I am a Christian, but I support abortion. As a kid, I was taught to value lives with great care and dignity—any form of taking away lives was forbidden. One example of taking away life is abortion. It certainly is a great deal of torment to watch this helpless life end without having a chance to stand in this world, but it is also a painfully complicated issue for others as well. Because abortion is not all about the death of a baby before birth. It is a great tragedy for all parties involved in the process of conception and process of controlling the fate of the potential life.
I am not blatantly devaluing human life by supporting abortion. I merely wish to express how this is not only about taking away one’s life. Indeed a sad reality, not all conceptions happen under reasonably favorable circumstances. For example, in scenes of war, many women are raped and forcibly become mothers of their aggressors. In a letter to the editor by Janet Benshoff, President of Global Justice Center, to the New York Times on May 22, 2015, she reveals some disturbing victimizations of women’s rights during the war, “Largely because of the abortion ban attached to American foreign aid, Nigerian women and girls raped and forcibly impregnated by Boko Haram militants will be denied lifesaving abortions.” This strategy of weakening populations through constant rapes and forceful impregnations is not only implemented by the Boko Haram in Nigeria but across the globe where conflicts are ever so prevalent.
It is truly disturbing to learn that human reproduction, which should be used for the strengthening of human race, is instead used to not only abuse individual women’s rights but also is exploited by the forceful, violent conquest of less privileged others. Rape does not happen in battlefields alone—it also happens to many women in developed nations like the United States. Sure, saving a life is a blessing, but would it serve as a true blessing for the mothers who were raped and victimized? Shouldn’t women be given choices to deal with the aftermath of rape other than keeping the baby because its life is important? Should the rights of the baby overrun the rights of the mother?
The abuse of human sexuality does not only occur in the confusion by the war, but also in places with relative poverty and unstable social structures. While Latin America is known for its strict adherence to anti-abortion laws, in adoring Catholic faith, it is the place where young girls are forced into unwanted situations of pregnancy.
In the May 30 article in The Economist magazine, it is said there are many cases of abuse and little protection to girls to prevent unwanted pregnancies. For example, it was reported that 34 percent of girls suffered sexual abuse before age 18 in Bolivia. The studies also suggested that up to 36 percent of Latin American adult women suffer domestic or sexual violence. Based on the relatively high rates of abuse, it is not a big surprise to find out that many women in these regions suffer from early pregnancies, often unwanted ones. According to United Nations, in Latin America, 69 out of every 1,000 girls aged 15-19 gave birth, a rate that is exceeded only in Sub-Saharan Africa.
However, due to the strict anti-abortion laws, many are not given the chance to have abortions from unwanted pregnancies and stuck in the cycle of poverty. In many developing nations, women are not able to engage fully in economic enterprises due to pregnancy and are forced into domesticity in early ages. Because of pregnancies and highly patriarchal societies, these women are not granted chances to be properly educated and have more choices or opportunities to enjoy life as many of us do here. The unwanted pregnancies are likely to create social inequality, deprivation of rights and increased length of living life in poverty. The ban on abortions could also indicate that many people are not provided enough clinical access related to sexual health—that they would have less knowledge of how to maintain healthy lifestyles during pregnancy or how to prevent sexually transmitted diseases resulting from sexual violence that they often face.
Unwanted pregnancy seems to suggest this is not successful in securing the truly genuine path of life. It is ruining the lives of many females—depriving them of chances to better their lives. Also, other than the case of domestic violence, it is true that pregnancies put many women at risk. Pregnancy is a very physically tormenting process to this day, based on certain mortality rates. Also, it puts them at a greater risk in that women suffering from certain illnesses cannot be properly treated, as the fetus can be affected by the treatment.
Pregnancy is a potentially happy, but also risky business. All conceptions and circumstances are not always welcoming to the birth of future generations. It is important that as we come to realize how important the human race is, it is also important to consider that all lives matter. Not only the baby’s, but the mothers’ as well. If pregnancies are the result of unfavorable circumstances and victimization of women, shouldn’t we consider a little about how to deal with their tragedies as well, other than losing the life of the baby? We should create a world where both mother and baby could be happy, not the one where both would be deprived of basic rights.
Do you agree with Hae Rin’s view on abortion? What do you feel current legislation should be surrounding this issue? Send all comments, questions and concerns to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
