Mary Kenny writes in the Irish newspaper, the Independent, that which she claims are some real-life examples that aren't often considered when the topic of abortion comes up...
"Picture a couple of former lovers meeting up again after 20 years, and finding, in their 50s that they have exactly the same loving feelings they had for one another in their 30s. And then the woman says to the man, ruefully: "Our child would have been 17 now. Wasn't it the stupidest thing we ever did?" She has never had subsequent children: he has.
Picture a woman in her late 60s -- a doughty campaigner for abortion rights -- enjoying a family meal with her son and daughter-in-law. A discussion about abortion arises, because it is in the news. The older feminist launches into a polemic about a woman's right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. Her daughter-in-law suddenly turns on her: "How can you say that? You know our children are adopted. If two heroic birth mothers hadn't gone through unwanted pregnancies, we would never have been able to have our family"
Imagine a homosexual man who, unexpectedly, on a Mediterranean holiday, has a crazy, but fun-filled affair with a bright, amusing woman. The woman then finds she is pregnant. She tells him she has no intention of continuing an unwanted pregnancy. He ardently begs her to continue the pregnancy: it will be his only chance, ever, of fathering a child -- he'll pay any amount of financial support and help out in any way she needs. She turns him down and terminates.
A student, in her early 20s, falls pregnant at the worst possible time for her exams. She terminates the pregnancy with relief. She does brilliantly in her exams, and splits up with the boyfriend in question. Later, she meets the love of her life. They get married, and in their early 30s, securely in possession of house and jobs, they decide to have a family. But no pregnancy occurs. They go for fertility treatment, with no success. They try IVF three times, also without success. Does she tell her husband that she once was pregnant?
All these cases have happened, and many more too...
Respect for new life is, moreover, a value upheld by Christians for many centuries, and, underlined by this very season which is almost upon us -- not coincidentally called the Nativity, in which a baby born in a manger, in dismal circumstances, to a homeless, unmarried mother becomes the shining centre of Redemption and the Prince of Peace."
Picture a woman in her late 60s -- a doughty campaigner for abortion rights -- enjoying a family meal with her son and daughter-in-law. A discussion about abortion arises, because it is in the news. The older feminist launches into a polemic about a woman's right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. Her daughter-in-law suddenly turns on her: "How can you say that? You know our children are adopted. If two heroic birth mothers hadn't gone through unwanted pregnancies, we would never have been able to have our family"
Imagine a homosexual man who, unexpectedly, on a Mediterranean holiday, has a crazy, but fun-filled affair with a bright, amusing woman. The woman then finds she is pregnant. She tells him she has no intention of continuing an unwanted pregnancy. He ardently begs her to continue the pregnancy: it will be his only chance, ever, of fathering a child -- he'll pay any amount of financial support and help out in any way she needs. She turns him down and terminates.
A student, in her early 20s, falls pregnant at the worst possible time for her exams. She terminates the pregnancy with relief. She does brilliantly in her exams, and splits up with the boyfriend in question. Later, she meets the love of her life. They get married, and in their early 30s, securely in possession of house and jobs, they decide to have a family. But no pregnancy occurs. They go for fertility treatment, with no success. They try IVF three times, also without success. Does she tell her husband that she once was pregnant?
All these cases have happened, and many more too...
Respect for new life is, moreover, a value upheld by Christians for many centuries, and, underlined by this very season which is almost upon us -- not coincidentally called the Nativity, in which a baby born in a manger, in dismal circumstances, to a homeless, unmarried mother becomes the shining centre of Redemption and the Prince of Peace."
I believe Ms. Kenny's intention was to provide some balance to the abortion debate and she states that it is an issue that should be guided, above all, by "conscience". Her article provides some insight as to how such weighty decisions as to have an abortion can play out in the years and decades to come. This further underlines the fact that when it comes to a decision being made to actually abort a child, there are no winners. Anywhere
5 comments:
I've said it before: science cannot prove the existence of a human soul but it can prove that a baby is a human life from the moment of conception. Either all life is sacred... or none is.
Actually, a baby is the product of two non-human life forms.
Couple in 50s: if there was no good reason to abort, it was stupid to abort. No reason is even given to be considered.
Woman in 60s: there's never just one baby to adopt. If the two unwanted pregancies hadn't gone ahead, she would have waited a bit longer and adopted other children. Abortion rights aren't about aborting every unwanted pregnancy; pro-choice means often choosing not to abort.
Gay man: that woman is so not his only chance to have a child. If he's got the financial resources to support a child and its mother, he can go and father another child deliberately with a willing mother who lives somewhere near the guy. If he's not averse to occasional sex with women, it's even easier for him.
Student in 20s: if she'd kept the baby or even carried it to term during exams, there's a very good chance she wouldn't have the husband, the house or especially the financial security she apparently has now. You can't simply take the world as it is, add a baby ten years ago and expect the presence of a child to be the only thing that's now different. What she can do now is adopt.
I do think there are no "winners" when an abortion occurs, but some people lose significantly less than they otherwise would, up to and including their livelihoods and lives. It's never the best outcome for all concerned, but that doesn't mean there's never a reason to do it.
Arielle, if ever you're faced with the choice between saving an injured woman or a trapped rat from a burning building, you'll find out very quickly that some life is more important to us humans than others. "Sacred" is a label we bestow.
If a fertilised ovum which has divided into two cells is a human life, what is it about a human life so broadly and yet specifically defined that makes it "sacred", besides the supposed soul? What potential does it have that the previous ovum and sperm didn't?
what is it about a human life so broadly and yet specifically defined that makes it "sacred", besides the supposed soul? What potential does it have that the previous ovum and sperm didn't?
Something far greater and noteworthy than the previously mentioned rat.
Something far greater and noteworthy than the previously mentioned rat.
Probably, JD, and thanks for confirming that we discriminate between forms of life and have solid reasons to do so.
I'm asking for the difference between a sperm and egg, and two cells, that should make destroying the latter pair a potentially capital crime but not the former.
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