I’m a mother of seven, and a Catholic. I have a good understanding of arguments surrounding abortion, religious and otherwise. I’ve been listening to women grandstand about their reproductive rights, and I’m convinced these women actually have zero interest in helping other women nor provide real choice. Here’s why…
In case you are unfamiliar, the above paragraph is a parody of a popular recent post written by a Mormon mom of 6, purportedly to convince pro lifers that they have got it all wrong. As a self-proclaimed practicing Mormon (whom most people would assume was pro-life), she tries to convince pro life people that we simply misunderstand the situation.
The real discussion, she says, should be about “unwanted” pregnancies. Her theory, is that “unwanted” pregnancies are 100% always caused by men, therefore castration for causing “unwanted pregnancies” would be a good solution.
Pro choice people across the internet have latched onto this post as a way to educate their well-intentioned, but misguided friends. See, she’s Mormon, she even has six kids, and she gets it!
I am not representative of the entire Catholic Church, any more than she is representative of the entire Mormon Church, but I would like to attempt something almost bigger than formal communications between the Vatican and Salt Lake City.
Let’s have a real discussion about abortion
Her post includes one small sentence “For those of you who consider abortion to be murder…”
Yet that is why we’re out there at clinics. We don’t stand there in the snow and rain because we like it. We go because it is wrong to kill unborn children. I bold that section because that is, in fact, how the new CEO of Planned Parenthood referred to them (3:40 into the linked video).
Since 1973 the conversation has been forced away from the actual procedure, to emotional justifications for “choice”. Women across the country talk about their rights, about their choices, but never about the procedure itself.
Let’s have a true discussion of abortion. Not the ancillary issues, not the justifications, not the one-off cases. Let’s discuss abortion itself, with love, honesty, and compassion.
For years I was pro-choice. I went to marches. I avidly argued a woman’s right to choose. My belief in the right to abortion surpassed my belief in God. It was far more vital to human society to retain the right to abortion than to evangelize.
I later found out that almost a dozen of my friends had had abortions, yet not one had told me beforehand. “Why?” I asked one of them. “Simple. You would have tried to talk me out of it.” “What are you TALKING about???” I demanded. “In all your talk about women’s rights, I’ve never once heard you mention one situation in which you thought it was ok for someone to actually get an abortion. You defended their right, but never thought it was ok,” she replied. That just floored me. But I ignored it.
In college, while in debate society, I tried to participate in a debate on abortion and ran into an immediate problem. We couldn’t debate it. You can’t hold a debate until you agree on the topic. I wanted to debate rights; the other person wanted to debate death. Two different discussions. The great divide.
It wasn’t until my mid twenties, when I was considering entering the Catholic Church and was directly challenged “when do you think it’s ok for a woman to kill her child?” that I had to face the fact that I’d never asked myself that question.
Agree to the terms of discussion – Abortion itself
When you try to discuss abortion with anyone who calls themselves pro-choice, you immediately run into the euphemism problem.
The pro choice movement is dishonest with its own followers about their motivations, which leaves them unable to have a rational discussion about the topic. They change the topic to be about women’s rights in order to play on the emotions of their followers, while avoiding the topic of the maceration of infants sleeping in their mother’s wombs.
Telling everyone that mandating castration for men who cause unwanted pregnancies will just draw attention from the elephant in the room – abortion.
It will cause everyone to argue the minutiae of anatomy and unexpected pregnancies, rather than the real problem. The argument has been won because in actuality the argument has not begun.
Here is what we are discussing. This is Abortion.
Again. This is not a discussion about rights. If we’re really to discuss abortion. we will discuss the procedure itself. What you see in the video is the procedure.
Don’t like the fancy editing? The United States Congress considered Dr. Levatino (the creator of that video) enough of an expert to request his testimony. Here is the raw video from Congress.
This is immediately where most discussions end. I find that most people think abortion is only legal when the baby is “just a clump of cells”. They don’t want to face the facts that Roe v. Wade made it legal all three trimesters. Doe v Bolton made it legal for any reason. The day before its birth a baby can legally be aborted in our nation in some states.
It’s uncomfortable to discuss the procedure because, let’s face it, it’s horrific. When framed as a “right” or a matter of “choice”, it’s far easier to steer the conversation.
What happens at a Clinic
The Mormon mom’s article is written as if she thinks we’re standing out there wagging our fingers at hapless girls who “got knocked up.” Does she understand what abortion actually is?
Does she understand that the girls walking into that clinic are rarely demanding their rights?
Does she understand that many of them are dragged in there against their will? Pretty ironic to have “choice warriors” defending the practice.
Like the wife whose husband dragged her in yelling, “That ultrasound said it was a girl. I told her NO more girls.” Or the mother who dragged her daughter in there saying “I don’t want no f’kng n’ga grandbaby.” As the girl was bawling and clutching her stomach.
But it’s all about CHOICE right?
Choice is such a sad word to use. And such a lie. What goes on in that building is not a choice. It’s death. It’s a blood slurry of baby parts. A child safely nestled in its mother’s womb, often with heart beating, has its arms viciously torn off, then its legs. Then it gets chopped up small enough in-utero to be vacuumed out through a small tube.
Presenting this as an argument about unwanted pregnancy completely avoids the discussion of what happens to the child. Of course we should discuss unexpected pregnancies as a separate topic.
Just like “choice”.
For real, let’s talk about abortion. I challenge all “pro choice” readers of this article… watch either of the videos about the procedure. Really watch it. Tell me, in what circumstances is it ok to violently tear the arms and legs off a child?
In my next post, we’ll go ahead and talk about choice.
Fly in my coffee 