“Abortion is the ultimate selfish act. The legalization of abortion was followed by an [sic] sharp increase in illegitimacy, divorce, and crime. Once you devalue life, it’s tough to turn back. If you get pregnant, you knew how to prevent it. Live with the consequences.”
Ah, the amazing “anonymous” anti-choicers strike my blog again. I have let this little comment sit for awhile, but every time I log in it stares at me and I decided I needed to just deal with it and get it out of my life.
(1) “The ultimate selfish act” is, to me, imposing your value and belief system on every other person you encounter without taking a moment to learn anything about the person, about his or her wants, needs, or desires. It is ultimately selfish, not to mention foolish, to assume that your way is the right way for everyone. Which is why I believe in freedom of choice. (Make no mistake, “pro-choice” is not the same thing as “pro-abortion” - this apparently needs repeating.)
I am reading an amazing book right now written by a woman who had an abortion, later raised a child on her own, and put herself through medical school to focus on providing informed and respectful healthcare to women. I figure she knows *just a bit* about this topic. My guess here is that “anonymous” has not gone through these experiences, so I will refer to Dr. Wicklund’s thoughts on abortion as a selfish act:
Abortion is about life: quality of life for infants, children, and adults.
Why? She refers to her experiences with women she has seen in a clinical setting:
Never once did these decisions seem easy or casual. Every one was the product of tremendous personal struggle. Anyone who claims otherwise is very ignorant or unkind . . . The bottom line . . . is, “Women have abortions because they want to be good mothers.”
And yes, this makes sense. Women are best situated to determine whether they can handle a child physically, emotionally, and financially. They do not take the responsibility of motherhood lightly.
(2) We have gone over this. Abortion has not led to a sharp increase in crime - in fact, it can be argued that quite the opposite happened. Please show me the statistic that says abortions have caused divorce rates to climb. Just because the legalization of abortion has led to more abortions at the same time that the divorce rates in this country have gone up does not imply causation. If you believe that it does, then you probably think that increased sales of ice cream lead to increased murder rates. (Hint: look for another factor to explain the change)
(3) A few facts about “devaluing life“:
Between 1977-2005, “pro-lifers” have committed the following crimes (and many others):
7 murders
17 attempted murders
52 bombings
180 arsons
89 invasions
100 acid attacks
655 anthrax threats
146 cases of assault and battery
3 kidnappings
480 cases of stalking
(4) Knowing how to have sex does not imply a knowledge or a capability to prevent pregnancy. Schools teach abstinence only education that leaves students poorly informed about sex and contraception. Studies have shown that in these programs girls are disproportionately treated as the “gatekeepers” of sex - that is they are expected to say “no” while boys are encouraged or expected to push for sex. Girls are not given the tools to discuss sexual relationships with potential partners, or to discuss alternatives to sex or contraceptive options. So, it is rather glib to assume that because someone understands how to have heterosexual intercourse they also understand how to properly use a condom, a birth control pill, natural family planning, a diaphragm, or any other option that they never learned existed.
Finally, I would like to stress that my personal belief is that every child should be wanted and loved. A child should not be a “consequence” to punish sexual acts that some members of society deem to be wrong. Can you really say that you love and value children if you treat them as punishments to be doled out to irresponsible people? What kind of a life do you think an unwanted, unloved child would lead, knowing they were an unwelcome accident, a punishment for their parents? (This is not to say that every unplanned child is unwanted - there is a clear distinction. 50% of pregnancies in this country are “unplanned,” but not all of them are “unwanted.”) And don’t give me the run around of “oh, just give the child up for adoption.” Have you any idea how many hundreds of thousands of children are in foster care or state custody? Where is the clamoring for adopting them? Or, as I suspect, are they not the “right” type of babies or children for you?
I think I have been clear in answering these comments. I am therefore done posting comments that contain no legitimate facts and serve only to degrade women who make incredibly difficult choices to protect themselves and their families. If you care to leave an anti-choice comment, do me a favor and actually research what you are saying, spend some time volunteering in a women’s clinic, and understand that just because you have faith in a belief system does not mean that everyone else does, and does not make those beliefs hard and fast facts. Need some literature to start? I highly recommend Dr. Wicklund’s book, “This Common Secret” - go learn about the real women involved here before spouting off more anti-choice rhetoric to me.
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3 comments:
Great post, AH - full of well researched, level-headed, rational arguments. Sadly you are talking to many people who base their arguments on the irrational. As a wise man once sad, "You can't rationalize for the irrational, and you can't reason with the unreasonable". But you're awesome for trying.
Oh, and anonymous irrational person, statistically, the crime rate has in fact dropped since Roe v Wade, so you'll actually need to cross that one off your list of ridiculous things to say too. Yes, it did go up in the immediate years following 1973, but the effect was seen by the plummet of the crime rate in the 1990's - do the math. This 18-year lag has also been noted in every country that lifted abortion bans, and conversely, an increase in crime in those countries that issued abortion bans. Romania is a perfect country to research these effects, having had one of the most liberal abortion policies until Ceausescu stepped in, he implemented a ban, destroyed his country, and thankfully it was lifted again 23 years later after he had a bullet in the back of his head.
Anyway, I'm now falling into the trap of reasoning with the unreasonable, so I'll go read some more. What do they call that? Oh yes, education.
Please take Eddies first paragraph and pretend that I wrote it too.
In all seriousness, I am proud of what you do and I'm even prouder to agree with you.
I just stumbled across your site, and I wanted to applaud you for this post. I got into a bit of political turmoil a few weeks back and I wish I could've explained myself so clearly and eloquently.
Nothing makes me want to scream more than being called pro-abortion, and on that note, I'm stealing the word anti-choice. It's brilliance.
Will come back for sure.
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