At the dinner table tonight, my wife, mother-in-law and I were talking politics (as we usually do when we’re eating dinner) and our discussion turned to abortion.
As we talked about the issue of a woman’s right to choose, I noted that while I support a woman’s right to choose when it comes to her reproductive options, I’m personally opposed to abortion as a practice.
So here’s my question: are those two beliefs congruent? Can one be pro-choice but opposed to abortion in practice?
Depends what you mean by “opposed to in practice.” Do you just mean “find distasteful,” like you wouldn’t personally get one? Or do you mean, oppose in the public sphere, by preventing others, or trying to convince others not to get one?
By personally opposed I mean that I find the practice more than just distasteful; however that’s where the pro-choice part comes in, because while I disagree with abortion, I don’t think it’s my place to tell a woman what she can and can’t do with her body.
I don’t think anyone on the pro-choice side can be characterized as “pro-abortion.” I think Obama said it right when he said “Abortion should be safe, legal, and rare.”
What Phil and Greg (below) said. The dissonance you’re imaging only exists in the vacuum of a politically loaded frame.
In reality, the person who’s both “pro-choice” and thinks the physical act of abortion is awesome doesn’t exist. I’m frankly a little disturbed by your implication that they do. Ask any woman who’s been through it.
The world is not black and white. There are a lot of gray areas, and colors too. Moral choices are often difficult, especially to people who are willing to be open to a variety of ideas. In my opinion this is the sort of question that should be asked and discussed.
I agree with Zach. Abortion is abhorrent. Women should be supported in making choices that result in life. The choice however remains that of the individual woman. No choice is more personal. No one else should have the power to force a woman to carry and deliver a child. Especially not the state!
“pro-choice” and “pro-life” are the terms used to decide the terms in a political debate over what our laws should be. If you think the law should be that women make the decision for themselves, you’re pro-choice, regardless of what choice you would make in that position.
JCG,
I find your post very confusing. I think you probably fall into the pro-life camp.
I am especially confused about your use of the word “awesome” connected with abortion. Bith is awesome. Abortion is horrendous. Perhaps you meant that.
An honest, and I hope morally upright, person can be anti-abortion, pro-life (in ways beyond being anti-abortion), and pro-choice.
I’m not sure what the question for “any” woman who’s had an abortion should be. I am pretty sure that the answers would vary. As I indicated above, this is a very personal decision, made for numerous reasons involving health, family, relationship, and economic situations. I have not had an abortion, and I know very few women who have. It was not an easy decision for those women. No one should make the process of making and living with such a decision more difficult.
JCG,
I appologize. I think I may have misread. It is late. Were you saying that no one is pro-abortion?
Yeah sorry for being confusing – just saying I’ve never heard of anyone who “likes” abortion or thinks it’s pleasant. And that that has nothing to do with being pro-choice, as Zach is (as am I). So my argument is that the conflict Zach presents is a false one. Because if basically everyone has that conflict, then the conflict only exists within a cleverly wedged frame (by the so-called pro-lifers).
Probably being more confusing. You’re right it’s late! 🙂
I’ve certainly never met someone who is pro-abortion, Linda, though I have met many who support a woman’s right to choose abortion, judging her own circumstances in consultation with her doctor. Everyone I’ve ever talked to acknowledges choosing abortion to be a frightfully difficult choice to make.
Yeah, I’m with you on this one Zach. I have much the same attitude.
I have to disillusion the few of you who find the existence of pro-abortion people to be unimaginable. They exist, though they are few. For example, there are those eco-idealists who view humanity as a blight on the Earth, and are in favor of anything that reduces our population.
Though this is somewhat off the original question, Jeffrey reminded me of the situation in China. It seems sometimes a state can force women to carry and deliver a child and sometimes a state can force women to have abortions.
Perhaps a new question should be about how personal freedom and the needs or values of society intercept. Who decides, and how are decisions enforced.
That may be the basic question that underlies the whole pro-life/pro-choice debate in the U.S. It is why some of us are conflicted and why emotions are so high. It may be why there is so little room for compomise for some of us.
The many horror stories I hear of women forced in getting abortions is also wrong, because the idea of being pro-choice is being just that – pro-choice. If they are forced to have abortions, it’s not their their choice. I remember reading a horrible example about that with a rather abusive and crazy family a while back, and people kept saying about the poor innocent baby but all I could think was about the poor woman being forced into that position to do that. If she wanted to keep the child, she should have been allowed to and not pushed and forced into that position. What was wrong in that situation was not the so called baby dying before it was born, but because it wasn’t her choice and it was against her will. That shouldn’t be allowed.
Ultimately, it comes down to: a freedom to make a choice and decide for yourself.
I would never be able to do an abortion even if I was able to have kids, but it’s not my choice or my right to step in to say what another woman does with her body. Most of the time, abortions are not done willy nilly like most propaganda claims it to be.
I don’t know many people who are on the pro-choice side who are pro-abortion. Were simply pro-choice and keep it open as just that: a choice. Abortion is a medical procedure, and should be treated as such, because if not for abortion, I imagine women would still die horrible and painful deaths trying to give birth still to still born children.
As Greg said: “If you think the law should be that women make the decision for themselves, you’re pro-choice, regardless of what choice you would make in that position.”