I wonder if others can relate to this collection of thoughts regarding the issue of abortion vs. woman rights, so I’m sharing it:
On Abortion Rights, considering the fundamentals
I want to start with the greatest truth humanity has achieved, a truth born out of our increasing understanding of human history going back into the dimmest reaches of Earth’s deep time.
Beginning with geology, then biology, then complex biology, then living sensing creatures that created environments and ecology in an ever changing world. Folds within folds of cumulative harmonic complexity flowing down the cascade of time, rushing into the future produced us. We are literally children of Earth’s creation, akin to all other creatures, even as we have some mighty superior attributes.
Birth and death is our lot. It has always been part and parcel of our human condition. It can’t be moralized out of existence by idealistic extremists who believe “God” is speaking with them.
Pregnancy is never a guarantee. A fetus is a seed, a being, a human potentiality. Spontaneous natural abortions and miscarriages happen. A fetus may be a human, but it doesn’t take on the mantle of personhood until those first breaths of life-giving air are infusing its lungs and pumping through its arteries and veins.
It should be significant that the fact of practicing abortions is older than civilizations, with Jewish scripture going into details on the topic, explaining why within particular circumstance abortion is a sad inevitability and that it is okay in the eyes of their God. (God never promised us a rose garden!)
Beyond that, in a free society, legally why doesn’t a woman deserve the Right to Self-Defense along with Sovereignty Over Her Own Body?
Pregnancy is a difficult gauntlet, always will be, there will be deaths. Those deaths aren’t confined to unborn beings, all too often the mother is also at mortal risk.
When push comes to shove, a just law would clearly acknowledge that a woman’s life is more precious to society than an unborn potentiality.
Another factor all too often forgotten is that facing an abortion situation is nothing any woman ever wants, life thrusts the situation upon her and it is foremost she, herself, who must carry the consequences of her choice, as others lose interest with the passage of time.
The fetus inside of her will always matter more to herself, than to any moralizing bystanders. Another unspoken matter is that most often she’s also acting with the best interest of the unborn life within her. She should be entrusted above all others, with the responsibility of making her own best informed choice.
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