3. The Pro-Life Position Feels Disingenuous to Many People.
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I’m not the only one who is frustrated with, and even a little bit exhausted by, the “Pro life” versus “Pro Choice” debate. I’ve spent a good deal of time trying to wade through all of the issues, and why I feel how I do about it. And I’ve arrived at three reasons I find the whole dialogue – if you can call it that – terribly wanting.
1. The Debate is Inherently (and Ironically) Dehumanizing. Like many debates about important social issues, passions get easily enflamed and rhetoric grows harsh as people establish their lines of defense and entrench themselves in their respective camps. More often than not, the argument seems to be reduced to politics, talking points and shouting down the other side. But in fact, at the hearts of it all is not an issue; we’re talking about people’s lives. And while we’re protesting, debating and fighting about who is right and wrong, we expend time, energy and resources that could be directed both to the very people in need, as well as the much more deeply embedded and complex systemic problems in our society that lead to the needs in the first place.
Don’t get me wrong; there is a time and a place for reasoned, respectful debate. But unless you’ve tuned into a reality I’ve missed, there is little reason or respect in the shouting matches that result. If we truly care about the lives we’re fighting so hard for (born or unborn), it seems that we should first be willing to honor and hold precious the lives of those who disagree with us, however passionately.
2. “Pro-Life” and “Pro Choice” Doesn’t Represent Most People. Like many two-sided fights, it ends up feeling like there are only two choices, and we have to pick one or the other to affiliate ourselves with. But most Americans actually don’t identify with either label. So many of us end up feeling like we’re on the outside looking in on a debate that doesn’t include us in the conversation if there even is an actual back-and-forth conversation. Most of us identify with something from both sides, or aren’t even sure how we feel or what we believe. But with so much vitriol surrounding the subject, it feels like there are few, if any, safe spaces in which to actually talk about it without being attacked or judged.
3. The Pro-Life Position Feels Disingenuous to Many People. It’s generally assumed that the Pro-Life position is owned and driven primarily by Christians. And while this may be true, the standard pro-life agenda does not represent the belief of all Christians. In fact, there are some faith leaders within Christianity who vocally and openly criticize what they see as the problems with the arguments made on behalf of a pro-life position based on ones faith. One example is author, and activist Shane Claiborne, who identifies as pro-life, but without the anger, clinic bombings and shouting. In his own, even-keeled way, he suggests that one can’t call themselves pro-life without also being equally activist about matters like ending the death penalty, reducing the proliferation of guns in our culture, environmental stewardship, and so on.
Then there’s Sister Joan Chittister, O.S.B., who encapsulates her problem with the pro-life position in the following quote:
“I do not believe that just because you’re opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed. And why would I think that you don’t? Because you don’t want any tax money to go there. That’s not pro-life. That’s pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is.”
To work diligently for what one believes is right should be admired. But when we do so in a way that appears to be hypocritical, myopic, self-serving or tone deaf to the needs or experiences of others is to suggest to the rest of the world that winning is, in fact, the most important thing. And as such, don’t be surprised when the lion’s share of other people stop paying attention.
Because while you’re fighting so hard to win, so many others end up losing.
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This article originally appeared on Patheos.
Photo credit: Getty Images
I’ve often thought much the same thing about the abortion debate. That it becomes women’s rights vs. the Christian Right, and neither serves to describe the majority of people’s sober thoughts and feelings on the subject. If any progress and/or consensus is to be achieved, each side needs to answer to the legitimate concerns of the other. Does the Left acknowledge that there is a legitimate sacredness to a human life? If a couple gets pregnant and are excited about becoming parents, aren’t they reasonably devastated if they DO lose their fetus? Why, if there’s no sacredness to its life?..… Read more »
By that reasoning few are fully pro choice too. You can’t be pro choice if you believe that circumcising a non-consenting infant is OK. You can’t be pro-choice if you don’t oppose the draft. You can’t be pro choice without demanding that a father consent prior to his parental rights being terminated and his child being placed for adoption. Currently he doesn’t need to consent simply not oppose. You’re not pro choice if you believe that a woman can rape a man and should be able to force him to be a father against his will (ie he can’t compel… Read more »
Your approach is remarkable reasonable considering the subject matter. And I believe you are right about point #3. Many people have do have the perception of “Pro-life” as you describe. And in some cases that perception is probably accurate. What I find disturbing is when people claim abortion is about women’s rights. While yes, a woman’s rights are affected by a pregnancy and possible abortion, she is not alone. There are two other parties involved in the equation. A man and another life progressing through fetal stages all the way to neonate. (We uses terms to describe stage of development,… Read more »
This is so b.s.
The ghouls of Planned Parenthood, admitting they are profiting from abortion, are most assuredly “pro-abortion”.