Women's Rights Are For All Women

This is an interesting article. Two comments are noteworthy: In one, a pre-law woman says that she wants something bigger for herself and she isn't going to let anything stop her. Her comment is an accurate portrayal of the way the abortion dialogue (!) is framed: Mother against child (or woman against biological matter, if that is how you prefer to see it). The assumption is that a conflict exists between the goals and rights of the mother on the one hand and the goals and rights of the fetus. This issue is incredibly complicated--including what we expect from our men and how we define life and how we treat women--but suffice it to say that this conflict is created, not inherent. It is created by the territorial and agenda-driven tactics of the two opposing sides: The liberals, in order to gain ground, have staked their claim to the care of women. Women have rights (autonomy, for instance) and goals (a career, perhaps), and abortion reaffirms those rights and enables those goals. To deny a woman an abortion is to deny her rights and obtrude her goals. The conservatives have staked their ground in like manner: The fetus has rights (the right to life, followed by liberty, followed by the pursuit of happiness) and, presumably, goals (being born comes to mind). To abort the fetus is to deny its rights and obtrude (with finality) its goals. Both arguments have a level of merit to them, but the politicizing of the two major players in an abortion (mother and fetus) has created the conflict noted above, and to the benefit of neither player, as far as I can tell.

Which is why a second comment in the article is noteworthy. A mother of a five-year-old had an abortion because the fetus was diagnosed with Down's syndrome. The mother reports that it was the most difficult decision she's ever made, and I doubt she is hyperbolizing. She also reports that pro-abortion groups do not acknowledge the emotional angst that goes along with an abortion. Here's where the created conflict falls apart: The left demonizes the right for wanting to subjugate women, while the right demonizes the left for wanting to kill babies. Neither side is affirming the crisis that the woman herself is in. My wife and I used to support Bethany Christian Services (and we probably still should), and at one point I remember looking over some intriguing information as to what happens to the woman post-abortion. I don't recall the numbers exactly, but I want to say that something like 70% of women post-abortion have dreams of their child calling out to them for help, and something like 40% of them buy stuffed animals or dolls and give them a baby's name and attempt to care for them. These are not signs of a healthy procedure or process. Bumper stickers may pithily state "Abortions Kill Babies", but the nasty little secret is that abortions deal quite an emotional and mental blow to the woman in question.

So, make abortions illegal? If that's how you want to spend your time and energy; however, I will say that most people who want to argue over doctrine and law do so because they don't want to interact with the individuals who stand in the center of the issue. Homosexuals are argued about, for instance, instead of being held responsible for their behavior and welcomed regardless in grace. If the church was doing her job--if the church was showing the grace of Christ to these women before they engaged in extramarital sex, or even after they got pregnant--perhaps the women at the center of this issue would feel empowered by that gracious community to abstain from sex before the issue ever arose, or to raise the baby supported by that community, or at least to carry the child to term and let someone else adopt the little tike. In other words, if the church were really doing her job, you wouldn't need to make abortion illegal. If women experienced that kind of grace, love, acceptance, and support, you wouldn't be able to force them to have abortions.

UPDATE: Here is a thoughtful piece on the subject. I like Ms Parker's nod to feminism. I have always found it curious--as a person who loves women but is not one myself--the feminist stance toward abortion so very curious. If the guesstimates are close, that somewhere around four millions abortions occur in America every year--then how can feminists support that? How is removing two million women a year from the population advancing the cause of women?