A few years ago, I read this really amazing article, where a woman who was Pro-Choice changed her views and became Pro-Life. This story is so well written and really examines so many things that I didn’t fully think through at the time, but found really relevant.
Here’s the article. It’s really worth reading if you have a bit of time.
On the first day of talking about this, I really wanted to address the quote from her husband:
“‘It just occurred to me that being pro-life is being pro-other-people’s-life,’ he quipped. ‘Everyone is pro-their-own-life.’”
This really expresses one of the biggest things that I grappled to in all the time I have believe that abortion is wrong. I’ve always (albeit maybe harshly) thought that women who believe abortion is okay are selfish. They are saying that the growing baby inside a woman isn’t actually a living thing. They equate an embryo to a random grouping of cells. Cells that are nothing more than some strange phenomenon, not possibly the start of a new life.
Getting away from the typical arguments, this quote really shows the different mindsets of the two groups on this severely polarizing issue. Pro-Life people are for other people’s lives because they don’t want to see that innocent growing baby be killed. Pro-Choice want the women to be able to decide that being a mother isn’t for them. (Now, I’m purposely not addressing the issue of rape and pregnancy because that’s going to be a whole other post.)
As a Pro-Life believer, we see that random collection of cells as the beginning to something amazing: a new little life that should be cherished and protected. We can’t separate the cells from the person as easily as others because we believe the two are so interconnected with one another that there’s no possible way they could be independant.
We see the act of abortion as selfish because what other explanation can you give to the willful abandonment of the pregnancy that creates a baby? Would you rather be a murderer? No, and I know that women who choose abortion aren’t murderers and aren’t, in their mind, trying to end life. They are just pro-their-own-life.
Hey lovely! I appreciate your thoughts, and I love that article you linked! I just want to criticize, or maybe I mean refine, some of your comments. Thank you for putting your views out there to start discussion!
ReplyDeleteSelfishness as the explanation behind abortion is subjective! Some would argue that selfishness, or at least self-interest, is necessary for people to function - the massive failings of any economy that tried to remove selfishness and greed from the structure should be evidence enough. I do agree, though, that selfishness as it relates to the choice to be/not to be a parent is deeply troubling. But let's flip it the other way.
How selfish is it to bring a new life into a world when more than 20,000 people - mostly children - die every day from starvation, malnutrition, and other hunger-related illnesses?
How selfish is it for prospective parents to choose to have their own biological offspring when there are more than 100,000 children in the US alone waiting for adoptive homes? Yes, many are older, not the cute little cooing baby that many fantasized about - but how selfish is it to neglect them?
Some would-be parents choose for abortion because a child would get "in the way" of their lifestyle, which is where the argument about their selfishness enters - how dare you affect the life of the child because it's inconvenient for you? So, how dare you value your cute unblemished biological offspring over the 8 year old who probably already needs counseling and is in desperate need of your loving home?
Selfishness is rampant when it comes to child-bearing choices. I see it in the people who are interested in proliferating their family traditions and name. In the people who do it for the status, or the image of having a Leave it to Beaver family. The women (and men!) who feel like their life isn't complete without having biological children.
I hope the solution here is for people to pursue the godly attitude - it's hard to be selfish when your goal is to be giving. And in our fallen form, all of us are pro-our-own-life. With that in mind, I don't know if people who decide to have an abortion and don't acknowledge the humanity of an embryo are any more selfish than pro-lifers who choose to have children for selfish reasons. And using language like "murderers" in relation to people who don't have a concept of fetal personhood doesn't connect - it only incites.
As to the issue of when life begins - mass of cells versus a human being created in God's image - I'll comment on your next post.