Did you hear about the graphic anti-abortion ads airing in D.C.?
I don’t know what I think of this, to be honest. It’s inflammatory, and generally speaking I think inflammatory is bad. But on the other hand, this woman has virtually zero chance of actually being elected, and she knows it. She’s doing it solely to draw attention to the issue. And I have to give her credit for that.
Here’s the thing. If abortion is the sanitary, morally-neutral act that pro-choice advocates want us to believe it is, then why the horror at the images? The simplest explanation is that the images are horrifying, and that they force us to confront the inconvenient reality that if the image of the act is horrifying, maybe the act itself is horrifying, too.
The thing I have never understood about this debate is how it’s all about the woman. Take away abortion, and women would still have choices; unborn children don’t. Leaving aside the issue of rape for the moment, women have the choice to have sex or not have to have sex. Women can also choose to carry a baby to term and give it a life with adoptive parents; they aren’t chained to the care and feeding of a child for life.
Yes, that is a huge thing to ask of a woman; as a woman who has borne three babies, I am well aware what I am asking physically, and I’m smart enough to be able to imagine the emotional and social impact of it as well. I understand the impulse to circle the wagons, the desire not to expose oneself to people’s nosy, judgmental comments and looks, not to mention the agony of giving away a child you’ve nurtured in your womb. But a woman in this situation has a unique opportunity to make the world a better place–to take a difficult situation and bring something good out of it by easing someone else’s pain of infertility. It’s a gift she, and only she, can give, not only to couples desperate for children, but also to her child who is, after all, blood of her blood and flesh of her flesh, even if the timing is all wrong.
So yes, women have choices–with or without abortion. But for some reason, nobody’s talking about this. All I can think is that the idea of our own comfort and convenience has become so ingrained, and the concept of abortion so politicized and removed from reality, that people don’t even recognize the horror of the act anymore. In which case, ads like the ones in D.C. might be justified. Maybe. Maybe we need to be shocked out of our comfortable, convenient prison. Maybe we need to be reminded that choices do have consequences, and that to pretend otherwise is to diminish the richness of human experience.
Emotions run high on this issue, and the usual tenor of “discussion” on it only increases the rancor. I have no idea if this post will spark comments from my usual crowd of friends who agree with me, or if it will show up in search engines and bring me hordes of people who believe that abortion is morally acceptable, or at least morally neutral. Either way, I ask that when you comment on this post (which I hope you will), you do so in charity and with reason.
Kathleen M. Basi 
I read today’s blog with hesitancy because I can hardly stand to think about the topic at all. I can’t stand to think of the horror of what happens during the procedure and I can’t stand to think of a mother’s anguish in giving up her child even though it is usually in the best interest of all involved (adoption). I understand your wanting to shy away from being inflammatory. But in my mind, there is no way to talk about abortion truthfully unless it is described exactly how it happens. Yes, it is graphic. There is no way to sugarcoat a human being being sucked from his/her mother’s womb. Our society is all about shock value for everything else but when the shock affects people’s ability to dispose of the inconvenient, they get outraged.
“Our society is all about shock value for everything else but when the shock affects people’s ability to dispose of the inconvenient, they get outraged.”
Amen.
Bravo for this post. Honestly, I guess there’s something wrong with my make-up in that graphic ads about abortion don’t bother me in the least…because I view abortion as horrifically as the graphic ads portray it. Abortion is a tragedy in all cases.
I often wonder if people think I’m weird because even when my children are young, I don’t shy away from talking about abortion in front of them and even though they are only 5 and asking me the question “What is abortion, Mommy?” I don’t shy away from telling them what it is. Often tears come to my children’s eyes when they find out and they ask the question (in both cases so far…I’ve had two of my children ask) – they ask, “But Mommy, WHY would anyone do that?” THAT question, by far, is much harder for me to answer than what abortion is. Because the answer in that case, must be approached with Christian charity and care. My husband and I *think* we’ve done ok, so far…but it always takes its toll when I think about it or discuss it with my girls.
Anyway…probably more than you want to know in a comment…but personally, I think we need to do more as a society to educate people on what abortion IS…instead of hiding in the shadows. I do not like the politicization of the issue, but anymore, it seems that is the only way to get people talking about it. It’s been conveniently compartmentalized for so many people into a woman’s choice and the unborn victims get no say other than in the votes and decisions of those already born.
“The timing was all wrong” for one of my three children, yet I knew that we were chosen for each other, for the unique gifts we were able to give.
It’s probably too obvious to mention that “the timing was all wrong” for Joseph’s betrothed, as women could be stoned for less in those days… I always wondered what Mary’s position on abortion would be, if “choices” were available to her.
Okay, first bearing in mind that I do agree with you, and I think abortion is a horrific tragedy whenever it occurs…
I need to take issue just a little with this–
“Leaving aside the issue of rape for the moment, women have the choice to have sex or not have to have sex. Women can also choose to carry a baby to term and give it a life with adoptive parents; they aren’t chained to the care and feeding of a child for life.”
The thing is, “rape” or “not-rape” aren’t always this clear-cut; women DON’T always have the choice to have sex or not, and beyond even that level of non-choice, not all women realize they have the choice, because many have been completely conditioned that their sexuality is all they have–For women for whom the choice is stay with someone and have sex and have a roof and food, vs. living on the street (with all the woman-dangers that go with it)…not much choice, really. And even “carry the child to term” is not always that cut and dried–women of color or women with health issues cannot always (or often) find an adoptive parent willing to take their child, health care for themselves and the child they carry–and if the woman is dependent on someone else for food and housing, and that someone refuses to let them live there if they are pregnant, again, it’s the choice of living on the street or in shelters, with no prenatal health care, or aborting the child–i.e. nine months of TRULY unsafe environment that could well kill mother and child both, or the “safe” and (tragically infuriatingly) socially acceptable option of killing the child so that the woman at least can live in some safety. I wish these kinds of cases were the exceptions–they aren’t.
Again, let me state for the record–I think abortion is a tragic and awful thing. But I also think that we as affluent (and yes, we are affluent, if we have a home and family and know where our next meal is coming from and a bank account and some marketable job skills) white women can sometimes fool ourselves into thinking our lives mirror the lives of the women forced into this horrible “choice.” (That goes for affluent pro-choice women too.) Unfortunately, those are the women without real voices, whose choice-less lives don’t have much of a chance, and whom not many are listening to…
I hate it. I hate the whole horrible mess. But I have to agree with those who’ve posted already that pretending abortion is not what it is is not the answer. I haven’t seen the ads, so I don’t know how graphic they are or how I’d feel about my kids seeing them (my kids know what murder is, but I don’t let them watch Criminal Minds; they know what war is, but I don’t let them see graphic news footage), but in principle I don’t think the answer is to pretend this reprehensible practice that allows our current racist, classist, sexist systems to continue unchanged is all hunky-dory fine.
(And Kate, you know I love you and am not trying to be inflammatory here!)
J
I do agree with you in that we really have no idea what it is like to live in the shoes of those women. Very good points.
You did a lovely job, Jen. (Or do you prefer two n’s? I never know!)
These are good points. I suppose it reinforces, as if we needed it reinforced, that even the most black and white issues DON’T have black & white solutions. Because any end to abortion necessarily must deal with the issues you talk about, too.
KATE~I LOVE YOUR BLOG! YOU HAVE PUT INTO WORDS WHAT I HAVE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO WITH MY FRIENDS WHEN WE BRING THIS TOPIC UP. I AM VERY PRO-LIFE. I GOT PREGNANT WHEN I WAS 19 AND DUE TO MY LIFE CIRCUMSTANCES, I “CHOOSE” TO GIVE HER UP FOR ADOPTION. THE COUPLE WERE BOTH ONE OF TEN SIBLINGS AND THE ONLY SIBLINGS TO BE INFERTILE. MY SECOND CHILD WAS DIAGNOSED IN UTERO WITH A RARE GENETIC CONDITION AND WE WERE ADVISED TO ABORT THE FETUS–MY HUSBAND AND I REFUSED, GABRIEL (AS WE NAMED HIM) KICKED ME FROM 20 WEEKS GESTATION UNTIL A COUPLE OF HOURS BEFORE HE WAS BORN. HE WAS A TRUE BLESSING FOR MY HUSBAND AND I, AND HAVE SINCE HAD ANOTHER CHILD. SHE IS THE MOST WONDERFUL THING TO EVER HAVE HAPPENED TO ME. I GOT TO CHOOSE, AND I KNOW I CHOOSE RIGHT AND WILL GET TO BE A GOOD EXAMPLE FOR OTHERS AROUND ME. GOOD TOPIC!
Sadly, pro-choice people think that the unborn child is even technically “alive”, so they can say that it isn’t murder.
Sorry, I meant to say they don’t think an unborn child is alive.
Tough topic, broached with grace. Thanks, Kate. I am glad you mentioned consequences–the pain of abortion extends well beyond the mother and child. Immediate and extended family, friends, community, nation and world are touched by the horror of convenient killing.
Supportive structures that make a safe pregnancy and adoption viable for ALL women are the areas I think we can work on…in creating spaces and a culture that values, welcomes and nurtures pregnant girls/women (rape or no rape)and their unborn and newborns, we make abortion less desirable…uphill battle in our violent, self-centered culture, I know…
I guess I don’t see Jesus performing abortions/extracting new life into death–the Jesus I know is about birthing and nurturing life, regardless of the pain/discomfort involved. I’m not targeting individual mothers so much as the group think that nods at avoiding pain/discomfort at the expense of new life…
As far as I’m concerned, the more graphic the better. Our society glibly talks about “choice” when justifying choosing to destroy a human life which God has placed in the womb for its protection. Our movies and tv programs testify to our ability to handle blood and guts but we become timid at the sight of a child in the womb. The best deterrent to abortion is the reality of abortion..which America needs to see!
If the U.S.statistics are true 1 in 3.5 women ages 15-64 have had an abortion and that may be the reason for the squeamishness.
The only problem with the picture you posted, Kathleen, is the state of the art of sonography. You can’t see the real life image of the little one as you do in the National Geographic photography in the womb, in which the intrauterine life is arrayed in all its glory–not scary, just awesome.
I wanted to use one of those pictures, but I was worried @ copyright infringement.
I see nothing wrong with graphic ads related to abortion. Until we face up to what we are doing in our society we will continue to delude ourselves and redefine the issue as “choice”. Our “choice” must always to do God’s will and He is the God of life, not death. To whatever extent possible we must all help women to bring their children into the world safely. It may be sponsoring an orphan through an organization like Food for the Poor, volunteering at a pregnancy center, or simply offering up our pain and suffering for God to change hearts and welcome life. For sure, whenever the state provides abortion, the state is pro-death and makes the pro-death stance socially acceptable. And we must never forget that this whole pro-death stance is rooted in eugenics, which makes it racist to the core. It’s time more people speak up on this and I’m glad for the ads.
Good post and good for you in writing it!