lesser than my own. I have learned that it is better to judge myself first and when I do that, I realize that I really have no business judging others.
No matter what side of the issue we fall on, we would all do better I think to realize and understand that not all people view matters the way we do and chances are, we are not going to change anyone's minds, ESPECIALLY by yelling and screaming and throwing around insults. That simply spreads more intolerance and more hate, and that, my friends, gets us nowhere.
I will never vote towards something that supports abortion, because to me, a child results at conception and that child has just as much a "right to choose" as his or her mother. But to those who fight for a woman's "right to choose" and believe that it is strictly a woman's choice because hers is the only life present, well, they are supporting that which is in line with their fundamental beliefs. And how is that any different from what I'm doing? It's not.
So instead of whooping and hollering and attacking people about this issue, understand that their answer to a basic question, that is: when does life begin, may be different from yours and they are only acting in a way which supports their answer. And that right, the right to believe as one chooses, is EVERYONE'S.
No comments:
Post a Comment