bodhigirlsmiles gets my :first: POTD today, for this post:
Very, very well stated! And, from reading it, I have to say that, in this case, I agree with you.
i want to take a few moments and share my views on abortion.
please know that nothing that i say here will be new, or particularly groundbreaking, but i would like the world at large to know how i feel.
from as early as i can place credence on thought and memory, i have been instructed by my (buddhist) parents that abortion is among the greatest evils in the world. to take the life of an unborn child is to deny the first precept.
life is sacred.
unborn children are life.
to abort a child is to destroy the sanctity of life.
and now that i am older and am able to think for myself and, hopefully, put logical and cogent thoughts together, i have come to believe this more than ever before.
to commit the act of abortion it is to spit in the face of moral reason and to rape the essence of what it means to be human.
i believe with all my heart that human beings have unique and incomparable value in this world. the burden of proof should always be on the one taking a human life and the benefit of doubt should always be given to the human life.
at the very limnus of conception, a person is created. this person is endowed with extraordinary potential! what if george washington or benjamin franklin or alexander fleming had been aborted? this precious child who lives under our care within the womb may very well change the world in which we live. how can we deny their ultimate potential?!
there are precious few, i'm willing to bet, that heartily wish that their own mother had made the decision to abort them.
this is not to say that human life should never be taken. unfortunately, we live in a fallen, cruel, and unfair world. sometimes life-taking is necessary. cases include self-defense, the prosecution of a just war, and capital punishment. and yet, all unnecessary and intentional life-taking is murder, a deeply evil and repugnant offense against humanity itself.
abortion always takes a human life intentionally and gratuitously and is, therefore, morally unjustified, deeply evil, and reprehensible. no real argument that i have ever heard can be brought against the claim that what creates a human pregnancy (a fetus) is a human being.
biologically, an entity joins its parents’ species at conception. like produces like: birds procreate birds, rabbits procreate rabbits, and humans procreate humans. if the fetus is not human, what else could it possibly be? could it be an bird or a rabbit? of course not.
a great many people have tried to drive an unfortunate wedge between personhood and humanity. that is, all persons are not human, and not all humans are persons (fetuses or those who lose certain functions after having possessed them).
the fetus as a person in progress, not a potential person or nonperson.
when we cross the terrible threshold that separates personhood from humanity, we make personhood an achievement based on the possession of certain qualities.
whether athiest, buddhist, liberal-minded christian, or other.....who are we to say just what qualities make for membership in the moral community of persons? the stakes are very high in this question. if we are wrong in our identification of what qualities are sufficient for personhood, and we then allow that person to be killed, we have allowed the wrongful killing of nothing less than a person. the very best ontology is to regard personhood as a substance or essence that is given at conception.
and then there is the argument that outside considerations experienced by the mother should overrule the value of the human embryo. these considerations always involve issues of lesser moral weight than the conservation and protection of a human life. of course an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy is very difficult for the mother in question, but the answer is not to kill a human being! there are so many qualified and deserving would-be parents who would love dearly to be blessed with a child in their lives. a child that, perhaps, they are unable to create by their own means. a baby can be put up for adoption.
i take it to be an item of natural law (what can be known about morality by virtue of being a human being) that human life has unique value. why cannot people see this? i literally weep as i type this over the loss of human existence!
and from a legal standpoint?? anti-abortion laws are not an intrusion of the state into the family any more than laws against murdering one’s parents are intrusions into the family.
i am not pro-life because i hate women. i love women, and i love being a woman. in fact, i am pro-life because i am sick of getting the shaft that many men are giving to women with regards to abortion.
what is wrong with giving life the sanctity it deserves? what is wrong with supporting a woman who chooses life; a woman who chooses to be a mother, the greatest calling a person can realize in this life?
our very thoughts, emotions, feelings, wants, desires, wishes, anxieties, moods drive us into states of imbalance with regard to mental equanimity. taking the life of an unborn child is stealing. it is stealing from the very sacred nature of life.
to participate in any aspect of an abortion is to enslave yourself in the chains of despair and ultimate destruction.
i remain fully convinced that those who engage in the act of abortion in any degree will come to regret their actions. please, please do not put yourself in that position. for once it is done, it is ultimately too late.
many of you know me on here to one degree or another, and as such you know that i am one who constantly strives to make peace with all i know. i truly desire for everyone to be happy and enjoy this wonderful thing we call life. we are all on this journey together through the wilderness of unknowability, and i greatly value your kindnesses and amiability. as a friend, i urge you to carefully consider your feelings on this matter.
Very, very well stated! And, from reading it, I have to say that, in this case, I agree with you.
