Becoming Involuntary Parents
Imagine a world with no abortion. Every time a couple has sex, they run the risk of involuntarily becoming parents. Their condom breaks, the woman forgot to take her birth control pill or, simply in the heat of passion, they have sex without using birth control -- all of these situations becomes fraught with risk. The risk is that the woman becomes pregnant and the couple, who may not want a child, is forced to become parents.
That is the world we are moving closer to with yesterday's Supreme Court decision upholding a federal law banning certain second trimester abortions. There is not even an exception for the health of the mother. Justice Kennedy, author of the majority 5-4 decision, contemptuously said that if a doctor is concerned about the health of his patient, he can simply violate the law and perform the illegal abortion anyway, and then challenge the law in court. He is acknowledging that his heinous decision can put the life of the mother in danger, and he suggests that a doctor simply risk jail in order to uphold the Hippocratic Oath and protect his patient.
This is the attitude of the man who defended the magnanimity of Congress in its wise decision to pass its anti-abortion law: "The government may use its voice and its regulatory authority to show its profound respect for the life within the woman." (source for quotes: New York Times)
Just whose life does he want to protect? Certainly not the woman's (and man's).
The anti-abortionists are clear about the meaning of this Supreme Court decision. As Dr. LeRoy H. Carhart, the Nebraska doctor who was the defendant in the case, stated, "those who support this law are trying to outlaw all abortions, one step at a time."
Justice Kennedy's comments and Dr. Carhart's astute observation make it clear. The ban on so-called "partial birth" abortions is really an effort to get abortion banned. The possibility that the religionists will be successful in achieving that goal is now much greater.
A world without joy is what the Christians want. Banning abortion is a step in that direction. The Republicans made this happen.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
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2 comments:
"Imagine a world with no abortion. Every time a couple has sex, they run the risk of involuntarily becoming parents. Their condom breaks, the woman forgot to take her birth control pill or, simply in the heat of passion, they have sex without using birth control -- all of these situations becomes fraught with risk. The risk is that the woman becomes pregnant and the couple, who may not want a child, is forced to become parents."
This is also known as the Status Quo of nature.
I might also add that sex without contraception is DANGEROUS, in that it DOES leave one vulnerable to the begetting of life. When a man and a woman make love while willingly leaving open the possibility of creating life, that act means something more than "I'll pleasure you, you pleasure me." It means "I love you, and I love you so much that I want to run the risk of a beautiful inconvenience with you for the rest of our lives."
Contraceptive sex - which ultimately engenders an abortive mentality exactly like that in this article - can NEVER be that deep. Pleasurable? Sure. Kinky? Maybe. Ultimate display of love? Nope.
Of course my comment isn't even broaching the topic of whether or not killing babies to live a life of convenience is good or bad...
Mr. West,
Your comment reminds me why I am an atheist and an Objectivist. The only proper standard of morality is man's life, and that means each man is an end in himself, and the pursuit of his own happiness is his own, self-justifying goal.
Obviously, if that is my standard of value -- not whether I please an otherworldly being -- my own sexual pleasure is my worthy goal worth pursuing. That does not mean unthinking hedonism. It does mean pursuing sexual pleasure with someone I love.
All of that also means pursuing the man-made and *artificial* if it will enhance my life. The state of nature that you seem to idolize is one man emerged from. A true state of nature has none of the man-made, artificial things that make life long, healthy, and worth living. A true state of nature is the life of a brute in a cave.
But if I hold my own life as an end in itself, I will happily use technology to enhance my life, and that most certainly means contraception and abortion. If I want sex without the obligation of becoming a parent, thank Man that we have the technology that permits me to do it.
With life as the standard -- life on earth -- and brooking no supernatural God telling me what to do -- I will happily and joyfully have sex with my lover using the best contraception I can find and having the confidence that abortion is legal as a back-up should my contraception fail.
If you want to live in that godly state of nature that you admire, go do so (your life will be nasty, brutish, and short if you are honest in such a pursuit), but you have no right to drag the rest of us down into it with you. I, for one, will not let you get away with it.
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