Hot Topic: Abortion

Scrolling through my Tumblr dashboard as per usual, I noticed a lot of text posts regarding a certain Wendy Davis from Texas. I ignored it, but from what I gathered, she did something pretty heroic. After more text posts, I finally Googled what the fuck was going on. Apparently, Texas was trying to pass an abortion bill that would make abortion past 20 weeks illegal. Wendy Davis held a 13-hour filibuster until midnight where the bill would be put on standby for the next two years. There was a big commotion because the bill was passed after midnight and Texans were outraged and the entire country was appalled as the Texas senates literally broke their own laws in front of thousands of livestreamers. On the same day, Australia had a new prime minister. But no one gives two shits about Australia when the state of Texas is in awry. Poor Australia. I feel you. Anyway, If you want to know more about the abortion bill (spoiler alert: it didn’t pass), Google the entire story.

Let’s get to it:

 

So I’ve been dead against abortion (pun unintended) throughout high school, mainly because I was naïve and my reason was either “well, you gotta live with the consequences!” and “don’t have sex in the first place!” the latter, in retrospect, made me sound like an ingenuous little Catholic schoolgirl who doesn’t know the difference between sex and an ice cube. That same reason was used as an actual rebuttal by my two 18-year old Christian friends when I brought this topic up during a Skype conference. I replied with, “What the fuck are you smoking? Abstinence doesn’t work! Just look around!” Yes, if you’re wondering, I do have deep intense Skype conferences about the world and religion. I find it necessary to confer with someone (always those I deem smarter than myself) about important topics.  

But since last year, I became pro-choice. Or whatever. Maybe I shouldn’t label it. I don’t necessarily condone abortion, but I certainly understand why women do it. If, god forbid, a good friend of mine got knocked up, well first I would hunt the father down and make sure he wasn’t a complete dickhead about it, and then I’d talk her through the options. If she wants to keep it because of her religious beliefs then I will be with her all the way, and I will respect that decision because wow good job sweetheart (although if she was religious enough to not kill it shouldn't she be religious enough to keep her legs shut? Just wondering). If she chooses to terminate the fetus at an early stage, then I would be pretty much all right with that. After all, I’m in no position to force her to do otherwise, and it is her body, her life and her womb after all. But apparently, this is not how a friend sees it. He is a devout Christian and I applaud him for that because most of my friends are far from it. Most of my friends, I swear, are spawns of Satan and I mean that in the most endearing way possible. 

Anyway, our conversation turned into a very heated debate where if we were doing it face to face, I bet you that tables would have been flipped and he would have punched me at least twice in the face and I would have kicked him in the balls once. His view is that it is morally wrong to kill or murder another human being, because he’s one of those ‘life begins at conception!’ people and we are in no position to devalue a creation that is God’s own blood and sweat (I’m paraphrasing here but you get my drift).  

So I gave him this text post I found on Tumblr:

Here’s a test:
I’m holding a baby in one hand and a petri dish holding an embryo in the other.
I’m going to drop one. You chose which.
If you really truly believe an embryo is the same thing as a baby, it should be impossible for you to decide. You should have to flip a coin, that’s how impossible the decision should be.
Shot in the dark, you saved the baby.
Because you’re aware there’s a difference. 

I read it and thought, “yeah this will show him!” and I thought I made my point. But then he responded with ‘no, I see them as equal, if I need to flip a coin, then I will.’ And if I was in an Asian comic book, I would have three red vertical lines down my eyes, a giant sweat drop on my forehead, and in the next frame you can only see my legs as I have fallen down from extreme affliction. After awhile, we both realize that we’re both too hardheaded and that we should just agree to disagree.

You see, I would drop the embryo. Raise your hand if you would. The embryo might have the scientific definition of ‘life’, but it is not yet a person who should be given the same rights as another living, breathing, thinking, laughing, working human being. And just because the government would probably not raise their hands, doesn't mean they can impose that value on people who believe differently.

A woman should never have to give birth and create another human being just because a couple of men in suits decided that it was law. A woman should not have to endure 9 months of physical discomfort, hating the child (because when the mother resents the child when pregnant, he/she will grow up psychologically hurt) and raising the child in a hostile environment just because she wasn’t allowed another alternative. What about giving it up for adoption? I hear you say from behind your computer screen as you tediously munch on your chocolate bar, listening to a dubstep remix. Well, my friend, that can be an option, but I have been to numerous orphanages for community service and they all live in a dump (granted, it was in the Jakarta area) with a bunch of other kids, who will probably never end up with a good and loving set of parents. If you want to give it up for adoption straight off the bat like in Juno, then be my guest, more power to you, and I will respect your decision. But that’s not always an option for everyone.

I want women to have the option of keeping it, and getting rid of it. And to get rid of the stigma behind getting an abortion. They think women have an abortion and they party it up the next day. No, it's taxing for them too, it's hard for them, and they'll have to deal with that thought forever. People always think about the fetus, well what about the mother? What about her future? What about the father of the fetus and his future? What about the mother’s life, the mother’s career, and so on? If the mother doesn’t think she can handle another human being, then give her the chance to not have it. Don’t tell someone how they should live their life. It’s not affecting you, it’s affecting her, so let her make her own decision as she goes through life her own way. Don’t agree with it? Don’t get an abortion. 

Then I hear someone yell “but it’s not right! It’s murder!” as they parade around with picket signs in front of a Planned Parenthood clinic telling unwilling pregnant women that "your baby has fingernails!" Well you think it is murder. That woman doesn’t think so. Now why should your opinion hinder her from doing what she thinks is best? Why should your bigoted decision impact how someone else lives their life? Abortion should be between the mother, the fetus and the father (and perhaps a divine entity, if you want to include God in it). Not some men in suits trying to decide what’s best for women everywhere.

There is a concept called body autonomy. It’s generally considered a human right. Bodily autonomy means a person has control over who or what uses their body, for what, and for how long. It’s why you can’t be forced to donate blood, tissue, or organs. Even if you are dead. Even if you’d save or improve 20 lives. It’s why someone can’t touch you, have sex with you, or use your body in any way without your continuous consent.

A fetus is using someone’s body parts. Therefore under bodily autonomy, it is there by permission, not by right. It needs a persons continuous consent. If they deny and withdraw their consent, the pregnant person has the right to remove them from that moment. A fetus is equal in this regard because if I need someone else’s body parts to live, they can also legally deny me their use.

By saying a fetus has a right to someone’s body parts until it’s born, despite the pregnant person’s wishes, you are doing two things:

1. Granting a fetus more rights to other people’s bodies than any born person.
2. Awarding a pregnant person fewer rights to their body than a corpse.