Pro-Life in Georgia Means Death to Women?

In the news today:

http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2011/02/miscarriage-death-penalty-georgia

Abortion is a difficult topic. For one thing, it is stigmatized, so very few people are willing to share their personal experiences with abortion. This fact skews the conversation into being one about other people, rather than about ourselves. In addition, abortion is the Grand Canyon of the identity divide between right and left. The stakes are so high on both sides that no compromise seems possible. For most people, it is a black and white issue.

This issue is black and white precisely because the reality of abortion is not. Life begins in the dark, invisible space inside a woman’s body. The process by which a fertilized egg becomes a baby remains miraculous and mysterious, no matter how many cameras we send in to document the journey. And it is an unquestionable fact of our current technology that a fertilized egg cannot become a baby without the overwhelming commitment of the woman whose body it occupies until birth.

Of course there are ways to harvest and transplant fertilized eggs into another woman’s body—perhaps into that of a more able or willing vessel for life. This indeed is an amazing feat of science. But the process is difficult, expensive and legally complex, therefore unlikely to present a clear solution to the conflict any time soon. The sheer level of emotional/physical contact required to carry and bear a healthy child into the world means raising fetuses in laboratory environments would be an extremely challenging ethics problem as well. So we may have grapple with the with the social issues for many years into the future without a technological solution.

We are left with the clear knowledge that the commitment of the pregnant woman is necessary in order to bring new life into the world. Given this inescapable fact, we are grappling with the problem of a conflict between basic rights, the right to life for both the mother and child, the right to self-determination for the mother, the right of the community to set standards regarding those rights. Also in question is the right of a potential father to have a say in the decision whether or not a life ought to be brought into the world and the rights of parents or other family members—especially when the pregnant woman is a child herself.

The current conservative position on abortion favors the rights of the community over the rights of an individual woman. It favors the rights of men over the rights of women. It favors the rights of potential children who are not yet able to survive or even develop into normal healthy human beings on their own over the rights of the very people who would have to commit their bodies, minds and arguably their souls to the survival and well being of those future children. Defining a zygote as a child is a political, not factual position. Zygotes need their Mamas to turn into babies.

Babies also need the community to develop into healthy responsible adults. They need medical services, teachers, coaches, neighbors, friends. A family, no matter how it is manifested, is not sufficient to the task. We are profoundly social creatures. If we were not, we would not have these kinds of problems. The conservative position is substantially compromised by a host of other “values” that elevate individual responsibility over community responsibility for the health and well being of its members.  The pro-life vs. pro-choice paradigm is problematic because it sets up a false argument that somehow the positions hinge on whether a fetus is or is not alive.  Of course it is.  The question needs to be, when does that life become a person?

The pro-choice position values the rights of an individual woman over the rights of men to make decisions for her.  It also values the rights of an individual woman over those of the community to make such decisions or those of potential children whose existence would depend upon her commitment and sacrifice. Given the historical role and position of women in society, this position represents a substantial break with tradition. Historically, women have been viewed as subordinate to all these interests, so this position represents sweeping change for society.  Change is hard.  Rights were never granted because those in power suddenly had an attack of wisdom or conscience.  They are always won by some kind of battle.

There are many passionate arguments to be made on both sides about aspects and details of this conflict. But so far, our society has failed frame the question in such a way as to allow us process the issues effectively. So for the moment, we are stuck.

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