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Overview - Abortion
Few issues present more spiritual dilemmas than abortion and more in need of thoughtful dialog. Yet few are as plagued by sanctimonious hysteria and dogmatism on the part of nearly all involved. There are two principles on which everyone seems to agree: Human life is sacred, and the acceptability of abortion depends on the extent to which a gestating fetus can be considered human. Beyond this, humility and rational examination of the problem are almost non-existent.
Framing the Debate
At its core the controversy reduces to two questions,
- What exactly is human life and when does it begin (the two are inseparable)?
- How can society respond to abortion and guard the lives and dignity of mothers and infants?
Both sides struggle to frame the debate in terms that assume the answer to these questions, even in their choice of monikers.
Standards for defining the beginning of “human life” range from the time of actual delivery to the belief that there is no beginning—literally, that sperm and egg are in some sense meaningfully human. By far the most common are that life begins at,
- Conception (i.e. fertilization).
- Viability of the zygote (usually associated with implantation of the fertilized zygote in the uterine wall).
- The first appearance of a stable and unique EEG (for which estimates ranging from 6-27 weeks development have been argued by the two camps).
- Viability outside of the womb (which as medicine advances is getting ever closer to the unique EEG standard; Gilbert, 2006).
There is of course, a broad spectrum of opinions on these questions, but in the most general terms, combatants tend to line up as follows,
Pro-Choice
- Believe that life begins late in gestation.
- Are less likely to wrestle with questions of fetal humanity in favor of other concerns, particularly maternal illness and mortality due to unsafe abortions and lack of access to quality reproductive healthcare.
- Believe that the primary issue at stake is a woman’s freedom of choice regarding her body, her moral principles regarding fertility, and her sexual behavior—hence the moniker Pro-Choice.
- Promote solutions that emphasize reducing unwanted pregnancies through access to birth control and other forms of reproductive healthcare, including access to safe abortions.
Pro-Life
- Believe that life begins very early in gestation, the large majority believing that it begins at conception.
- Are less likely to wrestle with questions of maternal hardship and mortality in favor of concern for the preservation of pregnancies and as such, address maternal suffering only when it is believed to be a direct consequence of abortion procedures.
- Believe that with the primary issue at stake is preservation of fetal life through delivery, the fetus being considered fully human at every point of development—hence the moniker Pro-Life.
- Promote solutions that emphasize banning abortions and restricting all family planning, reproductive healthcare, and sex education to abstinence-only models.1
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