The Pro-Life Hypocrisy

I was driving behind a car the other day when I noticed something very peculiar about it. It had a bumper sticker that said "Smile, Your mother chose life". Generally I would not pay much attention to this, but the hypocrisy of the statement just struck a chord. In order for my mother to chose life, she had to be able to make a choice, something the Pro-Life movement seems to forget.

When people ask me which side of this debate I'm on, I always give the same answer; "it depends". As I see it, when you are talking about something so loaded as abortion, being over simplistic as to think that one answer fits all situations is idiotic and irresponsible. I will explain my answer.

- I do not agree with abortion as a form of birth control whereby the pregnancy came about through the parents irresponsibility. If you got drunk, forgot the condom and got pregnant, deal with it. You knew this was a possibility before you had sex.

- Along the same line, I disagree with abortion when the reason for it is "it will interfere with my career/school/life/plans". Again, you should have take this into account before having sex.

Now, before my conservative friends start cheering, there are situations when I do agree with abortion:

- When a woman has been raped. The last thing she needs is to spend the rest of her life being reminded of it and the child does not need to grow up being resented by his mother and without a father. It's funny that the same people that want a single woman to raise the child of a rapist on their own are the ones that are against gay adoption because "a child needs parents from both sexes" which implies having both parents present (more on this later).

- When there are SEVERE medical complications that threaten the life of the mother, the child or both. I am not including Down Syndrome or CF in this category. These conditions are compatible with life and are not a health risk for the mother.

There may be other situations where I may be in favor or against abortion, depending on what the case is. The most important thing here is this. It is about a choice.

Pro-Choice, as I understand it, is not in favor or against abortion. It is about HAVING THE CHOICE. I do agree that the choice must be limited, but this has to be taken on a case by case basis. Morality aside, there are the physical and medical aspects to be considered.

It would be interesting to see what would happen if the 14 year old daughter of a pro-lifer would get pregnant. Would this make them think differently? And what if that same child was told by the doctor that carrying the pregnancy to term would result in the death of both mother and child? Would her mother still be as passionately against abortion?

I guess you could say I am Pro-Choice. I believe that life is precious and worth living. I don't know when life begins or ends. Being a man, I will never go through this impossible situation.

I do know that our country is great because we have the ability to chose. Take that away and you might as well bow to a king. Yes, my mother chose life, but that's because she was able to chose.