Pro-Life or Pro-Choice?
With the cold blooded murder of Tiller being in the news recently, I’ve thought a bit further on my own views of abortion. I usually just say that I’m pro-life. But I think… maybe I’m not?
I hate that everyone tries to categorize people in to two groups. It feels like a “with us or against us” mentality in all that we do. Either you’re a republican or you’re a democrat. Either you’re liberal or you’re conservative. Either you’re pro-life or you’re pro-choice. Everyone wants everything to be black and white. But they forget about the grays.
Just as political opinion has a bit of a sliding scale, I think abortion rights views should too. And so I decided to try and determine where I sit between pro-life and pro-choice. Near the middle? Mostly pro-life? Mostly pro-choice? A little of one or the other?
And I failed. I’m really not sure.
I support what Tiller stood for. I know that he was going to trial over allegations that he did things beyond what he said he stood for. But, innocent until proven guilty. So I can say that I support what Tiller did at his clinic. Not what he allegedly did. I support what he and the various other doctors supporting him claim he did.
I saw an interview with his colleague who will most likely be taking over the practice. His colleague stressed that they perform late term abortions for only a handful of reasons. Things like: the baby is already dead, the baby has a condition that is not compatible with life, the pregnancy has a complication that threatens the mother’s life or a major function of her body. Not only do they have strict requirements for even beginning to talk about a late term abortion, they regularly and often turned mothers away. They determined that abortion was not medically needed and told mothers outright “no”.
Sure, there were some people who argued against him. They said things like, “I had a baby with a condition that was not compatible with life. I chose to give birth and the hours I had with my baby were wonderful and I’d do it again if I was in the same situation.” And good for her! But that doesn’t mean everyone is capable of dealing with the situation in that way. Everyone is different. The key words there are that she chose to give birth to a baby who would only live for a couple of hours.
So, I am for late term abortions, if there are medical reasons for it. Does that make me pro-choice? Some people would think so.
Also, I am for emergency contraception. People do stupid things in the heat of the moment. Especially when alcohol is involved. Or, there are cases of sexual assault. These moments are perfect for emergency contraception.
So there you go. I’m pro-life, except when you should be able to choose.