{"id":3732,"date":"2016-01-25T07:10:37","date_gmt":"2016-01-25T13:10:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=3732"},"modified":"2016-03-26T16:13:39","modified_gmt":"2016-03-26T22:13:39","slug":"a-few-thoughts-on-pro-choice-ism-and-two-analogies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/01\/a-few-thoughts-on-pro-choice-ism-and-two-analogies.html","title":{"rendered":"A few thoughts on “pro-choice-ism”, and two analogies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"puppies\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with this:<\/p>\n

The pro-abortion attitudes\u00a0I cited back on Friday<\/a>, and the demands that abortion be treated as a routine medical treatment, seem to be increasingly prevalent. \u00a0It\u2019s highly disturbing to read these sorts of statements, the ones that say \u201cI had an abortion because it\u2019s my right to have sex without ever experiencing a pregnancy, and I don\u2019t believe I or anyone else needs any reason other than simply wanting to.\u201d \u00a0And these voices so drown out others that attempt to be more reasonable, that it\u2019s hard to hear these other voices.<\/p>\n

So here are my two analogies. \u00a0One describes the attitude of these \u201cuncompromising\u201d pro-abortionists \u2014 who probably wouldn\u2019t really even try to weasel their way into rejecting the \u201cpro-abortion\u201d label, given their rhetoric that abortion is a positive action.<\/p>\n

This is the \u201cwart\u201d analogy: \u00a0an unwanted fetus is like a wart. \u00a0Just get rid of it. \u00a0Don\u2019t hesitate. \u00a0It\u2019s an unwanted growth of no moral value or significance whatsoever, a parasite of sorts, invading one\u2019s body uninvited.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a second analogy: \u00a0let\u2019s call it the \u201canimal shelter pet\u201d analogy, because the way this group feels about abortion is the way most of us feel about putting down stray cats and dogs.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing morally wrong with euthanizing the abandoned dogs and cats at an animal shelter. \u00a0They have no homes, they are in some cases unadoptable, their lives at the shelter would be inhumane otherwise, and there aren\u2019t enough funds to care for all the animals brought in to Animal Control indefinitely anyway. \u00a0Hence, reluctantly, those which have been there for too long are put down, and it\u2019s morally acceptable to do so.<\/p>\n

But at the same time, it is nonetheless a tragic thing that it\u2019s necessary, and it would be far better to reduce these numbers: \u00a0better to get cats and dogs spayed and neutered, to encourage people not to buy pets if they won\u2019t be able to take care of them, and to adopt from an animal shelter rather than buying from a breeder, and to help those families who are unable to take care of their pets because they\u2019ve fallen on hard times, by providing vet care, \u201cpet food pantries,\u201d etc.<\/p>\n

And, though their voices seem to be more silent than they once were, it is wrong to deny the existence of this second point of view.<\/p>\n

Now, to us who are pro-life, it\u2019s hard to really understand how you can inhabit this middle ground. \u00a0After all, if abortion is wrong, it\u2019s because it\u2019s the ending of a human life, and we generally criminalize the taking of a human life. \u00a0It\u2019s not like adultery, for instance, where we can shrug it off as \u201cit\u2019s wrong, but not the government\u2019s business.\u201d \u00a0And if it\u2019s not the ending of a human life, but just something vaguer like a \u201cpotential life,\u201d then why bother even being squeamish about it; why not just welcome it the way the \u201cfetus = wart\u201d folks do?<\/p>\n

But the problem is that this bright line between life and death doesn\u2019t really seem to exist any longer.<\/p>\n

Back in March, I wrote a post I called \u201c\u201cWorse than death\u201d?<\/a>\u201d in which I\u00a0discussed a post and a comments thread discussion about whether men or women were worse off in wartime. \u00a0I pushed back against claims that women suffered such traumas as gang rape by pointing out that men were far more likely to die (e.g., a full 1\/3 of Soviet men anywhere near fighting age), and received the reply that what women suffered was \u201cworse than death.\u201d \u00a0And it struck me at the time that this notion, that there are a great many things that can indeed be \u201cworse than death,\u201d is becoming increasingly common. \u00a0 The increasing acceptance of assisted suicide is part of this \u2014 and back when Brittany Maynard was in the news, it wasn\u2019t that hard to stumble into comments defending the right of anyone to kill themselves, regardless of whether society approves of their reason. \u00a0Indeed, when Robin Williams killed himself, and when it was later determined that he had Lewy Body dementia, there were voices suggesting<\/a> that he had a \u201cgood reason\u201d for killing himself.<\/p>\n

And abortion fits into this as well. \u00a0If death just isn\u2019t that big a deal, if killing can be rationalized as not intrinsically wrong but only if it tangibly harms someone who wanted to life (and who is able to think sophisticated enough thoughts to understand what it means to want to live), then the number of \u201cgood reasons\u201d for killing expand. \u00a0And, likewise, if there isn\u2019t a moral difference between killing a pet and killing a human, but it all depends on the situation and the context, then the rejection of legal restrictions can be paired perfectly well with a desire to reduce abortions. \u00a0And a \u201cpro-choice but personally opposed\u201d mindset can make sense, just as much as a pet-owner might personally believe a pet owner has a moral obligation to care for a pet but a legal right to abandon it.<\/p>\n

Now, what\u2019s interesting to me is that this particular post of mine, which I wrote shortly after I moved my blog to Patheos, didn\u2019t really get much attention at the time. \u00a0But every now and again, Google Analytics will tell me that someone has stumbled upon it, presumably as the result of some google search or another, and as of today, there have been 712 shares, which is pretty good for me.<\/p>\n

But how do you change the mind of someone with this sort of attitude? \u00a0How do you make the argument that all killing of humans is wrong, if they say, \u201cno, some killing is OK\u201d? \u00a0Or do we accept that getting as much agreement as possible on, say, late term abortions, is the best we can do in terms of the law?<\/p>\n

And in any case, can we work together with the \u201cpersonal-opposers\u201d? \u00a0The challenge is that their solutions \u2014 at their extreme, Brave New World-style routinization of LARC-type contraception (and casual sex) even for teens, and generous State benefits for even middle-class and wealthy mothers \u2014 become hard to swallow. \u00a0But more on that later.<\/p>\n

(Image: \u00a0puppies at an animal shelter, from a flicker album:\u00a0https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/goldstardeputy\/4503173277 by goldstardeputy<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s start with this: The pro-abortion attitudes\u00a0I cited back on Friday, and the demands that abortion be treated as a routine medical treatment, seem to be increasingly prevalent. \u00a0It\u2019s highly disturbing to read these sorts of statements, the ones that say \u201cI had an abortion because it\u2019s my right to have sex without ever experiencing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":3734,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[198],"class_list":["post-3732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-abortion"],"yoast_head":"\nA few thoughts on "pro-choice-ism", and two analogies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Let's start with this: The pro-abortion attitudes\u00a0I cited back on Friday, and the demands that abortion be treated as a routine medical 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