Okay, I was hoping to avoid a rant. It seems that I am not so fortunate today. And, being Friday, I will not be able to respond to any of the usual thoughtful remarks that frequent this page from my friends and various digital aquaintances until Monday as I have no internet at home.
Here we go...
Roe vs. Wade. Yeah, I know. It is the anniversary or some such thing like that. I hate the polemics that abound surrounding this issue. They friggin' piss me off. Who is right? Who has rights? Who is alive? What is "viable" anyway? Can I shoot the doctor? It is all so frigging silly when it gets down to it.
Often the more conservative voices call us to treasure every life...every one. The SBC is one of the few denominations whose leadership at least was not against the war. That killing is okay. Moslems and other "Un-American people" have no rights in God's eyes it would seem. Often, though not always, extreme patriotism couple with religious conservativism in America. This is something I will never understand. Are you Pro-Life unless the GNP is threatened!? Shitte! Think about that, rich young man, when God asks for your money and your life.
Now, the left has some troubles as well. Hauerwas is right, I think. Those of us on the left often leave no choice for people. Abortion can be perceived as the only option. This is plainly not the point of a freedom of choice!
And it is all so much more complicated than this. The only opinion I can muster is this: I have two good friends who have had abortions that I know of. There may be more. I even took one firend to have this done when I was 19. Were we scared? Did we feel there was a choice? Not at the time. Would I assist again? I just might, but I don't know for certain. See, now I have the option to say "Hey. I will help you raise this child." If there is to be a choice, we have to rid ourselves of the judgment that further isolates a woman during this crisis. To scream "murder!" will only isolate. Why not weep, and cry "child!" meaning the woman struggling who is a beloved child of God? This should be the response of Christian community.
And if a woman decides that she will have an abortion, well, shitte again, love her. Love the living bejezus out of her because she has just gone through hell and back. Standing on a corner in Richmond VA with pictures on a picket sign does not show her love. It only shows another person's hatred. Instead, weep with her. Instead, find the father and weep with him. Perhaps he is waiting in the clinic lounge with tears in his eyes depending upon some clueless 19 year old for answers. Perhaps he is in jail.
The work of Christ is the reconciliation of the world...but in LOVE.
God weeps for us all. It is that simple. We all sin. We all fall short. If your rhetoric cannot contain sin, repentance and forgiveness from God and one another, then you need to revisit your thinking.
Aaaargh!
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world. Have mercy on us.
"We must remember that as Christians we do not believe in the inherent sacredness of life or in personhood. Instead we believe that there is much worth dying for. Christians do not believe that life is a right or that we have inherent dignity. Instead we believe that life is the gift of a gracious God. That is our primary Christian language regarding abortion: life is the gift of a gracious God. As part of the giftedness of life, we believe that we ought to live in a profound awe of the other's existence, knowing in the other we find God. So abortion is a description maintained by Christians to remind us of the kind of community we must be to sustain the practice of hospitality to life. That is related to everything else that we do and believe." - HauerwasPosted by tripp at January 23, 2004 10:27 AM
The majority of responses for those who are pro-life have been of the sort you recommend: providing health care and housing, information and counselling, and adoption services (for those who choose that route). They also do follow up counselling for women who have had abortions and have to deal with the deep psychological consequences of those acts.
Please keep this in mind when you discuss abortion. Sure there's the violent psychopaths who hijack a group's rhetoric, but these aren't even part of the pro-life group.
Posted by: Clifton D. Healy at January 23, 2004 11:00 AMI know that these options exist. The same exists from the left as well. Planed Parenthood has adoption services, for example. But the arguments are polemical. Even your post today toasted me a little in its polemical tone.
It is a habit we all have in this debate.
Posted by: Tripp at January 23, 2004 11:07 AMPolemical, sure. But not merely so. The question ought to remain: What is the truth about the life in the womb, and how ought we to act in light of that truth?
Questons related to rape and incest, while not illegitimate on their face, are a miniscule percentage of the abortions that do occur. They are a red herring. We can state the principle that ought to govern, then discuss exceptions (if any).
Questions related to the health of the mother are not illegitimate either, but are, again, a small percentage. They, too, are a red herring, because the Church (at least in the west) has long held to the "doctrine of double effect." In such cases, the act in intent is not one of abortion, but of saving the mother's life.
This isn't even about rights per se, except insofar as rights instantiate Christian belief.
So, again, the question is: What is the mind of Christ on abortion? The Church has been clear about this from its very origin.
Posted by: Clifton D. Healy at January 23, 2004 11:17 AMThe mind of Christ on abortion is clear...as it is with war.
Posted by: Tripp at January 23, 2004 11:25 AMI zeroed in on the phrase "hospitality to life" in the Hauerwas quote because I think it really frames the issue, which is not pro-choice/pro-life or rights or even is the embyro a person (Hauerwas says let us hope that it is, because we welcome life). Can we be a community that is hospitable to new life, even if it comes from a single teenage mother or a family whose resources are strained and don't feel they can afford another child? Can our communities provide all the things necessary to be hospitable so that abortion is not the only choice? I've read some statements from women who said, the Church is the last place I would turn. That's our fault. And making Church or other communities hospitable to life means more than donating diapers, etc. It means low cost daycare. It means Family Leave Act. Universal health care. Etc.
If we are going to ask the mother to make sacrifices by bringing a pregnancy to term, we better make sure we're willing to sacrifice too.
Hm, that was rant-ish too. Sorry. Also, Tripp is right about abortion and war, and I would add capital punishment.
Posted by: Jennifer at January 23, 2004 11:40 AM"A community that is hospitable to life." Encapsulated there is part of the mission of the church-- where we are called, and where we are fallen. If it is true that the church has known from the beginning what the mind of Christ is on this issue, then it's also true that we have not done a credible job of living into that knowledge.
" If there is to be a choice, we have to rid ourselves of the judgment that further isolates a woman during this crisis." This is part of the reason we are adoptive parents. Ask me about it sometime.
Posted by: Jane Ellen at January 23, 2004 07:05 PMAre y'all talking about:
1. making decisions about abortion for yourselves (i.e., you are personally pregnant and have to make a decision about it)
2. making policy about abortion for the people who belong to your church (ABC, Orthodox, whichever)
and/or
3. making policy about abortion for the people who live in your municipality/state/country?
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