Monday, July 15, 2013

A Chain-Smoking Pregnant Woman vs Abortion: Which is Morally Reprehensible?


I want to write briefly on something I was pondering recently on abortionI want to address the fickle and subjective use of logic happening regarding abortion. Inevitably there will be someone who reads this and wants to immediately dismiss my argument because they will reference the very very very few abortions that happen to save the life of the mother. I am not arguing against that. I am addressing the abortions (which are the majority) in which only the child's life is in danger, because it has a mother and/or a father that does not want them, and does not want the responsibility of caring for them. This is about the inconsistent logic that continues to be displayed in our culture regarding abortion.

It is universally accepted that a pregnant woman who smokes cigarettes, abuses alcohol, or shoots up heroine is doing a morally reprehensible thing. It disgusts us that a woman carrying a child would do such things. I have never heard anyone excuse these behaviors as acceptable. 

However, I have some questions, particularly those in the pro-choice camp:

**shouldn't it be the woman's right to choose what kind of healthcare she provides herself?
**isn't it a woman's right to do whatever she wants, after all, it is her body?
**on what grounds would we argue that her actions (wild partying) are morally reprehensible? 

I hope you get the gist of my questions? These are the same questions asked by those who want to justify abortion. But doesn't the woman who may be abusing different substances while pregnant have the same case to make as the woman going to the abortion clinic? Instead of having rights over her body, the pregnant drug abuser, chain-smoker, or alcoholic is looked at as a monster. 

Now don't get me wrong, I believe it is absolutely morally reprehensible for a pregnant woman to be on drugs or alcohol while pregnant, but I also believe it is just as indefensible for her to walk down to the abortion clinic. It appears the logic of many in our culture is that a pregnant woman smoking crack, cigarettes, or getting drunk regularly is morally despicable, but a woman going to the abortion clinic is exercising her choice (rights). What is despicable is our vile logic. 

It is time for us to wake up to the gross inconsistencies of our culture. 

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