The abortion issue is a hot question in my Facebook feed these days. As the election approaches, I would like to share a little about my views and feelings on the topic.
Many folks are deeply troubled by abortion, and so am I. So much so that I can barely stomach statistics about it, and I avoid the topic all together on most days. I have a difficult time even researching legislation addressing doctor-patient concerns and the unborn.
I have had a number of dialogues about it with close associates and friends, and I have defended my participation in the Women’s March in spite of the fact that people seem to view my participation there as some form of holocaust advocacy.
It’s with a lot of trepidation that I even broach the subject here, so much that my fingers tremble as I write about it.
Trump’s official position on abortion is “Pro-Life”, yet everybody seems to be aware he is hypocritical on the issue, having funded abortions for former lovers, and being of low moral character and without a depth of understanding on the topic. When he was interviewed prior to his election victory, he intimated that women who have abortions should be charged with homicide, or at least go to prison. Even many Pro-Life advocates disagreed with that particular statement and responded with outrage and, I presume viewed the act of “killing” during an abortion as being the act and responsibility of the doctor alone.
Before I go any further, I would like to say that I am an attorney who studied Bioethics in Law School, and I struggled intensely over Roe v. Wade during my Constitutional Law class, and I agree with the conclusion drawn by the justices who ruled according to their competing opinions and arguments, and set a solid precedent for the country. The ruling judgment by the justices in that decision was harrowing, deeply thought out, and treasured the life of the unborn fetus or child in the womb.
I challenge anybody to read the decision on their own and find a better solution than Roe v. Wade.
One of the most troubling aspects of the debate is the involvement of men who are ardent Pro-Lifers, who could never and probably would never give birth even had they an opportunity to do so. I have empathy for the point of view that the “life” also belongs to the man, so I rarely argue with them. When I do discuss the topic, I do it with an open ear and heart. I am aware that it makes their hearts ache also, and I don’t object to their opinion in itself. However, I am disheartened when they take a side in the debate at the political level.
I am a woman. I read Roe seventeen years ago in Law School. And I have never had the debate that needs to be held with men who take a Pro-Life stance, especially politicians in my deeply Republican state–politicians who are both Pro-Life and Pro-2nd amendment, and get elected in a….heartbeat.
I don’t know why I am finally addressing the issue with all these folks who never read the decision reached by Roe v. Wade. I have to keep reminding myself I am a lawyer, that other folks have not read it–and yet they take a position.
That is a deeply ignorant act, people.
I have been shamed for participating in a protest against a deeply divisive political leader, yet I have never had an abortion. What does that tell you about our Society? About the level of respect for women, about the Patriarchal extremists that rule Middle America, and about gender, life and birth?
So now I’m flipping the light on. And I am flipping the argument back on them. I want to ask all the Pro-Life men in my Facebook Feed, and in my life, and in my world:
If you could have a baby, would you hold it?