This week I decided to do something a little bit out of my comfort zone and look at a perspective that I do not necessarily agree with or support. The mindset I am taking on is the pro-life/anti-abortion stance. I grew up in a household that was split about this topic, but as I got older I found myself agreeing with my mom more on the subject, who was pro-choice. In many countries this is a widely debated topic, and the United States is no exception. In fact, people running for political office often discuss where they stand on the issue, and it is often debated amongst opponents.
To get into the proper mindset, I read an article by someone who is pro-life and attempted to understand where they were coming from in their arguments. A good number of people that are pro-life are religious, and this is one of the big reasons they agree with and support the anti abortion lawsand the por-life movement. In their eyes, conception is when a life is created, and therefore doing anything to keep this life from being born is against their beliefs. The article I read was of the opinion that abortion laws were hurting womens rights, “abortion bans are really just a tool for keeping women under the heel of the patriarchy.” I had never really considered this before, and it certainly made me wonder what kind of facts they were going to use to back this claim. As the article continued, no concrete facts or evidence were really used, it was more of a projected scenario of a possible outcome.
Not relating to this particular article, but many others, is that new science and technology allows babies that are born prematurely to be kept alive, when in the past this was not possible. Since this is a rather new development, it brings new issues to the surface, for example if a baby can survive on their own, should the mother still be allowed to abort them, or would doing so be considered unethical. There are obviously many different opinions and viewpoints on such matters, which is what makes this whole topic really difficult to navigate, no matter which stance you are aligned with. Persnoally, I only see the issue becoming more and more controversial, as technology and medicine continue to improve, allowing the survival of babies at younger and younger ages.
I initially expected that looking at this topic in a viewpoint that I wasn’t aligned with would be a but uncomfortable and even challenging. I found this to be true, it was difficuly, and I would often disagree with what I was reading, but I tried to keep an open mind and consider the viewpoints of others. Overall, I would say that it is important and beneficial to take both persepctives into consideration, because doing so allows for a deeper understanding of the overall topic, and facilitates discussions between people with opposing stances.
Photo from USA Today
article mentioned: https://theweek.com/articles/841554/prolife-world-good-women-heres-how
ShoutOut! James Madison University 