While Respect Life Week at BC may be over, the debate between pro-life advocates and pro-choice advocates most certainly is not. I apologize for not writing a column about this while Respect Life Week was going on, but, hey, better late than never.
The most conspicuous public event thrown by the Pro-Life Club during the week, the "Cemetery of the Innocents," stirs up the debate over the sensitive issue of abortion every year, and this year was no exception. The issue of abortion is one of the most polarizing, as you know, and people who take sides are not always willing to acknowledge any valid points the opposing side might present. Perhaps, then, pro-life advocates will not be willing to hear me out and will categorically refute whatever I say, but I simply can't allow that to stop me from presenting my views.
To start, I am confused as to why the week is called "Respect for Life Week." Calling it that implies that whoever is hosting the week will concern themselves with all forms of life, not just "potential" life - thus, I am disappointed that we did not see crosses planted for those men, women, and children in Iraq and Afghanistan who have been maimed and slaughtered both by religious extremists and our own military, or for the millions in Sub-Saharan Africa who die from AIDS every year. So the title of the week seems a bit disingenuous to me.
In any event, the focus of the week was abortion, not the Middle East. Much of the controversy over the abortion debate is due to the fact that many pro-life advocates see abortion as the moral equivalent of murder - this is why it is improper for pro-choice activists to present the argument, "Don't like abortion? Don't get one." The problem with this is that for pro-life advocates, abortion is no different from murder. It would be analogous to a rapist arguing, "Don't like rape? Don't commit it!" This argument sounds repulsive to everyone - pro-choice activists should realize that pro-life advocates respond to such an argument with the same repulsion.
That is, of course, not to say that it is any more valid for anti-abortion advocates to equate abortion and murder. I do not think there is any sufficiently good reason for anyone to equate the two. Suffering should be the primary issue of concern in the abortion debate, and it is imposed in very different ways as a result of traditional murder versus abortion. We must ask ourselves in what ways suffering is imposed and on whom?
Everyone should start off by asking, who suffers from abortions? The mother most certainly experiences some suffering - this is indeed regrettable, though perhaps unavoidable. The decision to have an abortion is torturously difficult to make, and complications often arise post-operation - however, this is a risk we take on every time we undergo any operation.
But many would say that the fetus suffers from the procedure, too. It doesn't suffer much physically, of course, since fetuses don't have well-developed nervous systems with which to feel much pain. (If that were an issue, I would expect pro-life advocates to make an effort to ensure that all animals are slaughtered humanely, since they certainly experience a great deal of pain when the killing is botched.) But miscarriages also deprive fetuses of life, so shall we try to fund medical research that might lead us to discover ways to prevent miscarriages - to try to prevent women's bodies from "murdering" the fetuses within them? (This is a question worth asking that I cannot answer.)
People will protest, miscarriages are not the product of human decision; who are you to deprive a fetus of life? Only God can make that decision. Ah, so can we say that He allowed us to develop the technology with which to perform abortion, so clearly He wants us to utilize it? Of course we can, but it is equally absurd to. Bringing God's intentions into any argument is worthless - anyone, anywhere can claim God is on their side.
Mother Teresa got it quite wrong in saying that abortion is "the greatest destroyer of peace in the world." It does not seem to me that abortion is the great evil many claim it to be, and I hope that through reading this people might start asking themselves some important questions about the issue.
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