Abortion

If you've read this blog before, you should know that I'm not afraid to talk about controversial issues, and this topic coming up shouldn't come as much of a surprise. While growing up, I attended Catholic institutions for most of my education, so as I got older, this was an extremely prominent issue that many of my peers held very strong opinions on. Most of them were on the "pro life" side, and could parrot back all of the talking points without even having to think about it. I heard all of the slogans; "It's a child, not a choice", "Half the patients entering an abortion clinic never come out alive", "It's not a baby? Then you're not pregnant!", and so on, and so on. Initially, I classified myself as pro life, mainly out of fear of the social consequences of labeling myself as anything different. But my views, as well as those of many of my peers, grew and evolved as we all did. We all came to the realization, at some point, that very few issues are as black and white as we'd like them to be, and this issue was no different. I had heard many debates about what qualifies as life. I've heard some say that life starts the moment the sperm cell fertilizes an egg, I've heard some say it's when the heart starts beating, I've heard some say it's when the brain develops, and I've heard others say life starts when the child is born. There aren't many topics that get people fired up like this one, in fact, bringing this issue up is probably the quickest way to divide a room made up of mixed company, but I feel we shouldn't be afraid to talk about it. As of today, I do consider myself pro-choice, but I don't believe that makes me pro-abortion, like many people would say it does. If I ever got someone pregnant and we weren't ready for the responsibility of parenthood, I would try to convince them to keep the child, deliver it, and take the steps to put it up for adoption. However, I also recognize that while I would certainly have the right to make my stance known, the ultimate final call isn't mine, it's the woman who is carrying. So I guess you could say that, personally, I'm pro-life, but I don't believe that it's my place to tell others what they can and can't do. I don't believe I have the right to torment a young woman on her way to a planned parenthood facility. I don't believe I have the right to force my religious views on others as the rule that everyone has to follow. I believe that it's not only unacceptable, but absolutely grotesque and morally perverse to tell a woman who has been the victim of rape, or incest, that what happened to her was "Gods will". Once I realized that I believed all of these things, I came to understand that I fall under the category of being, pro-choice, and I'm not ashamed of that. So there you have it, if you made it to the end of this entry, congratulations. As per usual, my goal isn't to start any fights, it's just to expound.