One of the big problems is that being pro-life is that many people see this as the province of the 'religious nut'when in reality it is the place of people who have a regard for an ethically and morally-competent world. many of the people I encounter regarding this issue are so taken up with the 'nutters' that they don't see their own duplicity. Mind you, some of the nutters really don't help their case or garner any support for their position either!
Being pro-life has a number of facets to it and whilst everyone appears to assume that it's all about abortion, this is not the case for there are also a great many concerns about euthanasia, eugenics, contraceptive practice (with respect to 'morning after' pills) and more besides.
Like some of the other contentious issues Christians find themselves engaged in, this is an area which can be academic or moral for some but be about one person, themselves, for another and so compassion and honesty are the hallmarks of engagement in the pro-life arena. Sensationalism and shock do nothing here other than leave Christians looking cruel and foolish, and this is not what Christ looks like and so neither should we!
The national director of SPUC spoke well last night, outlining some of the values and some of the hypocrisy surrounding this issue and it looks like Tamworth might very soon have itself a SPUC group of its own as a result. This group of people, Christians and otherwise, may well be a voice for reason and a voice of dialogue for those who perhaps see only a small part of the issue. Let's pray that this is the case.
As a starter, here's a piece from a CofE briefing document:
The Church of England combines strong opposition to abortion with a recognition that there can be - strictly limited - conditions under which it may be morally preferable to any available alternative.
And this is just the start . . .
Pax
3 comments:
Vic the Vicar
This is spot on. I think one of the problems around this subject is that (as with ‘charity’) some Christians believe they have a ‘special’ voice and that the rest of society doesn’t understand the issues. This is not true – there are non-believers who hold strong anti-abortion views.
Similarly, emotive language, coupled with ‘we know best’ doesn’t help the matter. What disappears are the actual issues of the debate. A further problem is that there are far too many men thinking they know best, on this topic. This is not unlike the issue around celibacy and homosexuality. Married with children clerics and laity wanting to impose a burden on others they may not be able to carry themselves doesn’t do much to foster a useful dialogue. Likewise, middle-class men, who don’t have to worry about pregnancy, don’t do much to win ‘hearts and minds’ of the wider female population.
The real problem, of course, is that abortion brings us into the area of social policy vs. Christian values. Alas, the real answer to reducing the number of abortions appears to be a thorough sex education and ease of access to contraception. It is ironic that one of the countries with the lowest abortion rate in Western Europe is The Netherlands – with its low age of consent, toleration of prostitution, a tolerant attitude to sexuality and its variants in general, progressive and detailed sex education in schools and easily available contraception (several of the other overtly secular, liberal democracies of northern Europe follow closely behind Holland in the abortion stakes). It is also a country that has low rates of teenage pregnancy, a much lower divorce rate and a higher average when teenagers first have sex when compared to Britain (in fact, The Netherlands and Scandinavian countries, although having VERY low church attendance, all score better on these ‘social problems’ in addition to having far less violent crime and murder and much greater social cohesion, social equality and collective responsibility and a better quality of life than in the UK – and far, far fewer social problems than the US with church attendance at 50% and a rabid anti-abortion league!).
Hence there has to be some synthesis of a way forward that isn’t moralising from a purely Christian perspective – tho’ as ‘moralising’ is often seen as the way Christians have a social platform, it is difficult to know what to do. How many ‘anti-abortion’ Christians are going to put their neck on the line and campaign for better sex education and more tolerant and open attitude to sex and sexuality? Empirically the latter seems to be what really works when it comes to lower the abortion rate, while at the same time allowing safe abortions in certain circumstances.
Emm a difficult one!
Regards:
S.
I have never known a man who wasn't against abortion....except, of course, when his girlfriend of the moment was pregnant, or when an inconvenient extra child was to be added to his family. It is hard for me not to feel strongly that the only men who should even be allowed to speak about this topic are men who have been celibate all their lives, or man who have taken the responsibility of the birth control on themselves every time they had sex.
I think the idea of abortion as a method of birth control is abhorrent. But I somehow don't have the proper righteous answer to the woman who has been raped, the woman who is pregnant as a victim of incest, or the woman whose ultrasound shows that she is giving birth to a monster who will live briefly in terrible pain at great expense and then die.
Interestingly, I have known far more women than men holding a pro-life viewpoint and yet, when the topic of abortion was a reality for them, it was often the men who were less inclined towards it.
When used as a convenient form of birth control (convenient for all except of course the baby!) or to cover up adulterous or unmarried sex I see both male and female equally balanced, but it's the women who later have the emotional and psychological problems. The men usually walk away and engage in new relationships (if unmarried or adulterous) and if not, in my experience, also feel the pain of the loss.
The reality is that every sexual encounter has the potential for a new life but there are times when there are circumstances which cause us to think hard about the situation before us.
Thanks for the comments,
Pax
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