It seems that I am going to have to address the abortion issue for a variety of reasons. But I can’t address it without telling you a little bit about me. There is a lot of paranoia going around about people with secret agendas.
No one pays me to blog, and I don’t make enough money doing this to support myself. Not even close. I would never accept money from anyone if that money came with any strings attached whatsoever. If I ever am offered and accept money I will prominently disclose that fact, whom is giving it to me, and how you can research whatever group or organization is involved.
:::flip:::
My first love is philosophy. Politics is a more of an illness. I try not to bore people with philosophical discussions, although we occasionally have very good ones.
As a philosopher first and and a political strategist second, I don’t engage in framing. I don’t always make sure to use anti-abortion instead of pro-life, I don’t take talking points from other bloggers about ‘message’.
I also have a partly naive and partly idealistic faith in the value of debate, and the power of logic to persuade people of good faith. Most political consultants have abandoned that faith and are more interested in sustaining outrage and passion than they are in making solid well thought out arguments.
When someone like Tom posts a diary stating that abortion is morally wrong, my interest is not to purge someone who may be pursuing some nefarious agenda. My interest is to debate him with respect, and see if I can back up my beliefs with reason.
My view on abortion is that it is a moral issue that defies resolution through logical argument. I’m not talking about the legality of abortion, I’m talking about the morality of having an abortion. If you have been reading my posts you may be confused about where I stand. I told Tom his argument was obtuse, I told Madman his argument was simplistic, I told Sirocco his argument wasn’t convincing, I told Parker her argument was making me angry.
In order to pass judgment on an act, that act must be made without coercion and with free will. A girl who risks being beaten or worse if she allows her parents to find out she is pregnant can not be judged for having an abortion to protect herself. A woman whose doctor tells her that it is medically risky to give birth cannot be judged for having an abortion to protect her health.
But a woman that chooses to have an abortion in the absence of such clear-cut examples, can be judged, just like any other act of free will can be judged.
Saying that a woman can be judged is different from saying that a woman should be judged. That is a critically important distinction. And to explain it, I need to talk about the concept of mitigation.
If a woman has no responsibility for becoming pregnant because she did not consent, or want to consent, to the act of procreation, then the mitigating factor is nearly complete. Some people, like Tom, don’t think this is fully mitigating because they don’t think the fetus should be punished for the sins of others. However, there is a near consensus that a woman should not be compelled to carry a baby she has no responsibility for bringing into existence.
There is also a near consensus that acts of incest should be fully mitigating, because most acts are coerced and because of the stigma and increased medical risks for incestuous pregnancies.
Once we leave the realm of coercion and medical necessity, we begin to lose any sense of consensus. I cannot resolve these issues philosophically, or rationally. I can only resolve them pragmatically, and with reference to the values of compassion, forgiveness, and humility.
Some people think abortion is wrong in all cases. I very strongly disagree because of the obvious mitigating factors I spelled out above. Some people think it is only wrong in the absence of such mitigating factors. But there are always mitigating factors to one degree or another. Such factors include emotional maturity, financial status, opportunity costs (like losing the ability to go to college or pursue a career), the stigma of single parenthood, possible substance abuse problems, the makeup of the father, the willingness of the father to be supportive or be a parent to the child, the discomfort of pregnancy and childbirth, etc.
Everything I have been writing about has been in the context of the morality of the act of abortion and not about the legality of having an abortion. The legality is a very different issue. Any attempt to make abortion illegal is going to, by definition, fail to take into account all these mitigating factors (rape, incest, and the health of the mother usually excepted).
Restricting ourselves to the morality of abortion, most people think there is some question about it. There are not that many people that think it would be morally acceptable for a healthy, wealthy, happily married couple that has children to use no protection and have abortions whenever they get pregnant. The reason is, there are so few potential mitigating factors. In the absence of any mitigating factors, i.e. in an ideal world, most people see abortion as morally problematic.
But the world is not ideal. And that is where the principles of compassion, forgiveness, and humility come into play. Accidents happen. People make mistakes, they act impulsively without thinking through the potential consequences of their actions. You do it, and I do it. A little humility goes a long way when it comes to judging other people’s failings or misfortunes. With a little humility, comes a lot of forgiveness and understanding. We don’t have to give up judging other people’s actions entirely, but we should be humble enough not to get sanctimonious, we should be willing to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes and say ‘there but for the grace of God, go I’. We should have compassion for people that find themselves in bad or impossible situations. We should be willing to forgive other people for (most of) their transgressions. So, for me personally, I might disapprove of someone who does not want to get pregnant having unprotected sex. But I also remember that I have done it myself. I disapprove of my own behavior but I have forgiven myself. I should be willing to do no less for others.
I think the reason these debates get so heated is that people cannot separate the legal issue from the moral issue. After all, the right-wing is waging a legal assault as well as a moral assault. If they conflate the two, we can hardly be blamed for responding in kind. But they are two separate issues.
Tom suggested that we can put an end to abortion without criminalizing it. We cant. We can decrease the frequency of abortions, but we can’t put an end to them.
Some people feel that anyone who makes a moral case against abortion is just carrying water for those that want to criminalize it. But that is not fair. People have a right to feel something is morally wrong without thinking it should be illegal. At the same time, people that express the opinion that abortion is morally wrong without taking full due consideration of the numerous mitigating factors that most often lead to an abortion, are at grave risk of hurting the feelings or even offending people that have had to make that choice. Or even of people that think they should be free to make that choice without being exposed to moral condemnation.
I know I cannot avoid angering some people by writing this because that is the nature of the debate. What I want to make clear is that the Democratic Party should stand for safe and legal abortions as spelled out in Roe. It should stand for making sure the procedure is readily available across the country by qualified doctors. But at the same time, the party should be willing to host those, like Tom, who feel abortion is morally wrong. That was John Kerry’s position, and it is everyone’s right to hold such a position.
One last thought: I wish people would focus more on promiscuous men, men that use their positions of power to coerce sex, dead-beat dads, men that commit child abuse, and so on. The issue of the morality of abortion is not an issue exclusively about the women. It takes two to tango.
And I wish we could work on sex eduction, make contraceptives available, improve adoption services and other family services, find ways to make single motherhood more affordable and provide support, counseling, day care, and job training.
