Dissecting the abortion debate

I wrote to Harry Reid yesterday because I found out he's "against abortion rights." Of course, this statement without any context drives me nuts. I want to know exactly what they mean (my questions are below). I was also driven mad when I realized that the National Right to Life organization has no position on birth control. Well, they don't want to admit it, but abortion is one form of birth control. It is the most violent, life-ending, sad form of it, but I think it is sometimes necessary for the health of the mother, and for the health of a family.

So I was trying to understand how someone could get obsessed with trying to completely stop women from having abortions without taking a position on other forms of birth control, when I think abortion is a private, health and moral issue for the pregnant woman and her partner.

The difference is about G_d.

I think that most people who support abortions rights theologically believe that children are innocent, and that the unborn has a soul that is protected by G_d. During an abortion, that soul goes to G_d. I may be wrong, but I think most pro-lifers, and especially Catholics who believe that we are born with original sin (shudder), believe that an unborn child that dies does not go to heaven. This concept prevented my friend's mother from believing Catholic teachings when she was 9 years-old. The 9 year-old girl asked the priest, "If my little brother died before he was baptized would he go to heaven?" The priest told her that he would not. She lost her faith in that religion on the spot.

My point is, that these RELIGIOUS beliefs are fundamental to abortion arguments and decisions. A Methodist, a Jew and a Catholic are going to have very different perceptions about the fetal consequences of abortions. Our empathy for the fetus is framed by how we view G_d's role in his or her life.

No one is talking about these very important differences.

How do we legislate these religious differences? We can't--we must allow people to practice their religious beliefs in PRIVATE. Why doesn't this naturally include the right to abortion? If men bore children, it would. Abortions should not be made illegal because some religious beliefs can't tolerate abortions. Those who believe that there is a religious reason why women shouldn't seek abortions, shouldn't seek abortions for themselves or their lovers (if they want to be right with G_d). It is not a religious person's duty to legislate their moral stewardship of pregnant women's private, health and moral decisions.

Once and for all, folks, you CANNOT seperate a growing fetus from his or her mother. This abstraction occurs in "pro-life" arguments ad infinitum, pitting women's lives against the growing lives inside them. The fetus is integrated into a mother's circulatory system and completely relies on the mother for breath, food and life. Quite simply, they are "two for one" until the child is ready to be born.

May G_d bless and protect every life and let our society accept our differences as we live with the freedom to be responsible for our own moral choices.