Choice
I’m taking a risk here and wading into controversy a bit.
Abortion is something people have very strong feelings about. I happen to be pro-life, but I also recognize that an unplanned pregnancy can be a very scary thing. Raising a child consumes your life. Once you have a baby things will never go back to what they were. Your “normal” is gone. It might also mean quitting school, giving up a career, never getting married, struggling financially, etc. So my heart really goes out to anyone in that situation. They need a ton of love and support!
Having said that, in a pregnancy I’m absolutely convinced there are two lives involved, not one. We know this because of how people react when they see a pregnant woman smoking or drinking (putting the baby at risk for birth defects). This is my attempt to make that point.
I realize not everyone sees the world as I do so if you disagree with me or have a thoughtful comment to share by all means please do. I don’t normally allow comments but I will on this post. I really do want to hear other points of view and will try to listen and respond in friendliness and respect.
EDIT: If anyone reading this has ever had an abortion, I’d remiss if I didn’t say that that one of my most popular comics is all about God’s amazing forgiveness and love!
So true.
I appreciate your thoughtfulness!
I think one important distinction is that even pro-choice folks are against harming babies – and, by extension, late-term fetuses, which are basically babies!
Generally, only embryos and early fetuses, which don’t yet have any capacity to think, feel or suffer (and therefore can’t really be ‘harmed’) are considered acceptable and legal to abort. But if a woman goes through with a pregnancy and smokes, drinks, etc., that unfeeling embryo will develop into a conscious, feeling baby, who absolutely will be harmed by her behaviour!
I think that harm/no harm difference is what separates hurting an actual baby from abortion (for pro-choice people, at least).
I understand why abortions can seem quite severe because even an unfeeling and unthinking life is still a life; but I think we shouldn’t forget that sperm and egg cells are alive, too! Being alive and being a person are very different things, in my eyes.
Furthermore, those who use birth control should know that at least one form of birth control works by preventing the fertilized egg from implanting, which is essentially equivalent to a very very early abortion. I personally believe that there is no ethical difference between birth control and an abortion, because both prevent new life from happening without causing any actual suffering to a conscious being.
This is all from a scientific perspective, of course – I understand that religious beliefs may cause people to view the issue differently. But that would, in my eyes, make it a personal choice and not a matter of law (I don’t think you mentioned any legal aspects, but I know that some people want abortions to be banned specifically because it is forbidden by their own religion, so I wanted to address that!)