A recent Gallup poll suggests that a majority of Americans are now prolife. I read (am reading) with interest the debate on Justin Webb’s blog for the BBC on what it means to be pro-life in today’s world of stem cell research. The link doesn’t appear to be posting, I will try again later.
What does ‘pro-life’ mean? Pro-life seems to mean a variety of things to a variety of people. To many people, but less and less I hope, it means someone who is prepared to bomb abortion clinics to protect unborn rights. To many it means someone who wants to control women. To many it means someone who is prepared to allow the government to decide what you can and can’t do with your body. To many it means a Republican or at least a social conservative. To many it means a hypocrite – someone who is prepared to protect the unborn but will heartily support the death penalty and casually to go war. To many it means someone who values a bunch of cells over the life of a woman. To many it means a religious zealot.
To me it seems plain that there are people who fall into the above camps. This is not the definition of me, yet I am very strongly pro-life. Why am I pro-life? Because I believe human life is to be valued and protected as far as possible. Life begins at conception (show me it doesn’t) and needs protection. There are many people in our society who need protection more than others and the unborn fall into that category, entirely dependent for many months on their mothers, unborn children are incapable of living independently of the womb and then outside of it for a long time to come. They are not parasites, they are not anymore or less a bunch of cells than you or I, and I cannot understand how someone can destroy that life, or facilitate others in doing so.
Many take the position of Joe Biden and Kathleen Sebelius on this issue – personally pro-life but will not legislate against a woman’s right to choose. This is a strange position to take. So, you believe that the foetus is a human being but you believe that it is none of your business what happens to it? I think it is my business. It is society’s business when a child is killed, when anyone is killed. If you strongly believe that the foetus is a person how can you justify the taking of this person’s life on the grounds that it exists within someone else’s body? Beyond existing, what has this person done – what crime have they commited that should leave them on the receiving end of a death sentence?
Often that crime is that the child has come at the wrong time, is an inconvenience, has a disability, that the father is absent, that the mother is too poor, too old or too young. Maybe the mother is at a stage in her career when a baby is not welcome, or maybe she is in college and a baby was not part of the plan. Abortion is not the cure for these problems, it is a symptom of a greater illness within society at large. Why are children an inconvenience? Why do we value human life so lowly – especially in it’s early and late stages or in a disabled form – that we view it as a problem? Why is it still so difficult for careers and babies to be combined? Even more odd is that education and mothering cannot come together. Why can’t we give more support to the poor and the young and the old when a pregnancy surprises them? Partly, these groups view a pregnancy and child-raising as economic problems, but partly they are still seen as social problems. Many feel overwhelmed at the thought of raising a disabled child. We may not be able to help economically, but we can help as individuals in small ways – don’t look down your nose at the single mother, don’t sneer at the teenager with the bump, don’t judge the older lady with her bump. When your co-worker needs to leave early to pick up their kids from school, or has to take days off because their child is sick, don’t grumble about how having kids was their choice and how tough life is for you. Most importantly when your girlfriend gets pregnant don’t leave her to deal with this by herself – she is carrying your child and they both need you. Furthermore, when your daughter gets pregnant, don’t judge her, offer to help or congratulate her. Don’t stare at disabled babies or children and get scared when your child wants to play with them. Social attitudes and economic problems mean that abortion isn’t always viewed as a choice, but a necessity. And that is a tragedy.
As for the economic issue, this where individuals may be of benefit, in the form of charities and so forth, but governmant can play the biggest role. Access to prenatal healthcare, and postnatal healthcare should be available to all. A safe place to give birth is a must. The government should be involved in providing childcare – or helping employers to provide it, perhaps in the form of tax breaks. Even the simplest things can be of a huge benefit. When I had my first child I was enormously worried about breastfeeding – the mere thought of doing it in public sent horrors down my spine. Changing the baby anywhere was a problem. I had my child in Britain and as part of the antenatal package I was given a little booklet detailing the addresses and breastfeeding and changing facilities of many shops in the nearest city and surrounding area. I was incredibly relieved and felt so much more confident about leaving the house with baby in tow. I was also very impressed by the facilities offered in some shops, less so by others. When I brought baby to the US I was – and I continue to be – appalled at the lack of services available. Baby changing is often in the women’s loo (so dad can’t change him/her) or in the disabled toilet. There is a marked lack of breastfeeding areas – even in baby-oriented shops. They seem to be universally dirty. What does this say about societies attitude to babies and parenthood?
Back to abortion. Despite what Obama argued at Notre Dame, abortion is not always a tough choice. For many women out there it is a form of contraception (it is not – the woman has already conceived, conception has taken place and she is a mother, someone else has become a father) and it is nothing more than a bunch of cells. For others, it is a baby, but it the child is not important: her right to the lifestyle she leads trumps the baby’s right to life. Maybe she even thinks she is doing her feminist duty by getting an abortion.
To change this a few things need to happen. People need to be educated as to what an abortion actually involves – in all its gory details. Also, society needs to change the way it values human life and what human life is, when conception takes place a child is ‘born’. Perhaps if more people were aware of the development of a baby in utero less people would be quick to view this child as sub-human. Women should also feel that being pregnant isn’t a negative thing – it isn’t damning them to the stereotype of a boring woman, a drop-out, a no-hoper, chained to the kitchen sink while everyone else has a good time.
Also, I think we need to acknowledge something – these are hard things to say, and harder to hear, but some of these women are being selfish. Yes, your lifestyle will change drastically – regardless or whether you give the baby up for adoption. Yes, your body is going to change. Yes, it may well be tough. No, the thought of giving birth does not appeal. Yes – it is asking a lot. But sometimes you have do things you don’t like. Most people will have gone through a phase in their life that was tough, or did things they didn’t want to do – they lived in flat they hated because they couldn’t afford anywhere else, they turned up every day to a job they hated because it was a step up or there was nothing else, they struggled through a tough or boring course because they needed the certificate. Somethings are worth doing because of the outcome, some things are not worth doing but you have to do them, some things are worth doing because they are the right thing to do. Showing a respect for life is the right thing to do.
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