I realize that this image is shocking, but reality is shocking sometimes. To be honest, there were far more shocking ones, this was one of the least shocking ones… that says a lot, doesn’t it?.
For as long as I can remember, I have supported pro-choice movements. The support mostly based on the Idea that the government has, in general, no right – or at least should have no right – to tell people what to do to their own bodies. One of the mottos of the women movement in the Netherlands was ‘boss in one’s own belly’, a phrase that says it all.
However, I have to admit that the last, say, year or 1.5, I am doubting, or re-considering, my earlier opinion. Especially, regarding ‘later’ abortions (say 20 weeks or so). Why? Well, ‘boss in one’s own belly’ is a catchy phrase but doesn’t the situation change when it results in the deaths of innocents?
The main question is obviously, when is a ‘creature’ a human being? After 40 weeks of pregnancy? Before that? If so, when? Babies can be born healthy weeks before the theoretical end of the pregnancy. To deny the ‘humanity’ of them appears to be ridiculous. So when then? Before the baby is full-grown? Before it is able to get by on it’s own? Isn’t this extremely cold? And what about others that cannot live without outside support (coma patients)?
Besides that, what’s a ‘human’? Does a human need to be full-grown, or is the essence of a human (DNA) it that decides whether one is a human or not? 15 weeks old ‘potential humans’, obviously, already have (ARE) that essence. No?
My theory has long been that it is not the killing of a human, but of a potential human being. The birth of my niece, however, changed that somewhat. When my sister was pregnant the hospital showed her, her daughter. Moving. They received a video of it and when I watched it, all I thought was “that’s my niece. My sister’s daughter. How wonderful. Welcome to the family”. I did not think about her as a ‘potential human being’. She already was my niece.
Assuming that it is not a human being, is it less bad to kill a ‘potential human being’ than a full-grown one? Who decides that? When I think abou t it, I think that both acts are, generally (exceptions like rape, incest, etc.), detestable.
I do not intend to write a full-blown post about this issue right now. I will do so another time, not when I am as confused about it as I am now. The purpose of this post is simply to share these doubts and, by doing so, I hope to receive some input from all of you. What do you all think of abortion? Do some of you have the same doubts I have?
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