More Than Life Choices

Life is more than just a beating heart. But choice is also more than a self-serving decision....

Abortion is an issue that is close to a woman’s heart, on whatever side she may stand. It is about her body and the body of her fetus. The two cannot be separated. As hard as some in the church and pro-life supporters try, they cannot say that abortion is not about a woman’s body. This would deny the important biological, emotional and spiritual role that a woman plays when she becomes pregnant. This is what pro-choice women mean when they refer to the pro-life agenda as degrading women to “walking wombs” (Cannold, 1998, 45). While pro-life supporters value the life of the fetus, they disregard the life of the mother. If the fetus becomes more important than the mother, the mother can be seen as only a container for the fetus. It is difficult to avoid this when one believes that human life begins at conception and that the fetus has a right to life over the wishes of the mother.

At the same time, pro-choice supporters cannot claim that the abortion issue is only about a woman’s body. No matter how heated the debate gets, pro-choice advocates cannot define a fetus as merely a blob of cells. The vast majority of women who have an abortion do not see it this way. This rhetoric denies the miracle of procreation and the painful experiences of women who have had to make this choice. The fetus is in the process of becoming a human being, becoming more human as the pregnancy progresses. It is a sacred process, one that cannot be taken lightly....

Free will exists. We cannot despise it because it is free will that allows us to make good decisions.

Free will is a difficult problem. While some would argue that this legislative bias toward more inclusive, more pro choice type laws are a sign of moral degradation, I think these laws are evidence of our desire to demonstrate free will....

I have come to this conclusion. I believe that abortion is a symptom of inequality and oppression in our society – both in the secular and Christian realms. It is wrong; it is not the way it is supposed to be. But limiting choice is also wrong. So now I can define myself as both pro-choice and pro-life because both life and choice are sacred. Women should be free to make these decisions because it is through these decisions that we often find God.

[via The Ends of Art, Faith and History]