The Pro-Life liberal

It is important to start by saying that I used to be Pro-Choice on this matter. I was pro-choice for all the facts that are presented in the pro-choice argument. Granted I never thought of abortion as a good thing; is anyone really pro-abortion? (More on this later)  I didn’t feel entitled to impose my views on women who do in fact carry the children while men do not. I convinced myself that I was neutral on the matter and had no opinion on it. In my mind this was an issue for women and while in my heart I always thought of abortion as an unfortunate procedure, I fell for the semantics and misleading information that’s been fed to millions of people.

Like any other issue I like to enlighten myself. I don’t buy into the mainstream media or radio commentators. I let my heart and morals guide me to everything I believe. I honestly  believe that far too often people over think themselves. I allowed the Pro-Choice movement to frame their argument into something it’s not and I would go with it.

Being liberal isn’t about worrying about an individual’s inconvenience. Let’s be honest, most abortions are done because the mother doesn’t want the child. While there are in fact cases of rape, incest and the life of the mother, we have to make sure we don’t really believe that a majority of these abortions are because of these reasons.

The reason I always remained firm on being pro-choice was because of rape and incest victims. How can I possibly ask that a woman admit she was rapped to get an abortion? My heart goes out to these victims and it’s unfortunate that these few women are having this debate rage on because of the many others who simply have an abortion because they don’t want the child. These victims, along with cases where the mothers life is in danger, turn this entire discussion into a very complex and difficult situation. These cases are a small percentage of women who go along with abortion and I will touch on these situations on another blog. 

As a pro-choice individual I did always promote any idea that would reduce the number of abortions. If we can't change the law we can still fight to reduce abortions. It’s frustrating to hear conservatives wanting to ban abortion yet promote against birth-control and protective use because celibacy should be the only advocacy. I think this is non-sense, and while there is nothing wrong with promoting celibacy we have to use every idea possible to reduce the number of abortions. Abortion should not be used as a form of birth control, unfortunately in too many cases it is.

This is the year 2012 and the reality is that people have sex and do it regularly- my liberal side allows me to accept that in the grand scheme of things sex should be the least of our worries. As a liberal I do feel we can all choose to live our lives however we want; but we need to acknowledge that in life there are consequences. For example: I’m not going to stop you from sleeping with the whole block, but don’t expect me to view you as a woman that respects herself either.  Don’t expect me to then sympathize with you because the child you carry is going to be a financial burden for your future. So as you can see, I am not your typical Pro-life conservative advocate. Now, I'm not trying to suggest that all women sleep with everyone in the block, I am simply making a point on my world view and perspective. I just want to make it clear that whether a woman slept with the whole block or had sex with her first partner- abortion is wrong. 

As a liberal I believe in Civil Rights and Liberties. I believe that being in a blessed position I can be a voice for voiceless people and unfortunate around the world. I believe in helping the poor. In the words of JFK; I am not satisfied. I am not satisfied where we are as a people when so many are still suffering. 

We live in a broken world filled with massive injustice. We also live in a world filled with liars whether rich or poor. It’s human nature to want even what you don’t need. For me, being liberal is to get passed thinking of greed and away from this obvious warship of money. Being liberal is about not believing these fictional stories about how we’re better than everyone else because we live in America. It’s about saying God bless the world, not just America.  

So what does all this have to do with being pro-life? Shouldn't being pro-choice be the view liberals’ champion? When you really explore the core issue of abortion it shouldn't be hard for a Liberal to be pro-life. The problem is the stigma that’s been placed on the pro-life movement. Everyone believes that if you’re pro-life you’re imposing your religious beliefs on others.

First of all, the Church also says murder is wrong- Should we invent a term to legalize murder just in the interests of going against Christian beliefs? Just because a majority of pro-life advocates are Christian doesn’t mean it’s the wrong or right position. What happen to the merits of the issue?

Secondly, if you remove religion from the topic all together the pro-life argument is still valid. People who believe in God believe that the unborn child is a gift from God with equal rights to what we have. Popular atheist Christopher Hitchens, who passed away last December, believed that the unborn child was a human being too, and he wasn't too fond of abortion. In fact there are many atheist who consider abortion murder. It’s not a matter of how you believe the human race exists; it’s simply a matter of acknowledging that the unborn child as a human being. 

Here are seven questions I ask Pro-Choice advocates. Just let your own morals guide you.

1. If Abortion is ok and the unborn child isn’t human why do you not call it Pro-Abortion?

My Guess: Maybe, just maybe it’s a propaganda term, just like the “Support our Troops” term that war hawks have imposed on us. It’s made to turn the issue into something it’s not. No one would support a war if the term was “Pro-War”, “Pro-Destruction”, “Pro-Oil” or “Pro-Death”.

2. When your wife/relative/friend first tells you they’re pregnant, what is your reaction to that?

3. What is your reaction to a sonogram of a child?

4. What is your reaction to a man beating a woman?

5. Would your opinion of the man for question #4 be the same or worse if the woman he beat was pregnant?

6. If the woman from question #5 lost her child because of this beating would your opinion of this man be still the same or worse?

7. If a woman who was just 4 weeks pregnant was getting kicked in the stomach how would you react to that?

This idea that the life and right to existence of the unborn is at the mercy and convenience of their mother is wrong. The child is not part of the mother’s body. The mother is occupying the child, and while that may be a difficult and daunting task we have to ask ourselves what is more important? Abortions shouldn't be happening at the alarming rate that they're happening today.

Unless someone can prove to me that the unborn are not a human beings in moral terms, scientific terms and philosophical terms then being pro-choice is nothing short of a massive practice of narcissism. To hear a liberal argue that the mother has the right to “terminate her pregnancy” is everything must of narcissistic behavior.

I will not and cannot accept the horrific argument that abortion is okay because every child that is born has to be loved by the mother. It’s narcissistic to say that your right to life is not granted if your mother doesn't love or want you. It’s simply wrong. Even when I was pro-Choice I found that argument to be cruel and venomous.

If there is a common goal both sides should have is that the amount of abortions needs to be drastically reduced. That means we have to reduce pregnancies and also irresponsible behavior. I’m pro-life because the unborn are human and their only voice is that of the Pro-Life movement.