See the warning? Great. If your mind is made up that abortion is wrong, please turn back now. I’m not going to say anything that’s going to make you particularly happy, and I’m not going to be debating this issue with you. These are my thoughts, my ethics regarding the situation, period.
And they begin, as many of my philosophical wanderings, with asking myself which act holds greater evil. Let this sink in… I am not pro abortion. I am not running around telling everyone I see shopping in the maternity section to kill their children. I do not think abortion is a great thing to do, I think it is, for some women, a necessary thing to do.
I believe in equality for women, and have come to the conclusion that if you are anti-abortion, you are not committed to equality.
A woman without a choice becomes a reluctant mother and what should be something beautiful and joyous instead becomes a burden. Carrying that burden sets that mother up to be less successful financially and emotionally.. and horribly guilt wracked for feeling in a way that’s really understandable and human at its core.
Why don’t we love children enough to give them the blessing of being wanted? Loved? Prepared for and eagerly welcomed into the world?
If you want to tell me that life begins at conception and must be protected, then I want to remind you that it doesn’t end at birth… and by allowing life to begin with a lack of care and stability- well, you’re setting the stage for the destruction of two lives.
If you want to debate the financials and how you do not want to fund abortion, I will remind you that it is far more expensive, both financially and at a human level, to cope with the outcome of unwanted children. We have this romanticized idea that adversity breeds excellence- is it true? Or is it just a salve for our collective conscience when we see situations of families struggling to provide the bare essentials?
And no, being unwanted doesn’t make a person doomed. But think of the problems of our society today- general lack of resources, increasing levels of depression, reported feelings of isolation, hate groups radicalizing into violence… how much of that do you think stems from the very beginning, of people bringing children into the world that they weren’t prepared for and could not raise with the love, time, and care that should be every child’s birthright?
We like to think we live in the greatest country in the world. How great are we if we condone, and indeed, enforce children having to live in poverty? How can women achieve equality if there is always the chance that they will have to give up such a huge part of themselves and their lives to a child?
They can’t. And we aren’t.
Curiouser and Curiouser 