Feminism and abortion are two separate issues

Feminism and abortion are two separate issues

By Bess Hubbard

This letter is in response to Roxane Marquez’s Jan. 12 column,
"A continuing defense of reproductive freedom" and to Chris Ford’s
rebuttal, "Defense of ‘choice’ is just an excuse for murder."

The recent slayings of two workers at an abortion clinic seem to
be heating up the abortion issue in the media again. It is high
time I put in my 2 cents worth, especially since it seems to be the
only one of its kind.

To borrow from Ford, I must say I found both of their comments
"disturbing." Marquez’s comments are very distressing to me because
I support the defense of the right of unborn children to live.

The taking of the life of an unborn baby disturbs me. I must
also say that to some extent, I understand women’s vehemence in
clinging to abortion rights. A young woman, a teenage girl, with an
insensitive boyfriend, living in difficult circumstances, trying to
make a better life for herself ­ and suddenly finding herself
pregnant? That’s a situation with which anyone with a heart can
empathize.

No doubt the heart of this problem is the stubborn persistence
of the lack of universal appreciation of women in their many roles
in society ­ in careers and in motherhood ­ as being
equal in importance to the roles of men.

Women in only the last 30 or more years of human history have
finally begun to succeed in expanding their place in the world, and
are understandably afraid to even look like they could possibly
lose ground.

In my opinion, the "pro-choice" abortion rights movement has
become the rallying cry of women who believe that this "right"
represents everything women have gained for themselves.

I believe that women’s rights are at the root of the intensity
of this longstanding battle over the rights of the unborn. Abortion
rights have become the cornerstone of the feminist movement. The
right to abortion is the craggy precipice to which women
desperately cling when they feel their hard-won equality eroding
around them.

However, may I point out ­ and I emphasize this point
­ we are dealing here with two separate issues.

Also very distressing to me is Ford’s insensitive and
self-righteous tone. Calling a scared teenage girl a murderer,
giving her attitude and telling her that her perceptions are
"f—ed up" is more likely to keep her and the pro-abortion people
angry and more determined than ever to defend their beliefs.

In this vein, I would also like to point out that the age and
weight at which premature babies are surviving birth is decreasing,
and abortions are legal within these age and weight parameters.
Technology is forcing us to re-evaluate how we treat our own
species. What is a doctor to do with a fetus who survives an
abortion? Premature babies as small as two pounds survive.

We fellow "Lovers of the Human Race at All Stages of
Development" ought to be about the business of educating the public
intelligently and with total compassion for the fear and distress
of women (and men) who find themselves unexpectedly pregnant and
who fear for the consequences to their lives, and providing women
with real alternatives and health services.

Pro-lifers do serve the cause when they behave in a
self-righteous, callous and insensitive manner toward good people
who in a state of ignorance and out of great fear and distress
consider having an abortion. Inflammatory language and scare
tactics only heap the trauma of verbal abuse upon the trauma of
having an abortion.

I hope some of you out there can see through all the media hype
that not all (or even most) people who are pro-life are religious
fanatics who are merely trying to impose their religion on others,
or white Republican male chauvinists bent on the subjugation of
women by any means necessary. Pro-lifers are from all walks of life
and religious persuasions (including no religion) who share a
common reverence for, and moral conviction to, defend all human
life.

I find it difficult to understand how we as a society can be so
very concerned for the survival of all kinds of animal and plant
and insect species ­ and rightly so ­ and yet not have
similarly passionate feelings for our own. How can we expect to
evolve upward as a people, to survive as a civilization, when we
cannot be sensitive to all human life?

It is precisely during a trying situation that one needs the
courage of one’s convictions. In difficult circumstances, the
choice not to abort an unexpected pregnancy can be very scary. I
have been there, although fortunately at the time I turned out not
to be pregnant.

But I was faced with the courage of my convictions. I think the
Right to Life is right up there with the Four Sacred Freedoms, and
we ought to have the same courage of our convictions that gave us
those freedoms and to also be willing to sacrifice our lives,
fortunes and sacred honor in order to defend that right.

Hubbard is a senior majoring in Latin American studies.