Abortion requires less ideology and more thoughtfulness

Reverend Harry Rix
Posted 4/22/15

By REVEREND HARRY RIX

Regarding abortion, gay rights

and contraception: “It is not

necessary to talk about

these issues all the time.”

Pope Francis

 

I have written over …

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Abortion requires less ideology and more thoughtfulness

Posted

By REVEREND HARRY RIX

Regarding abortion, gay rights

and contraception: “It is not

necessary to talk about

these issues all the time.”

Pope Francis

 

I have written over 300 articles, but abortion is the only major moral topic I have intentionally avoided. Views are so polarized, I felt nothing I could write would make a difference. I have changed my mind. 

In the late 1970s I attended a conference in which Dr. C. Everett Coop, soon appointed President Reagan’s Surgeon General, advocated the banning of abortion. The movement was still in its infancy: Some conservatives disagreed with this position.  

An extraordinary level of passion at the conference swept this young Christian into the cause. I even asked how to persuade others. 

Seven years later, I am pastoring my first church. “Rob,” a 19-year-old deacon’s son, and his girlfriend, “Kathy,” have a major disagreement. Kathy wants an abortion. Rob is adamantly opposed. 

Rob asks me to talk with Kathy. She is already at the hospital with an abortion scheduled the next day. I plan to ask about her thoughts and feelings about this abortion. Having had extensive clinical training as a pastoral counselor, I intend to listen and express care as we discuss this life-altering decision. 

I enter the hospital room. Immediately, Kathy expresses the trauma she is experiencing – not because of the impending surgery, but because Rob invited another pastor who pompously declared she is killing her baby. Reacting to this authoritarian pronouncement, Kathy is unable to discuss the abortion. 

Ironically, this fundamentalist preacher has not only inflicted terror on this young woman, he has also destroyed any chance of connecting with Kathy in a trusting way that could have helped her envision the possibility of a fulfilling life with her baby.  

My position on abortion has evolved over the last 25 years. I oppose extremists on both sides of this issue.  

Consider the currently divided Republican caucus. Should they include an exception for rape in a bill to ban abortion after 20 weeks? This amendment was introduced in January because two senatorial candidates lost elections after making controversial statements about abortions involving rape. Republican women in Congress objected to the bill and it was withdrawn.

In August 2012, Todd Aiken claimed pregnancy from rape is rare: “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” Two months later, Richard Mourdock’s absolutist position attributes approval of rape to the Almighty: “I think that even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.”

Virtually all opposition to abortion, including the above statements, comes from the religious right. Their position is that the fetus is a person so, even when raped, the woman must give birth. 

I would remind the ardent anti-abortionist there is no biblical text declaring a fetus is a person from conception. Imagine a fire blazing and a mom and dad must quickly choose between saving their one-year-old baby or, awaiting implantation, a few cells of their newly conceived zygote in a petri dish. Surely the choice is easy. 

It is important to note the church has debated the time of “ensoulment” for two millennia. This issue is complex. To this day, Christians disagree.

To the fervent pro-choice advocate, I would say that, while abortion must be safe and legal, it should also be carefully considered. Sometimes, especially when the mother or baby face horrendous health consequences, a safe abortion is a godsend. In other cases, abortion may be a self-absorbed reaction to fears requiring thoughtful examination. 

Of course it’s the woman’s final decision. Of course she should, if possible, talk openly with the potential father and be receptive to his thoughts and feelings. Of course the woman should be free to consult her doctor and pastor – but not have the government interfere. 

Abortion is always tragic and never easy.

 Rev. Harry Rix has 30 articles on spirituality and ethics and 1,000 quotations for reflection available at www.quoflections.org. ©2014 Harry Rix.

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