Not the church, not the state, a person should decide a person’s fate. That pretty much sums it all up. Many of us wish that simple thought, that a person should control what happens in his or her own life, is true. Still, the question of abortion has never been that simple.
Our laws stipulate that a woman is a person, and that a fetus is not. But human emotion often says otherwise. And there is no stronger foe than human passions. Human zeal is behind every emancipation, and some what to emancipate unborn “people.”
It is understandable that those who for whatever crazy reasons, have come to decide that unborn babies are more of value than any other (even endangered) species babies. They think that abortion is murder. Being told its murder is more than enough to convince many people that a person should not have control over her own body if a fetus is currently residing in the womb. We do not have such rules for other parasites, such as the children starving world wide today, that we could save the lives of rather than buy another latte, but, that is viewed differently. Those children are already born!
Life is sacred. The trouble with those who would justify the end of human rights to control our own bodies or threaten health of women, (since pregnancy still kills far more people than any form of birth control), is that they mean something very limited when they use the word life. They mean unborn, human life.
The already existent children have few spokespersons on their side. Never mind if the mother is single, impoverished, sick, drug dependent, or what ever the case may be.
It is particularly disturbing that Christians sometimes opt to disregard Christ’s teaching to love all, judge none, and honor ALL life. Let us take back the meaning of Right to Life. All living things have a right to life, including already born human children.
Since clearly there are too many human beings on planet earth, honoring the rest of sacred life is crucial to the survival of the human species and every other species.
Controlling women and their sexuality is an old and very devious trick. Abortion itself has never been illegal until a bit more than 100 years ago, when some finger pointing types realized controlling female reproduction will keep those women in line. Conversely, women began to realize that if they controlled the number of children they did not have to have, they did not have to be enslaved for life and child rearing, except by grateful choice to do so.
So let the far right rant and rave, but let us realize that the true right is right to have reverence for all life, not just unborn human life. And let us celebrate that life flourishes best with balance, choice, equality, and the right to pursue happiness in freedom.