Many of the signs being held by Planned Parenthood supporters at the State Capitol rally said "Trust Women." I'm assuming this is a shorter version of the pro-choice slogan, "We trust the women of this nation to make their own morally correct choices."
I've been thinking about this more, and I've come upon a contradiction that seems irreconcilable on several levels.
(1) This slogan assumes that the choices involved have equal moral weight. Choosing adoption or choosing to raise the baby on one's own are indeed choices with equal moral weight, and pro-lifers do indeed "trust women" to make either of those choices and support either one wholeheartedly. However, the choice of abortion involves killing an innocent human being, which is an intrinsic moral evil. It does not carry the same moral weight as the other two choices, which are not intrinsic moral evils.
An analogous situation would be if the choice were between giving a newborn baby up for adoption or strangling him just after birth. Do PP advocates "trust women" to make either of those choices? That is, do they believe a woman should have the complete liberty to make either of those choices for themselves? (Sadly, in Canada, they do...)
(2) If we trust women to make their own morally correct choices in terms of abortion, then why do we NOT trust women to make their own morally correct choices when it comes to murder, theft, kidnapping, child abuse, prostitution, drug use, etc.?
What purpose do these laws serve if we can (apparently) trust women to make the morally correct choice 100% of the time? Given that women are regularly convicted of various crimes, that doesn't seem to be the case.
Moreover, abortion would be unheard of if we could "trust women" to act responsibly and not have sex (the act of which conception is a natural biological consequence) if they aren't prepared for the possibility of conception.* After all, shouldn't we "trust women" to know that all birth control has a failure rate?
(3) PP supporters oppose legislation that gives women the choice to view an ultrasound of their unborn child (such legislation was recently enacted in Texas, when an appeals court overturned an earlier injunction).
PP supporters trust women to make their own moral choice against abortion as long as women remain ignorant about accurate medical information regarding their child's level of development.
If this information is made available, however (or if pro-life sidewalk counselors are allowed to be seen or - O horrors! - heard), then suddenly women become feeble-minded fragile china dolls who must be saved from their own gullibility, for their own good.
So, "trust women" - but ONLY on the issue of abortion, and ONLY if they remain ignorant of medical facts regarding fetal development.
That doesn't seem like "trust" at all.
*Obviously, this applies to the 99% of women who conceive after consensual sex and not rape/incest situations.
OMGOSH, thank you for this! I hate this "Trust women" garbage!!! Here is what someone on my blog said about that very thing, and my response:
ReplyDeleteChrista: "God trusts women with their bodies and so do I. Abortion is a difficult, graphic and emotional topic. It is an intensely personal decision and I believe individual women, not big government, should make that decision."
My response:
I am confused by the first statement, “God trusts women with their bodies....” What does that mean? And where do you get that? Please elaborate. For example, if a woman wants to take a hacksaw and cut off her arm, is God pleased with her? Seriously, I don’t know what you mean.
And, you said that you, too, trust a woman with her body. That’s nice, but wholly irrelevant to the question of when human life begins.
Of course, Christa never elaborated or even responded.
Amen!
ReplyDelete#2 - EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!! Why can pro-choicers not follow this logic? There are such gaping holes in their arguments! Ug!
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting! :o)
Jamie
For Love of Cupcakes