A decision was reached in the Supreme Court 31 years ago today that sparked a debate over the definition of "life" and a woman's right to give it or take it away. This debate still rages, as thousands of anti-abortion demonstrators march down the streets of Washington, D.C. this afternoon. In April the streets of D.C. will again be crowded because of the controversy surrounding abortion, but this time the demonstrators will be in support of it.
You have heard the different sides. Anti-abortion individuals believe abortion is wrong. Abortion rights supporters believe it is right. Sounds simple, right? There should be no gray area, or at least that's what I believed a few years ago. Growing up in my private, Catholic high school, it was easy to believe that people who supported abortion were the "bad guys" because they killed babies. That was before I came to college, before I met people whom I admired and respected and later learned to be abortion rights supporters. Where were their fangs? Shouldn't they be cruel, cold-blooded baby-killers?
No. They were intellectual, caring people whom, for some reason I could not fathom, supported a woman's right to end the life of her unborn child. So I decided to do what I had never done in years past: Listen.
The arguments I heard were as passionate as the ones I had come to list under "my side", or the anti-abortion perspective.
Women have a long history of fighting for equality and rights that continues even now. Making abortion illegal would give the government the power to tell a woman that if she is pregnant, she must carry her baby to full term. In other words, the government would have some control over a woman's body, though I believe at this point a woman's body is no longer only her own, for she carries another life inside of her.
It is also true that in areas of the world where women do not have the option of going to an abortion clinic, they could end not only their unborn child's life, but their life as well, in an attempt to perform one on themselves. This is a very real danger.
Andrea Prestinario, a feminist and abortion rights student, said "Legal or not, abortions will always happen. I think it is important to not be reactionary about ending a life but rather to be realistic that abortions will always occur."
With this view, if abortions will always occur, why not make them safe so women do not die alongside their unwanted children?
Though I can respect all of these arguments, I still do not believe them to be enough. Our world is still mourning the loss of over 40 million children, and millions of women suffer from the severe emotional and physical damage that comes with surviving abortion.
Though it is possible that what some abortion advocates say is true, that there will always be abortions, I refuse to give up hope that one day, all life will be valued and nurtured. Many people say that there will never be peace in our world. Does that mean we should give up trying? Should we let President Bush sign us up for another destructive, unnecessary war because, well, peace was never going to happen anyway?
Gray areas aside, our world is experiencing a decrease in the value of life. I have no conclusion for this problem. All I can hope to do is what a wise friend of mine reminded me of today: "Work from love and see what happens." Anyone who believes what they are doing stems from that creed has my respect.
Write to Carla at caaldermann@bsu.edu
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