It all started with an innocent t-shirt. I was flipping through a magazine and I saw an ad for an $8 t-shirt that said "Better Off Alive". It was an ad for an anti-abortion website but what caught my eye was that it was a cool t-shirt. If anyone knows me, they know how much I love t-shirts, especially internet t-shirts. As guilty as I feel now, my honest thoughts were, "its a cool t-shirt and being political is trendy". I decided to take a look at the site so if anyone asked me about the shirt, I'd at least have a response. What I found put a whole new viewpoint on an issue that I have specifically tried to avoid having a viewpoint on.I'm not going to apologize for my views on the matter, but I will apologize for getting political on a blog that is anything but. So this is your one chance to stop reading. This is going to be an anti-abortion blog and if you don't want to read about it don't. I don't want nasty comments on your views.
I'm going to try to keep this as brief as possible and let the website do most of the talking for me, but there are a few things I'd like to talk about. The first is my callousness on the matter. Much to the dismay of my right-wing, evangelical family (which, don't get me wrong, I am very much apart of) I have to honestly say I've never had a strong stance on this matter. I've got my own feelings towards it ("No wife of mine will ever have an abortion," I've thought) but have opposingly felt "Your body, your choice. Stupid choice, but yours nonetheless."
Secondly, I'd like to address the ignorance I've had with the issue. As a strong Christian, there are certain things that science can't explain that I have to rely on my faith to believe in. One of these things being the question I've heard many times in the face of abortion issues, "When does life begin." Much to my surprise, this isn't an unanswerable question at all. Its a question, nearly every medical book agrees with. Life begins at conception. From the moment of fertilization, the tiny zygote has a genetic code all of its own. In fact, one of the first things to happen after fertilization is a weakening of the mother's immune system so it doesn't expel this "foreign body." Once you have determined that it is indeed a form of life, that ends all questions for me. I'm further baffled by cases where a pregnant woman is beaten or killed and that offender can be charged with murdering the baby. Or if a pregnant woman takes drugs or alcohol during a pregnancy and something happens she can be charged with "fetal harm". So basically we're saying as long as its intentional, its legal.
I'm more or less going to end it here and direct you to the website. Mostly because it can say so much more than I can. I feel the need to first post this warning. It opens with some very gruesome images of what an abortion does. These are not the controversial "third trimester" abortions. These are the standard abortions done every day on thousands of embryos and fetuses.
My advice is, if you are already against abortion in any circumstance, don't bother with the site. It won't give you any new information and it will just show you images you don't need to see. However, if you believe there are permissible circumstances, I urge you to look at the site and think hard about your reasons. I'll give you the same advice the opening line of the video gives... If ignorance is bliss, turn back now.
http://www.abort73.com/
2 comments:
Well, God Bless America because only here can we agree to disagree. I saw the videos on the website and it didn't change the long held view I have had on abortion.
I see it this way: Life ENDS when our heart stops beating and the rest of our organs fail. The blood stops flowing to our brains and we pass on.
Therefore for me, life BEGINS when the heart starts beating. 5 weeks after conception. Before that, it is simply a ball of cells with its own genetic code, like you said.
The wart on my hand is literally a ball of cells with its own genetic code.
Abortions are sometimes very necessary for the health of the mother. Afterall, abortion is a medical procedure, nothing more nothing less. If the embryo begins to develop in one of the filopian tubes and not the uterus it could cause absolutely devastating effects on Mom.
There are other complications of pregnancy, some of them potentially deadly for the mother. In a case where pregnancy could potentially kill a mother, I see it VERY necessary to perform the procedure.
I am on the fence when it comes to performing abortion for mercy's sake. For instance, if the mother is unaware that she is pregnant and habitually smokes crack cocaine throughout the first trimester. What kind of life (if a very long one at all) will that child have? Sometimes I feel like it would be better for that child to skip the cruel world and go straight to Heaven where it will never have to live in the pain and agony of being a crack baby.
I can't say that I approve of abortion in cases where mothers simply don't want a baby, or don't think it's "the right time." In those cases, I see adoption as the ONLY alternative to bringing that child up in this world in her arms. For me, abortion is out of the question in those circumstances.
But we can't completely illegalize abortion because like some of the cases above, it is a necessary procedure. It is too hard to draw the line between what is necessary and what is "murder" so for me I have to take a stance that all abortion be legal. But unless it is performed strictly for the health of the mother or baby, I think it should be illegal after 5 weeks (when the heart starts beating).
Props to Andy for putting his two cents in very thoroughly. Per your request, I will not do the same, but merely state it is extremely important for friends and colleagues to respect the fact that not everyone feels the same way about political issues. If there was one thing that I did not like about my internship in the Senate, it was the close-mindedness of several members of my office. The least you can do is hear what the other side has to say, and in Andy's words, "agree to disagree" when needed.
Post a Comment