Google Reader told me today that it had some recommendations for me. I was curious, so I clicked.
I'm confused.
Apparently Google Reader thinks I'm a hardcore feminist who doesn't believe in God.
First, I saw Atheist Barbie.
K, whatever.
But then there was something else.
You know, I don't like to weigh in on most issues. A great deal of banter involves people making broad, emotional, uninformed statements that rarely, if ever, provide a complete image of the situation. Knowing my own limitations of understanding and knowledge, I would chose rather to be silent over foolish.
Abortion is not one of those issues. And this "statement" has affected me so deeply, I do feel the need to say something.
I hate abortion. I hate the flippancy with which it is often discussed. I hate that we treat it as a right, that the assumption in the second image behind that link is that this girl's right to go to college and fulfill her dreams is somehow greater than that child's right to live. I hate that pregnancy is simple, something that "just happens" and then can be "taken care of."
I hate that there are childless mothers out there, aching for a baby, while those who have that opportunity are killing them because they just don't want a baby right now. Because having a baby interrupts their lives, their plans.
Here's a novel idea: if you don't want to get pregnant, if you're not ready to have a baby, then don't have sex.
I realize that in today's world, it's a warped concept. That hardly puts us first. And by us, I mean me. It's all about me, right?
I know there are women out there who consider and wrestle with abortion for other reasons than inconvenience. Rape is one. Knowing that your child will die upon birth is another. I don't want to discredit their very difficult situations, and I honestly don't know what I'd do if faced with it myself.
But to kill my child so I can go to college? Inconceivable.
We were spending some time discussing the constitutional issues around Roe v. Wade. It was difficult and frustrating to sit through because the moral implications were not brought up at all. There are some who would say that even if the fetus were a human, the mother's right to reproductive freedom would still trump. The way that pregnancy was framed made me sick- yes, it is hard on a woman's body. Yes, it does carry a stigma, especially for a teenager. But to call it an involuntary servitude, and try to call anti-abortion laws sexist because they only affect females...absurd.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you. The "right" to have sex without consequences...doesn't exist. When education comes before human life, we know there's something wrong with our (our=our nation's) priorities.
To be completely honest, I would prefer that abortion be legal. Because I can't definitively say that ALL situations in which one might consider abortion are wrong, I can't definitively say that it should be criminalized in all cases. And the thing about laws (and why I will never be a lawyer), is that they only regulate the action; if we want to solve the problem of abortion, we have to go much deeper than outlawing the practice.
ReplyDeleteThe unfortunate flip side of legalization, however, is what we have seen. That it has become an easy out, allowing us to not face the consequences of our decisions.
That's what makes me so sad about that blog, and about the amended statement that was plastered over the original pro-life sign.
Why are pro-life people automatically wrong? Why are they criticized and condemned for asking our nation to consider the consequences of their decisions? Yes, maybe some people can have an abortion and never think twice about it. But a lot of women -- and men, as we know it affects potential fathers too -- live with and are plagued by their decision for the rest of their lives.