Pro-choice or pro-life: who’s at fault?
As a pro-choice and well-educated woman, I’m here to put a stop to this argument. The answer is: neither.
I respect the fact that people with pro-life beliefs hold on to their ideologies and morals; no one has the right to insult or demean that. What I don’t respect is the encouragement of unsafe abortions as a result of outlawing it.
The truth is, abortions are just as old as pregnancies. Women have been finding ways to terminate their pregnancies since the beginning of time. Of course, I don’t commend these women at all, but I do feel the compulsion to fight for their rights to a safe abortion as opposed to using a dirty clothes hanger. I am Jewish, and the Jewish faith is very specific in the clarification that a baby’s life is not an actual life until the baby’s head leaves the womb. Until then, it is only “potential life,” voiding the idea of murder. Judaism also says that abortion is acceptable under the circumstances of danger to the mother. I am not pro-choice because of my Jewish faith, but I do agree with the ideologies.
Also, I’m not pro-abortion by any means; honestly, I would only have an abortion under the circumstances of harm to my body or rape (I’m not including incest because I don’t see that as a remote possibility). Then again, everything is circumstantial. I don’t judge women who have had abortions; everything is based upon perspective, and I don’t have that said perspective of being pregnant. That is why I fight for the choice to keep abortions safe, legal, and rare. I cannot justify why certain women have abortions, and neither can any other spectator. My hope would be to continue the practice of safe abortions so women desperate enough can move on with their lives (and when I say safe, I mean as healthy and sanitary as possible).
The most important thing I want to express is the ridiculousness of the prevalence of this issue. Our economy is in a devastating state; now is not the time to worry about reversing the legalization of abortion. If advocates of outlawing abortion put half their efforts into economic rejuvenation, maybe we’d be at a better financial state. There is a definite hierarchy of social and economic issues, and at this junction in America, the economy is what’s most important, not what goes on with a woman’s body and a potential life.
I’m hoping this article will maybe suppress some of the fire, not fuel it.
-alishasmoo