Personal Politics?

So, this is a follow up to a previous post, in which I discussed my feelings on abortion.  Here's a quick summary:

I am content with the label "Anti-abortion".

My faith totally and completely informs my position on this.  I believe that life begins at conception, and should be protected from that time forward.

I think the term “Reproductive Rights” is bullshit.  (That’s the strongest language I have used in a public online forum to date, and I apologize if some of you find it offensive, but it is what it is...)

I don't believe there is ever an appropriate time for an abortion.  Certainly not as birth control.  And I think that two wrongs just make a really wrong situation, so I don't believe it is truly beneficial in cases of rape or incest.  Finally, when we're talking about mother's and/or baby's lives at risk, I'm just not confident enough in medicine and science to allow doctors to decide that certain death is necessary to prevent potential death.  That's personal- I'm here because my mom didn't buy it either.

So, where does that leave me?  Ready to outlaw abortion altogether?  Not so fast...

After that last post, a friend of mine asked if I was prepared to legislate my religious beliefs on the entire nation.  Yikes!  That goes against my position on religion and state.  Hmmmm, how do I reconcile these?

As I said, my position on the starting point of life is based on religious beliefs that I'm not willing to impose on others.  So, let's talk about science instead.  Let's talk about "viability".

Now, in the animal world, “abortion” is when a mother rejects her baby for one reason or another, and abandons it, leaving it to fend for itself.  “Viable” is when that newborn animal is somehow able to care for and defend itself, otherwise it is eliminated by “Natural Selection”- often contributing to some other animal’s “Survival of the Fittest”.
With that perspective in mind, I think it is safe to say that a human offspring could not be considered “viable” for a number of years after its birth. However, I’m going to assume that we’re not ready to legalize abandonment as a method of birth control.

OK, I'll admit that I'm in no way qualified to determine when a fetus might be "viable", which may be why I resort to my faith to inform my position. But I think I might have a scientifically acceptable compromise we can agree on: take the earliest recorded premature birth in which the child survived and make it illegal to have an abortion from that point on. I'm optimistic that many of us could agree to that.

Optimistic?  What does that have to do with anything?  A lot really.  See, I'm not optimistic that we could ever completely outlaw abortion in this country.  Furthermore, I'm not optimistic that abortion would stop even if we were able to outlaw it.  I think it would just become even more unsafe than it is.  So I would take that compromise as a win.  

But let's dig even deeper.  If laws couldn't/wouldn't stop this, then what is going on here?  Clearly, these are women and girls who feel that they don't have any other option.  They feel that they have no way to cope with it all: the pregnancy, and the responsibility of rearing a child.  Fear is a powerful thing, and I think the only thing powerful enough to combat it is love.  Law can't do it- it just makes it worse.  Piety only turns fear to hate.  If we want these girls to bring these babies into the world, we can't just tell them it's the law, or that they need to carry out their responsibilities- we have to love them and help them see the possibilities.  

Possibilities.  I don't know what all the possibilities are, but I think making adoption easier might be a good start.  And we need to make education more available.  And we need to turn the churches back into places of safety and love, instead of condemnation.

So, let me leave you with some other thoughts to stir you up even further:
If the church is so concerned about the welfare of babies, why are there so many babies on Welfare?
Given the option, which would you choose: an aborted baby, or a child adopted by a same-sex couple?
Why are most Pro-Lifers also in favor of capital punishment?

And finally, check out this debate for 2 more views on this topic.