The debate about abortion has again being thrust into the spotlight as the result of a recent court case in Queensland.
Like most things morally based, those that stand on either side of the issue promote their views strongly and are critical of those opposing them with equal, if not more, vigour. And rightly so. It’s things like this that we believe down to our very core.
But of course, with issues like these, there is no right answer. There never has been and there never will be. To get up and categorically state that what you believe is the correct and only way that one of these issues should be approached is absurd.
The question of abortion, however, is one that often results in very, very heated exchanges between parties.
To me, this is not simply a black and white issue. This is more than whether or not a woman should have the right to do as she sees fit with her own body. This is something something that strikes at the very core of our humanity and what defines us as both a species and a civilised society.
The big question is; do we have the right to decide that the way
a new life is brought into the world is grounds for determining whether its existence should be seen as something that’s worth preserving or not?
Should we be willing to say that because those that created this life do not wish to raise it that it should be ended? That that life doesn’t deserve a chance to flourish?
It would seem that the problems we have addressing this issue come not from some sort of sense about a women’s rights, but instead stem of massive problems we have socially in helping women who find themselves with an unwanted pregnancy.
I do not understand how we as a society have come to the point where we consider it perfectly OK to terminate a life just because of how that life was brought into the world.
We need to take a serious look at providing more support and having more options for that child to be born and raised into the best possible person it can be.
Of course, raising a child born of an unwanted pregnancy does raise it’s own issues with how we go about explaining to a child why their biological parents didn’t want them. But I would suggest that given the number of well-raised foster and adoptive children already, this wouldn’t be a massive problem.
This is a tricky issue to address, of course. But the answer lies not just in the rights of a woman, but also in what we consider to be the rights of an unborn child. And for me, they have the right to live, to grow, to become a part of our society. It is up to our society to fix its attitude to these situations so that we can get past thinking that terminating a life is the correct and only choice. Because that’s just not a healthy way of thinking.
An issue lies in the definition of life. In NSW law, life is defined as beginning after the first breath unassisted by the mother. However, religion and other beliefs hold that life begins at the moment of conception.
I agree with you that there are some deep social issues here that are being poorly addressed, if at all. However, I cannot agree that a protoplasm is ‘life’ as we know it.
The circumstances in which some babies are conceived are horrendous; the perfect example is conception through sexual assault. Once again, I agree with you; this is not black and white. But I also don’t believe that abortion is murder; for that to be true, the foetus would at least, in my humble opinion, need to be aware of its existence, and be able to suffer pain.