Recently I noticed a comment on a post about gun violence in which the commenter suggested that, since abortions since Roe v. Wade numbered in the tens of millions, perhaps that's where we should be focusing our legislative efforts (instead of focusing our energy on gun legislation).
If by focusing our legislative efforts this person was suggesting that we overturn the Roe v. Wade ruling, I--in good faith--disagree.
I only recently came across efforts by religious groups to support reproductive justice, where reproductive justice means freedom for women and families to make healthy, safe choices about their family growth and planning, including the ability to choose abortion in the case of unwanted, unsafe, or otherwise unplanned pregnancy.
The Roman Catholic hierarchy (and a significant number of Roman Catholic laypeople) are absolutely against abortion, and regard abortion as murder. This is my context, so it's the one I cite first, although there are many other Christians and religious people who are against abortion, regardless of circumstances. In other words, in the eyes of these people, all those women who have had abortions (and all the doctors and others who have made the abortion possible) are murderers.
Not only do I not believe this, but I believe it's my duty as a woman of faith to stand up against this (often religion-based) claim. I do not believe women who have abortions are, by the act of having an abortion, murderers. I suppose there are women who have gotten pregnant with the sole purpose of ending the pregnancy, whose intent had to do with killing what she perceived to be human, independent life just for the sake of killing it. Actually, I don't suppose that. It strikes me as utter, ghastly nonsense.
What I do believe is that millions of women, for far longer than it's been legal or safe, have had abortions for any number of reasons, none of which have to do with wanting to kill anyone.
In learning to imagine worlds and contexts outside my own, I have learned that my views have no universal claim on anyone, whether theological or not. There are my views, and then there are others; what determines their worth is the degree to which those views are loving and support the common good (which is, of course, a Catholic view of things!)
What I see, in those who regard the agents of abortion as murderers, is a serious and systematic lack of love. I know women who have had abortions. I know that those women regard their judges as cold, loveless, self-righteous witch-hunters who care nothing for the circumstances that brought about the abortion in the first place.
I challenge my readers to consider what conditions might compel them to have an abortion. What circumstances would you have to be in even to consider it? And, more importantly, what privileges do you have that have prevented you from ever having to consider it (assuming you've never had to consider it, or have never had an abortion)?
It is easy to make universal pronouncements and judgments; it is far more challenging to address or recognize the circumstances of an individual. Universal truths are comfortable to those who pronounce them; individual cases that challenge those truths are not. It's high time that those making universal pronouncements be forced to imagine themselves in situations and shoes other than their own. Will you accept that challenge? If you are a person of faith, will you accept the additional challenge of seeing/imagining abortion as a just, good, and Godly action, if not in most cases, than in at least one?
For more information about religious groups who support and promote reproductive justice, visit this website: http://californiarcrc.org/
If by focusing our legislative efforts this person was suggesting that we overturn the Roe v. Wade ruling, I--in good faith--disagree.
I only recently came across efforts by religious groups to support reproductive justice, where reproductive justice means freedom for women and families to make healthy, safe choices about their family growth and planning, including the ability to choose abortion in the case of unwanted, unsafe, or otherwise unplanned pregnancy.
The Roman Catholic hierarchy (and a significant number of Roman Catholic laypeople) are absolutely against abortion, and regard abortion as murder. This is my context, so it's the one I cite first, although there are many other Christians and religious people who are against abortion, regardless of circumstances. In other words, in the eyes of these people, all those women who have had abortions (and all the doctors and others who have made the abortion possible) are murderers.
Not only do I not believe this, but I believe it's my duty as a woman of faith to stand up against this (often religion-based) claim. I do not believe women who have abortions are, by the act of having an abortion, murderers. I suppose there are women who have gotten pregnant with the sole purpose of ending the pregnancy, whose intent had to do with killing what she perceived to be human, independent life just for the sake of killing it. Actually, I don't suppose that. It strikes me as utter, ghastly nonsense.
What I do believe is that millions of women, for far longer than it's been legal or safe, have had abortions for any number of reasons, none of which have to do with wanting to kill anyone.
In learning to imagine worlds and contexts outside my own, I have learned that my views have no universal claim on anyone, whether theological or not. There are my views, and then there are others; what determines their worth is the degree to which those views are loving and support the common good (which is, of course, a Catholic view of things!)
What I see, in those who regard the agents of abortion as murderers, is a serious and systematic lack of love. I know women who have had abortions. I know that those women regard their judges as cold, loveless, self-righteous witch-hunters who care nothing for the circumstances that brought about the abortion in the first place.
I challenge my readers to consider what conditions might compel them to have an abortion. What circumstances would you have to be in even to consider it? And, more importantly, what privileges do you have that have prevented you from ever having to consider it (assuming you've never had to consider it, or have never had an abortion)?
It is easy to make universal pronouncements and judgments; it is far more challenging to address or recognize the circumstances of an individual. Universal truths are comfortable to those who pronounce them; individual cases that challenge those truths are not. It's high time that those making universal pronouncements be forced to imagine themselves in situations and shoes other than their own. Will you accept that challenge? If you are a person of faith, will you accept the additional challenge of seeing/imagining abortion as a just, good, and Godly action, if not in most cases, than in at least one?
For more information about religious groups who support and promote reproductive justice, visit this website: http://californiarcrc.org/
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