The Pro-Life and the Pro-Choice movements in America are seriously flawed.
Pro-Lifers focus strictly on the fetus with precious little concern for the mother's well-being. The mother matters just as much as her unborn child, and deserves the same level of dignity and respect shown to the child she carries. Christians who claim that women who have had abortions are doomed to eternal damnation are seriously flawed in their thinking. The Bible promises forgiveness to ALL PEOPLE. Not just those who have committed particular sins.
Pro-Choicers focus strictly on the convenience of the mother with precious little concern for the child she carries. The fetus deserves the same level of dignity and respect as the mother who carries him/her. There isn't a woman I've known who had an abortion and was not extremely aware that she was terminating another life rather than merely excising some tissue. These women carry long-term burdens that should not be ignored.
The primary focus should be on prevention of unwanted/unhealthy pregnancies and protection for women who find themselves in the middle of a pregnancy.
How many abortions would there be if:
- women had a thorough understanding of their fertility cycle?
- women with abusive boyfriends/husbands/parents/etc. had reliable protection from them? If I found myself impregnated by a psychopath and realized our lives would be twined together for so long as any child we shared existed, I must confess that I would consider having an abortion.
- there were good safety nets for women in precarious financial situations?
- quality childcare and health care were available for a reasonable price?
Abortion is a terrible choice, and I wonder how many women would choose it if they truly had good choices available to them. While I know that I am not wise enough to know the perfect solution to this problem, I am cynical enough to think that the extreme ends of the pro-choice and pro-life movements are NOT acting in the best interests of children or their mothers.
