Two Recent Conversations About Abortion

Two conversations in the past week have clarified and reinforced my thinking on the issue of abortion.

The first of these conversations was with a physician who has actually delivered babies but has never performed an abortion. This individual told me something which I had kind of thought of but was still startled to hear it put into words.

"There is no such thing as a late term abortion," this doctor told me. At that point in the pregnancy because of the Hippocratic Oath, doctors do everything they can to protect life and health of both mother and child. It is really an early delivery.

This made sense to me, because I recall Pope St. John Paul II saying there are situations where a pregnancy should be terminated, but when that is necessary to save the life of the mother, everything possible should be done to save the life of the child. But he said we should not just let the mother die. There are times when terminating a pregnancy is moral. The issue at hand is the circumstances and motivations for doing so. It makes me think of what Jesus said when he healed the guy in the synagogue on the Sabbath. Luke 6:9, Jesus asks “I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to destroy it?”

I think the issue here is one of what the objective is. If the motive is to save a life, then terminating a pregnancy is moral.

Many people agree with me--so far. But what I am going to say next has gotten me damned and denounced by some people.

The second conversation was with one of my closest friends in the world, even though we have never met face to face. This person is like a sister to me. We agree on so many things. I told her about what this doctor told me, and I went on to say I think NO THIRD PARTY, no church, no legislature, no court, can make this determination. Only the woman can, with those whom she chooses to seek out their counsel, because only the woman knows what is in her heart and nobody else can make that determination.

That is why, even though I think abortion is generally morally wrong, I think it should be legal in all cases, 100% of the time, with no exceptions. Only slightly less than 2% of all abortions happen after 15 weeks. If a woman does not want a baby, she does not wait until the third trimester to have an abortion. Therefore, I think we need to give all women the benefit of the doubt on this, as I said, 100% of the time, with no exceptions. If she makes the wrong decision, she will answer to God, not me. But I am absolutely convinced no third party can ever make the right decision. Therefore any abortion ban is as immoral as abortion itself.

And I get demonized for this, and vilified. But I do not think I should be. The problem is indifference to life. My impetus here is to honor the life of women, not be indifferent to the lives of the unborn. This is a much more complex issue than people think, and it is hubris to think we can legislate it.