Abortion

In biblical ethics class yesterday we talked about abortion. Abortion is one of those issues that is not a black and white issue. It has so much gray area that it's unbelievable. It's one of those issues that people are sometimes so touchy about. But it was pretty calm in class. Yes people voiced their opinions, but they weren't lively about voicing them which is a good thing in many respects.

When the class was talking about it, there was the issue of when does life start. People said when the girl conceived or when the fetus started developing hands, fingers, toes, etc.. I don't really when life starts honestly. Sure I could take a guess, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's correct and some people said the same thing as other people, but just in different words.

I brought up the issue of motivation such as financial stability, poverty, etc.. It's pretty ignorant to say: "It's there choice to have an abortion." Sure it's there choices, but let's honest here, there has to be more behind it then it's just there choice. In the second class yesterday, I also brought up that harm might come to the mother via death during delivery or abuse in the home and whatnot. I believe there is no black and white area on this part of the motivation aspect of abortion. You don't know each individual persons case. It's different for each person why they got an abortion. Sure a lot have abortions because of convenience on their life because they don't want to make the adjustments in their life to take care of a child. My teacher in the first class brought up the issue of abortion because of rape. Even though it's only .0001 per cent of the time, doesn't make it any less of significant. People should stop trying to justify their motivation with the classic "it's their choice." No, as I said there is more to it then that. Justification makes you look ignorant for a lack knowing the whole story.

This issue of abortion yesterday went as far as to talk about freedom and responsibility. My teacher Todd said that the opposite of freedom is not slavery, but responsibility. But one of the students said that freedom and responsibility go hand in hand. But I disagree with that because you can be free not and be responsible. For instance, there are people that are free yet they continually get caught drunk driving which is irresponsible (I know first hand). Freedom and responsibility do not go hand in hand. There are some pretty irresponsible people that are free. It seems like what this person was getting at was that you have to be responsible to be free and again that's not always true.

We also talked about this second wave that happens years after people abort. It's when they have families and then they have feelings about having an abortion and whatnot. Is it really worth it if this second wave is going to happen? Do you really want to have all this emotional stress years later because of your abortion? Just something to think about.

All in all, abortion is a very sticky subject with no clear answers. But one thing my friend Mark mentioned was that a lot of the stuff in class was geared towards the conservative minds in the class. Which I guess I can see a bit. Either way we could spend years talking about abortion.

"I've noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born."
-Ronald Reagan, quoted in New York Times, 22 September 1980

"If the anti-abortion movement took a tenth of the energy they put into noisy theatrics and devoted it to improving the lives of children who have been born into lives of poverty, violence, and neglect, they could make a world shine. "
-Michael Jay Tucker

“How can anyone be against abortion but for the death penalty?”

-Loesje, Dutch fictional character