Pro Choice or Pro Life

Pro Choice or Pro Life? There are more than just two sides to this argument.

First, let’s look at the underlying act, abortion. The debate over when life actually begins… At conception, the genetic pieces of father and mother are combined to create the blueprint for a totally unique human being. Cells divide and grow. In 2-3 weeks we see a beating heart and closed circulatory system. In just over a month the brain is functioning. Soon there is movement. A fetus responds to light, heat, sound, pain. They even think and dream. Someone said the “definition of alive is that a being is growing, developing, maturing, and replacing its own dying cells.”  Some would argue that life doesn’t begin until birth, and before that the fetus is a part of the mother. The old “if it’s wanted it’s a baby, if it’s not wanted it’s just tissue” discussion. It seems to me that if an unborn child has a unique genetic makeup, its own body parts and systems, a pumping heart and a brain that works and responds, then it must be alive, more so that a person in a coma. Of course it depends on the mother for nutrition, warmth, safety and waste removal, but it’s a separate entity from the mother. If allowed, it will continue to grow and develop as any human being.

Abortion terminates pregnancy, which is a nice way of saying it destroys the fetus. Regardless of the method used, the fetus reacts, responds and most certainly feels it. When does life begin? Few Americans would hold a baby in their arms and kill it.  But millions of fetuses are destroyed every year. I think if more people really understood and thought about the developing unborn child, there would be far fewer abortions.

Americans tend to be very active when it comes to their rights. They’ll argue, fight, even die for them. If you want to get folks behind something, tie it to a rights issue. They did it with cable tv years ago. There was an uproar over showing porn on cable. Someone cleverly took the focus off the filth peddlers and made it an issue of free speech. Many decent people unwittingly supported the porn industry and infected their homes because they got sucked in to the pretense that they were fighting for freedom of speech.

Women’s rights have come a long way. Deservedly so. It’s no surprise that abortion has been made a part of that movement. But to make it successful, you must use a few tactics. Semantics- No country would give people blanket permission to kill their children. So you must dehumanize the child with words like tissue, fetus, unwanted pregnancy. And then you mustn’t use the word kill. Rather use abort, terminate, remove. Instead of being a growing, living being, make it a piece of tissue that might someday be human. That way it can just be ripped out, like a tumor, without any consideration, reason or remorse.

“It’s my body.” Women have every right to manage their bodies. But what about the rights of the unborn child? Who protects them? Their fragile bodies are their own, not their mother’s or father’s. They have a right to grow and live a normal life, don’t they? Yet we seem more worried about the care and rights of animals than we do our children. Which is stupid because children are our primary responsibility, a tremendous source of joy and our hope for the future.

Alternatives-

All people need to be responsible for their actions. If you can’t afford a child, don’t have one. If it’s inconvenient to have a family, don’t. Prevention is the best alternative to abortion. Use birth control, self control or both.

Continuing with responsibility, men have got to be held accountable for fathering children. There’s no excuse for leaving a woman to fend for herself and her children. If he won’t willingly support his kids, he should be forced to.

Rapists and other sex offenders should also be forced to pay for damages, treatment and child support. In addition, they should be sterilized.

Adoption- there are countless couples who want children, many are childless. A good, loving home is so much better than tools and a garbage can. Please, if you’re pregnant and don’t want the child, consider touching the lives of someone who yearns for children!

Fire station- If all else fails, drop off the baby at a fire station or hospital. They’ll know what to do.

Sure there are exceptions. Most agree that in cases of rape, incest or danger to the life of the mother, a woman and her doctor should discuss alternatives like abortion.

We need to start thinking before we act. Inconvenience, money, time, school, and dreams are poor excuses for killing our children. It’s not just about women’s rights. It’s also about children’s rights. They, too, have a right to live, to dream, to have a future. Denying them those rights demeans us as human beings.