But I will approach this topic because it matters to me, and I think about it a lot, especially with the development of recent newsworthy events. This past Sunday marked 39 years since the U.S. Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a Texas law that prohibited abortion except for the purpose of saving a woman's life. A week ago today in the Toronto Star, a story was published summarizing Dr. Rajendra Kale's editorial "It's a girl!" -- could be a death sentence in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Kale's article discussed how female feticide is growing more common on Canadian soil because of the migration of cultural practices and expectations of immigrants. He argues that revealing the sex of a baby should be postponed until after 30 weeks of pregnancy, when an unquestioned abortion is basically no longer possible. Since the gender of a baby is medically irrelevant, it shouldn't matter whether curious parents find out at 18 weeks or 30 weeks. "It is discrimination against women in its most extreme form," Kale wrote. I agree. How could anyone who pushes for women's rights view this developing trend with complacency?
Many, it seems.
I had forgotten (silly me) that included in the pro-abortion stance was the idea that a fetus is not a human being. Therefore, gender is inconsequential since what's being aborted isn't seen as a life, but just a lump of tissue. Women choose abortion for a variety of reasons, and gender is just one of those reasons. Aborting a female fetus is just the exercising of a right.
If you hadn't surmised by this point, I'm pro-life. Definitely and absolutely and whole-heartedly. I'm fully aware that this isn't the popular stance -- I realized that rather quickly at pro-life rallies my parents used to take us to as kids, where people driving by screamed nasty obscenities at us. It was all very educational.
No, I'm not going to assault you with grotesque images of infant limbs, or whip out arguments filled with CAPS letters and excessive exclamation marks. From what I've seen, these strategies do absolutely nothing but proliferate the idea that pro-lifers are crazy, possessed freedom-haters. I know all the arguments. I've read and researched them, back and forth, over and over… yet I remain a staunch supporter of the pro-life movement. No matter what angle you argue from, or what stats you have to back you up, the argument is always, and I repeat always going to come back to whether or not the fetus is considered a human life. Don't believe me? Read this book. And if you need a couple other things to think about, read this.
I believe a human life begins at conception. I believe that women's bodies were designed to bear children, and that's a blessing, not an inconvenience. I believe that there are consequences which are a result of our actions, and getting rid of the consequences by blurring moral lines and building convenient "rights"-centred arguments is irresponsible. I'm not claiming to be a deep thinker or philosopher here... just a couple of thoughts from a 24-year-old female pro-life lump of tissue.
"Even if it became illegal, abortion will happen anyway", they say. "Back alley "doctors" will be back in business and women will be putting themselves at more risk than ever." This is all true. Abortion will continue to happen, no matter what bills get passed in Supreme Courts. This isn't just a problem of legislation. It's a problem with the heart of our countries -- with the heart of all creation. We're sinful. The world is full of evil as a result of our sin. Pro-life rallies and pamphlets can only do so much. We must humbly continue to ask Jesus to change our hearts -- it's only through Him that these things can be accomplished.
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