Abortion

It is hard for me to dismiss pro-life arguments purely on the basis of moral or religious codes. But we don’t live in a time when moral or religious codes still have the authority to make the rules that everyone must live by. Though their intentions may be admirable, they can be flawed and surely slow to adapt to a changing world. They are also slow to recognize the difference between fixed rules and core human needs.

What is really needed is education that discusses, not a single moral code, but the development of a viable personal morality. One that doesn’t produce a knee-jerk, check with the boss, response to complex life situations; but rather a thoughtful, personal response that accounts for and includes the “other.”

How could I decide for the woman who been raped, or the woman in a terrible relationship, or the woman who has no male or family support, or the woman who does not want the child, or the woman whose life would be at risk having a child.

I have a problem with a movement that works to take away choice from a woman deciding to give birth to a child, yet has no skin in the game after the child might be born. Life continues beyond the womb. Where is the morality of outlawing abortion but abandoning the mother and child.

I also believe that the role of the father needs more consideration. The choices are the mother’s until the child is born. Then the father is responsible for support. Are there fathers who want the child when the mother does not? Have fathers failed in these terribly difficult life situations?

This still seems something I’m fumbling through and can’t myself solve.