Ireland votes by landslide to legalise abortion
This is not an easy topic, but it is an important one. I first need to make it clear that I am not talking about medically necessary abortions where the mother’s life is in danger. I consider that to be a matter of self-defense, something outside of normal morality, a matter solely between the woman and her doctor. Savita Halappanavar, the Indian woman who died because she was denied a therapeutic abortion in Ireland in 2012 until it was too late, should not have died. [ 1] The doctors were aware that there was no chance that she could successfully complete her pregnancy and give birth to a living baby. “ Medical staff concluded that a miscarriage was inevitable but did not intervene – despite requests from Halappanavar and her husband for an abortion – as a foetal heartbeat could be detected. “[2] I see nothing moral or life-affirming in her death.
I will not use the terms pro-choice and pro-life because both are prejudicial and misleading. The phrase “a woman’s right to choose” shouldn’t be only about abortion. It applies to all aspects of life. For example, when I was a child, I was told I couldn’t choose to be an astronaut because I had a vagina and the qualifications to be an astronaut stipulated that only those humans with a {censored} were qualified. Likewise, using the term pro-life to mean supporting life only in the womb, is hypocritical, at best. I don’t see how a person who would deny necessary medical care to a sick person could rightfully be called pro-life.
**************************************************************************************
My statement: After much deep thought I have come to the conclusion that abortion performed when not medically necessary kills an innocent human being and, as such, is morally wrong. However, this is morally a gray area since whether the being in the womb is a human being or not is open to question and is a matter of opinion. I do not believe I have the right to impose my moral beliefs on others. Therefore, while I cannot support abortion-on-demand being legal, neither can I support it being illegal. I must sit this one out and let you fight it out amongst yourselves. I choose my battles carefully and, since this one cannot be won, I bow out of it. I hope this doesn’t make me a moral coward, but if it does, so be it.
I need also add that, while I have never had an abortion, many of my friends have. They did what was necessary to them at the time. Who am I to pass judgement on them?
***********************************************************************************
Until about 1972, I, like”all” progressive women at the time, was clamoring for “a woman’s right to control her own body.” That’s hard to argue with. The answer here hinges on whether the fetus is part of her body or a separate person living there for a while.
[Since I have used the word”fetus, a dictionary definition is necessary, so we are all giving the same meaning to the word.
One day, I was with a group of feminists and let fall the statement that”abortion is sad.” That was enough to get me completely ostracized from that movement that, before Roe v. Wade [5], which made abortion-on-demand legal throughout the USA, considered abortion the Holy Grail of equal rights.
Those two events made me think about abortion in a way I hadn’t before. In the end, I came to the conclusion stated above. Yes, a fetus is a baby to me, but not too many other people. There is no way I can resolve this in my own mind, so I leave this very important battle to those less torn.
Since I am a Sikh, you might wonder what the Sikh religion teaches about abortion. The truth is that it doesn’t directly teach anything. In this, as in many other areas, we are given a philosophical religion and a way of life, then we are supposed to be thoroughly educated and grounded in it and then follow our own conscience. I have followed 14 leads and have come to this conclusion: Sikhi teaches love of the Creator and tremendous respect for life. Given that, I think most Sikhs would agree with what I have written, and please feel free to post disagreement with me.
Whether for or opposed to abortion, I think most people would agree that abortion, even when necessary, is sad. One outcome that is always true is that there is a dead baby or a dead nascent human.
****************
NOTES
[1 ]https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/apr/08/abortion-refusal-death-ireland-hindu-woman
[2]https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/26/savita-halappanavar-father-thanks-irish-voters-for-historic-abortion-vote
[3] https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/fetus
[4] the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude change.
[5] Roe v. Wade - Jan 22, 1973 - HISTORY.com
This is not an easy topic, but it is an important one. I first need to make it clear that I am not talking about medically necessary abortions where the mother’s life is in danger. I consider that to be a matter of self-defense, something outside of normal morality, a matter solely between the woman and her doctor. Savita Halappanavar, the Indian woman who died because she was denied a therapeutic abortion in Ireland in 2012 until it was too late, should not have died. [ 1] The doctors were aware that there was no chance that she could successfully complete her pregnancy and give birth to a living baby. “ Medical staff concluded that a miscarriage was inevitable but did not intervene – despite requests from Halappanavar and her husband for an abortion – as a foetal heartbeat could be detected. “[2] I see nothing moral or life-affirming in her death.
I will not use the terms pro-choice and pro-life because both are prejudicial and misleading. The phrase “a woman’s right to choose” shouldn’t be only about abortion. It applies to all aspects of life. For example, when I was a child, I was told I couldn’t choose to be an astronaut because I had a vagina and the qualifications to be an astronaut stipulated that only those humans with a {censored} were qualified. Likewise, using the term pro-life to mean supporting life only in the womb, is hypocritical, at best. I don’t see how a person who would deny necessary medical care to a sick person could rightfully be called pro-life.
**************************************************************************************
My statement: After much deep thought I have come to the conclusion that abortion performed when not medically necessary kills an innocent human being and, as such, is morally wrong. However, this is morally a gray area since whether the being in the womb is a human being or not is open to question and is a matter of opinion. I do not believe I have the right to impose my moral beliefs on others. Therefore, while I cannot support abortion-on-demand being legal, neither can I support it being illegal. I must sit this one out and let you fight it out amongst yourselves. I choose my battles carefully and, since this one cannot be won, I bow out of it. I hope this doesn’t make me a moral coward, but if it does, so be it.
I need also add that, while I have never had an abortion, many of my friends have. They did what was necessary to them at the time. Who am I to pass judgement on them?
***********************************************************************************
Until about 1972, I, like”all” progressive women at the time, was clamoring for “a woman’s right to control her own body.” That’s hard to argue with. The answer here hinges on whether the fetus is part of her body or a separate person living there for a while.
[Since I have used the word”fetus, a dictionary definition is necessary, so we are all giving the same meaning to the word.
“Fetus: an unborn or unhatched offspring of a mammal, in particular, an unborn human more than eight weeks after conception. (Oxford Dictionaries)” [3]
Now those two events...
- First event. I knew a doctor, a politically extremely liberal man, who on this topic in answer to my question about where he stood, replied, “I am a doctor. I took an oath to preserve life, not to take it.”
- Second event. In an anti-Vietnam War protest, our side, the Good Guys, were shouting “baby killer” at some returning soldiers from that not-exactly-a-war. This caused some cognitive dissonance [4] in me because I couldn’t get my mind around the idea that abortion was not killing a baby and yet I was so much in favor of equal rights for women and everybody around me agreed that those included the right to abortion-on-demand.
One day, I was with a group of feminists and let fall the statement that”abortion is sad.” That was enough to get me completely ostracized from that movement that, before Roe v. Wade [5], which made abortion-on-demand legal throughout the USA, considered abortion the Holy Grail of equal rights.
Those two events made me think about abortion in a way I hadn’t before. In the end, I came to the conclusion stated above. Yes, a fetus is a baby to me, but not too many other people. There is no way I can resolve this in my own mind, so I leave this very important battle to those less torn.
Since I am a Sikh, you might wonder what the Sikh religion teaches about abortion. The truth is that it doesn’t directly teach anything. In this, as in many other areas, we are given a philosophical religion and a way of life, then we are supposed to be thoroughly educated and grounded in it and then follow our own conscience. I have followed 14 leads and have come to this conclusion: Sikhi teaches love of the Creator and tremendous respect for life. Given that, I think most Sikhs would agree with what I have written, and please feel free to post disagreement with me.
Whether for or opposed to abortion, I think most people would agree that abortion, even when necessary, is sad. One outcome that is always true is that there is a dead baby or a dead nascent human.
****************
NOTES
[1 ]https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/apr/08/abortion-refusal-death-ireland-hindu-woman
[2]https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/26/savita-halappanavar-father-thanks-irish-voters-for-historic-abortion-vote
[3] https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/fetus
[4] the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude change.
[5] Roe v. Wade - Jan 22, 1973 - HISTORY.com
