Abortion not a solution
Abortion not a solution (16.7.02)
By Leela Ramdeen, Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice
One of the most important moral issues of our time concerns the dignity of every human life. The Catholic Church teaches that human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception to natural death: “The inalienable right to life of every innocent human individual is a constitutive element of a civil society and its legislation.” (Catholic Church’s Catechism: 2273) .
Catholics are encouraged to live out “a consistent Ethic of Life” (termed also as the Seamless Garment). We have a moral commitment to respecting, protecting, and enhancing human life at every stage and in every context, for example, abortion, euthanasia, sexism, racism, health-care, poverty, cloning, embryo-research, capital punishment, war, unjust distribution of resources and so on. While each of these is distinct and calls for its own specific moral analysis, we must recognise the interrelatedness of these issues as our choices in one area can affect our decisions in other areas. A consistent ethic of life argues for a continuum of life which must be sustained in the face of diverse and distinct threats.
Pole John Paul 11 stated in his encyclical , “The Gospel of Life” (1995) , that we need now more than ever to have the courage to look things in the eye and call things by their proper name. Abortion is an issue of life and death, of fundamental human dignity and of the basic and unconditional respect we are bound to have for each other, including the unborn child.
The encyclical, The Gospel of Life (58), defines abortion, in the moral sense, as :
“the deliberate and direct killing, by whatever means it is carried out, of a human being in the initial phase of his or her existence, extending from conception to birth.”
Abortion has been described as the artificial, forcible, premature termination of a pregnancy with the express purpose of intentionally killing innocent human life. Abortion ends the unborn child’s life. Every abortion involves, either surgically or chemically, the destruction of a human zygote or a human foetus, and the subsequent removal of that human from his/her mother’s womb.
The late Cardinal Hume (UK) stated in “Of Life and Death”(1990):
“Moral choices do not depend on personal preferences and private decision but on right reason, and I would add, divine order…Once we are convinced that we have the right to determine when life becomes human and ceases to be so…then we stand in danger of creating a society that is potentially self-destructive”
In relation to abortion, our society has recognised these values and introduced legislation prohibiting abortion (see: Offences Against The Person Act, Chap. 11:08, Sections 56-57). The decision in the UK case of R v Bourne has not led to a change of our Statute and is not TT law, although it may be used to persuade a judge to consider whether an abortion was necessary to prevent a woman from becoming a “mental wreck.”
While it is recognised that certain religious groups and certain individual without religious affiliation do not consider that life begins at conception, it is important to note that scientific evidence, considered honestly and dispassionately, establishes the fact that each of us was, from conception, a human being; that at conception what comes into being is a distinct, unified, self-integrating human being, albeit an immature human being, which develops himself/herself, in accord with its own genetic “blueprint”, just as a new-born infant is an immature human being who will undergo dramatic growth and development over time.
According to many physicians, biologists and scientists:
“conception (fertilisation) marks the beginning of the life of a human being…There is overwhelming agreement on this point in countless medical, biological and scientific writings”.
(Subcommittee on Separation of Powers to Senate Judiciary Committee, USA, s-158, 97th Congress, 1st Session 1981, p7. )
Prof M. Matthews-Roth of Harvard University who gave evidence to that Subcommittee says: “It is scientifically correct to say that individual human life begins at conception.”
Prof J.Lejeune, who discovered the chromosome pattern of Down syndrome, and who also gave evidence to that Subcommittee states that “Each individual has a very neat beginning, at conception.
Where societies such as ours have fallen down sadly and shamefully, is in recognising the dignity of the woman who becomes pregnant and who, for a variety of reasons, feels that she does not want to give birth to the unborn child in her womb. We must address her side of the equation. However, we should help women in these situations to re-evaluate their position and encourage them to recognise that abortion is not the solution.
All “choices” are not justifiable. However serious and tragic the situation, we can never justify the deliberate killing of an innocent human being.
Instead of seeking to reform our law on abortion, what we should be pressing for are Government policies that would provide morally acceptable alternatives to abortion; better use of our human and financial resources; and social policy initiatives which provide support to pregnant women for prenatal care and extended support for low-income women and their children. We all have a mutual responsibility to campaign/lobby for:
a) better health care services for women, children, and men;
b) the appointment of outreach workers who would work at a local level to identify and make proposals to the relevant Authorities/Government Departments to meet the physical, mental, financial, social and other needs of pregnant women who need support. Of course, such support would require funding to be earmarked in the government’s annual budget;
c) the availability of workplace crèches and community nurseries;
d) better employer practice in relation to maternity and paternity leave;
e) the reduction of poverty so that some women will not need to break the law by seeking back street abortions or taking drugs such as Cycotex because, for example, they have no means to support their child(ren), and some men will not need to coerce their spouses/partners to seek abortions. People are crying out for “real” jobs and a fairer distribution of the nation’s wealth;
f) more informed educational programmes/counselling facilities in schools, at University, and in local communities about issues such as family life, family and social values, life skills, responsible parenthood, natural family planning methods;
g) well publicised information about centres/organisations where pregnant women in distress can go for help, for example, the Mary Care Centre, Living Water Community, Emmanuel Cradle, Word of Life, Families in Action, Friends of Towers in Tobago, and so on.
We need to renew our resolve to defend life in every phase as a blessing from God, never to be sacrificed, never to be compromised. Let us stand in solidarity with and speak out for the most vulnerable among us, the unborn child, and let us seek to provide the necessary support for his/her mother so that she will not have to take drastic action.
We must be steadfast in our opposition to abortion privately and publicly. God, unborn children, and the many women who suffer from Post-Abortion Syndrome expect nothing less from us. A survey of post-abortive women in the USA found that 94% regretted the decision to abort (American Life League).
I call on all those who are committed to saving our unborn children, to lift up your voices to ensure that our abortion laws remain intact. As St Paul said to the Ephesians (6:14-17):
“Stand your ground, with truth buckled round your waist, and integrity for a breastplate…”
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