ABORTION: LET'S CLEAR BLOOD FROM OUR HANDS

I am sickened by some of the supposedly Christian talk coming up from south of the boarder allegedly affixing "blood on the hands" of pro-choice advocates and voters. Extremist feelings like that do far more harm than good and accomplish nothing other than widening the gap between two factions, both believing that they are morally right.

Let's be honest. How many truthful, heartfelt conversations have you had in your entire life with friends or family about abortion? And no, I’m not going to elaborate on the aforementioned political conversations (which can get pretty mean and spirited) preliminary to the upcoming and controversial election in the United States and the one we just suffered through in Canada. I’m talking about genuine, transparent, and intimate conversations about personal lives. 

In reading a number of recent studies it has become clear to me that if you want to save unborn life, then improving the conditions of conception, birth, and post-natal life for mother, father, and child are vitally important. This is how real clear-thinking people work through abortion questions:

North Americans surely can focus much of their attention on abortion’s preconditions, alternatives, and aftereffects. We've heard contemplations such as, What was the nature of the relationship between conceiving partners? Was it consensual? How did they approach pregnancy prevention, if at all? Was there sufficient knowledge about potential outcomes? What kinds of support (financial, relational) are available to people facing unplanned pregnancies? What are the stages of prenatal development? What health situations would put a mother or baby at risk? What does it take to raise a child (financially, parentally)? What impact does having a child have on professional aspirations, or on reputation, or on permanent ties between conceiving partners? What roles do (or can) men and women play in parenthood? How accessible is a choice like adoption? What are the conditions of children in foster care? The list of well-taken questions is virtually endless.

The point here is that extreme opinions on myriad social issues and corollary personal decisions frame attitudes well beyond the procedural “yes/no” or “right/wrong” of an abortion decision.

Amidst the clamor that deepens divisions, it’s easy to forget one of the greatest Ten Commandments which is to "love God and each other." I wish we loved enough to stop demonizing on the abortion issue, once and for all.

What if we stopped the othering rhetoric and started over with something we all agree is solidly Christian, a humble confession: We all have blood on our hands.

Maybe then we could work together, despite our differences, in the life-giving spirit of that greatest commandment...Love!