One of the few things we heard out of the mainstream media during the Gosnell hearing is "this is what happens when abortions are hard to get."
The argument must be aimed at bolstering their own supporters, because it's not an argument that will convince many pro-lifers. My brain always interprets this kind of logic as "if abortion isn't legal, people might die when they try to murder their children." Less than compelling.
The other argument I've heard a lot lately is "we've always had abortion and we always will."
It's true we've always had abortion. For centuries people have dealt with unwanted children by killing them — either before they were born or after. Does that make it OK? Of course not. Does that mean it will always be with us? Not necessarily.
There's something else we can say we've pretty much always had: slavery. It's existed in some form or another for thousands of years. It still exists, even in the United States.
But it's not what it once was. Once, slavery was normal. People thought nothing of it. It was a fact of life.
Today, it's recognized by 99% of the human race as a horror and a crime. We may never stamp it out, but we've relegated it to the shadows, and there's a good chance we can make it too risky, too dangerous to practice if we keep the pressure on. There may soon come a day when there is no slavery on this planet.
Abortion has always existed because there were people who said "my needs are more important than the life of this child." There is a chance that we can change things so that 99% of the human race will say "nothing is more important that the life of a child." That's a dream worth fighting for.
7 comments:
Oh I have read it The problem of abortion India is unsolvable. Have you read about The story of Indian girl who lost her life in Ireland just because the law there was not allowing to abort her deceased child
Hi, Rahul,
Thanks for stopping by.
I haven't read anything about that, but -- as you describe it -- it sounds like a terribly tragedy. (I'm not sure how you can consider it an "abortion" if the child is already dead.)
But we don't have to make abortion totally legal because of the outliers. Cases where the mother is really at risk are rare. Something like 98% of abortions are totally elective -- no incest, no health issues, just "I don't want this child" (whether it's inconvenient, the "wrong" sex, or something else). That doesn't have to be legal to protect girls like her.
An insightful article, thanks so much. Nothing is impossible with God. God Bless!
www.jodysdevotionaljournal.blogspot.com
Hi ChrisB,
I think you did read the story of the poor Indian lady who died in Ireland. We discussed this issue at some length...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22204377
With the abortion it would have been possible for the mother to survive.
Without the abortion neither mother nor foetus could survive.
It's a great example of how blanket prohibitions on abortion can increase suffering and death.
Salim, very few would refuse abortion in the case that the mother's life is at risk. But, ask I said before, that is a tiny fraction of the abortion cases in the world. Elective abortion doesn't have to be legal to keep things like that from happening.
ChrisB, when you say 'very few' people that obviously included the anti-abortionists who made the laws that the Irish hospital was following. I think it's clear to all but 'very few' people that blanket prohibitions on abortion are very dangerous things.
So would you be in favour of abortion if medically necessary? If (for example) that there was a high probability of serious injury to the mother if a pregnancy was allowed to continue, would you be in favour of permitting an abortion?
I've always been open about my stance. If the life of the mother is seriously threatened, she has the right to protect herself. Of course, there are certainly women who choose to risk their lives for that of their child.
Post a Comment