The Call Her Name at 7:30

Apr 26, 2009 23:59

I couldn't help but cry a little as I sang along to "Brick" with Ben Folds at the concert tonight. It's such a beautiful song and my heart broke as I pondered the lyrics. Most people know it's about abortion, but it was bizarre that everyone in the Carrier Dome stood up to sing along. It truly is a great song, but it was a bizarre moment that all these people were singing about how getting an abortion divided a couple.

I cried for all of the unborn children in the world. I realized, as I sang, that I've slowly become more okay with abortion since coming to college. I used to see the issue in black and white, but lately I've been in a muddled gray. And I realized that I was slowly becoming okay with murder. I am not okay with that.

Do I think that Roe v. Wade should be overturned? No. As much as I hate the idea of ending life, I don't think abortion should be illegal. If a woman is going to make that choice, I'd rather her do so in a clean, safe environment where she won't be putting herself at much physical risk.

I mentioned in an earlier blog how I discussed the abortion issues with one of my professors. He made the point that while he feels that a human being is a human being in the womb, he cannot make much of a scientific argument for proving that a fetus is a person during the first and second trimester. Some babies born early can survive on their own. But that's not really until the third trimester. For sake of argument, we'll call a human being a person whose physiology is self sustaining. (Obviously babies are still dependent on parents for food and survival, but their bodies work on their own.) But going off that definition, are people on life support still people if their bodies can no longer function independently?

Rather than spending my time protesting with signs of fetuses or planting pipe bombs at the local planned parenthood, I'd prefer to spend my time advocating for different programs to support women considering abortion. Sometimes the issue is lack of the financial means to support a child. If anything, there should be more programs in place to take care of women as they carry their babies to term and then the children should be put up for adoption.

Sometimes the issue is that the mother doesn't want a child with a disability because they feel that having a disability creates a lower quality of life and they don't want their child to suffer, or don't want to have to for a child with a disability. It's just a different kind of life, that life does not lack the integrity any other life possesses. Different doesn't automatically mean bad. Difficult doesn't mean substandard. I know there are some parents afraid to adopt children with disabilities. It's a lot of work. But you shouldn't judge the quality of a life before it's even begun.

I know there are a lot of issues that need discussion. Should a woman who's been raped have to carry a baby? What about a young girl? What about teenage parents? What about people not emotionally mature enough to deal with the demands of carrying a child? I get those issues. But I think as a society our attitude toward life is far too cavalier.

It's so difficult to pass gay marriage laws, and yet we are okay with a law allowing murder? My professor pointed that out to me in our discussion. We are so concerned with the sanctity of marriage, what about the sanctity of life? As a society, where do our priorities lay?
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