I've been having lots of discussions about abortion lately. People have strong views on it, so it can get to be a fairly intense discussion. There are a few things that I have not been able to resolve in my mind, until recently, maybe (I'm still working on it).
Abortion discussion from The World, According To Me
And discussions from Jen's Green Journal
It's interesting to think about being pro-choice and anti-abortion. I'm not sure where I fit in there yet. I've always felt like I couldn't say I was pro-choice or pro-life. (that's why I just say pro-responsibility).
The thing that I have been thinking about lately, is that people use the killing a life argument, but they want to include the exceptions for health and life of the mother and rape and incest. A life is a life no matter how it was created, so being against abortion based on the "killing life" exception doesn't make sense to me. However, even a very tiny fetus moves, and looks like a small person. I had an ultrasound with my current pregnancy around 12 weeks. It looked like a little gummy bear and he was waving his arms.
I believe that Heavenly Father will work things out and that an aborted fetus has not lost its "chance" for a body. I can't see Heavenly Father punishing something so innocent for the choices of its parents.
I think we have to learn to be responsible with out bodies and the choices we make. We know what can happen when we have sex, so to be responsible, we use some form of birth control if we don't want to have children, but we go into knowing that having sex can lead to pregnancy so we must take responsibility for the results of our choice.
I know that if I touch a hot oven I will be burned, so it would be irresponsible of me to not use a hot pad to take something out of that oven. I have to be careful to avoid the undesirable consequence. It would be irresponsible (and ridiculous) of me to touch the oven and then be angry that the oven burned me, because I knew that ovens were hot.
I think women should choose to be responsible (although I realize that some people veiw abortion as a responsible choice).
So in LDS views, is abortion a sin because it is murder or because it is being irresponsible with a power that should be sacred? I'd tend to go with the later, but like I said, I'm still trying to figure out how to view the issue consistently.
4 comments:
Can they be separated? (Pertaining as to why it is a sin.) I am not sure the primary reason has been ennunciated. Me thinks agency perhaps is at the basis of the question.
Isn't this one of the great wonders and joys of life - to ponder, think about and discuss matters that are important to us? Was it not one the Greeks, Socrates who observed, 'the unexamined life is not worth living'?
I think those who define consistency in this issue as being rigidly pro-life or pro-choice are deceiving themselves.
For years, I struggled to find a consistent position, but was never comfortable agreeing with either polar position. What I eventually feel settled on is a pro-responsibility position. My position is that responsibility must be shared by all those interested in this issue. The mother is obviously interested, but so should the father, who frequently gets a free pass in these discussion. Those who wish to outlaw abortion, or eliminate it as a viable choice, must attack this problem at all ends of the chronology. This involves teaching responsibility to teenagers; whether that goes beyond abstinence is another worthy discussion. However, when unplanned pregnancy occurs, responsibility must go beyond the mother. Removing abortion as a choice requires other choices to become much more viable. Health care for the mother and child must be guaranteed. Adoption must be available easily. Welfare programs for mothers, educational opportunities, and other programs allowing mother and child to become stable members of society must be fully implemented. Government alone cannot do this; extended families, religious organizations, charities, and other groups must help out. That seems like the only responsible way to do things.
Allie,
Be whatever you want to be (on abortion) just be for keeping politicians the hell out of it.
Just a short legal comment: in criminal law traditionally a person cannot be murdered without having actually been born because you must be a "life in being" in order to be the victim of homicide (Murder is defined as a homicide w/ intent to kill). "Life in being" may include those who are determined developed enough to survive outside the womb in some states, but I'm not up on the status of that debate.
Post a Comment