Abortion
I've kept this blog pretty non-political so far - on purpose. Because I know I have readers on both sides of issues, so I tend to shy away from making this a political soap-box. However, on this issue I am an unashamed, openly pro-life advocate. At the same time, I also tend to try to see things from all angles. I like to get other perspectives on any and every issue I take a stand on. I am not going to add anything new to this debate here, but I will throw out a few thoughts since they do buzz around in my head on occasion. Especially because I get what both sides say, and wish sometimes I could answer the arguments I hear on the radio or elsewhere.
When I was pregnant for the first time I began to appreciate the pro-choice element a little better. It was a miserable predicament for me - physically especially! I would never have dreamed of ending the life of the pre-born baby within me, but I did come to think about how I might feel if I didn't have these convictions (that life begins at conception, that it is morally wrong to end human life, that God is the author of life etc. etc.). I vomitted daily. The acid burned through my eosophagus. I really was miserable. Even though it wasn't so bad with all my pregnancies, I did get a feel for how this condition does crimp one's freedom - albeit for a season only.
I begun to have sympathy for women who didn't hold my convictions and were tempted to abort - the physical challenges were real and difficult. I recognized how vulnerable I felt and how other women must feel if they discover their condition and have little or no support around them. This made me a little more sympathetic to the pro-choice arguments. I did have sympathy, yes, but as I reasoned it out I still found myself landing with both feet in the pro-life camp.
We Americans love our freedom. No-one better dare infringe upon it. Funny thing is, you talk to the pro-gun side ('right to bear arms' group) and they say, 'It's my freedom at stake!' Usually these are the same ones who argue against abortion - not realizing that through pro-choice eyes, restricting abortion restricts a woman's freedom. And as I have been pregnant I realize that yes, the condition of pregnancy and childbearing does, in fact, limit my freedom. When pregnant I am not free to feel comfortable all the time, to eat acidic foods without paying for it later, to sleep through the night, to have no-one sitting on my bladder, to have swelling feet and extreme fatigue... - I lost many freedoms when pregnant, and so all the rights-loving people out there cry, 'Rights for women! Let them abort so they can have their freedom!'
I just have to mention that this is a one-sided argument. Because when we mention the rights of women and feel sorry for them and wish they could choose abortion if they wanted to, we fail to recognize the loss of freedom their choice incurs upon others. If a woman chooses abortion (to serve herself, her desires, her freedom) she infringes upon the freedom of another human being to exist. She infringes upon the freedom of another family to raise that child. She infringes upon the freedom of the father to make his choice about the life of that child. The purchase of her 9 months of freedom from the difficulties of childbearing costs another individual perhaps 90 years of freedom - in any aspect at all.
So, let's weigh in the balance: On the one hand: 9 months of freedom from pregnancy for the woman versus a lifetime of freedoms for the baby who is lost to abortion.
So, I agree - abolishing abortion would limit the freedom of a woman to be free from pregnancy for a given 9 month period. But it costs a life. Is that a fair trade-off? I can't bring myself to say that it is. In fact, it strikes me to the core, that human life is cherished so little, to be so easily cast off to preserve a woman's independent freedom. I grieve to think that these little ones that perish go directly to meet God without having been given the opportunity to know Him in this life. It is sad to me. Though I can see things through many angles and perspectives, on this matter I cannot fully appreciate where the other side is coming from. But I try - I really try to understand. But this is where I am left - with two freedoms vying for first place - and our country has decided to prefer the freedoms of a woman and denied freedom to the most vulnerable and helpless.
It is a tragedy.
It is a shame.
Our nation should bow its head and weep and repent.
When I was pregnant for the first time I began to appreciate the pro-choice element a little better. It was a miserable predicament for me - physically especially! I would never have dreamed of ending the life of the pre-born baby within me, but I did come to think about how I might feel if I didn't have these convictions (that life begins at conception, that it is morally wrong to end human life, that God is the author of life etc. etc.). I vomitted daily. The acid burned through my eosophagus. I really was miserable. Even though it wasn't so bad with all my pregnancies, I did get a feel for how this condition does crimp one's freedom - albeit for a season only.
I begun to have sympathy for women who didn't hold my convictions and were tempted to abort - the physical challenges were real and difficult. I recognized how vulnerable I felt and how other women must feel if they discover their condition and have little or no support around them. This made me a little more sympathetic to the pro-choice arguments. I did have sympathy, yes, but as I reasoned it out I still found myself landing with both feet in the pro-life camp.
We Americans love our freedom. No-one better dare infringe upon it. Funny thing is, you talk to the pro-gun side ('right to bear arms' group) and they say, 'It's my freedom at stake!' Usually these are the same ones who argue against abortion - not realizing that through pro-choice eyes, restricting abortion restricts a woman's freedom. And as I have been pregnant I realize that yes, the condition of pregnancy and childbearing does, in fact, limit my freedom. When pregnant I am not free to feel comfortable all the time, to eat acidic foods without paying for it later, to sleep through the night, to have no-one sitting on my bladder, to have swelling feet and extreme fatigue... - I lost many freedoms when pregnant, and so all the rights-loving people out there cry, 'Rights for women! Let them abort so they can have their freedom!'
I just have to mention that this is a one-sided argument. Because when we mention the rights of women and feel sorry for them and wish they could choose abortion if they wanted to, we fail to recognize the loss of freedom their choice incurs upon others. If a woman chooses abortion (to serve herself, her desires, her freedom) she infringes upon the freedom of another human being to exist. She infringes upon the freedom of another family to raise that child. She infringes upon the freedom of the father to make his choice about the life of that child. The purchase of her 9 months of freedom from the difficulties of childbearing costs another individual perhaps 90 years of freedom - in any aspect at all.
So, let's weigh in the balance: On the one hand: 9 months of freedom from pregnancy for the woman versus a lifetime of freedoms for the baby who is lost to abortion.
So, I agree - abolishing abortion would limit the freedom of a woman to be free from pregnancy for a given 9 month period. But it costs a life. Is that a fair trade-off? I can't bring myself to say that it is. In fact, it strikes me to the core, that human life is cherished so little, to be so easily cast off to preserve a woman's independent freedom. I grieve to think that these little ones that perish go directly to meet God without having been given the opportunity to know Him in this life. It is sad to me. Though I can see things through many angles and perspectives, on this matter I cannot fully appreciate where the other side is coming from. But I try - I really try to understand. But this is where I am left - with two freedoms vying for first place - and our country has decided to prefer the freedoms of a woman and denied freedom to the most vulnerable and helpless.
It is a tragedy.
It is a shame.
Our nation should bow its head and weep and repent.
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