On Abortion...

Below is Part 1 of The Assassination of Dr. Tiller, on The Rachel Maddow Show.:


Here is the link to Rachel's site, for the remaining show segments.  

I was raised a Roman Catholic, and my first exposure to the abortion issue came through homilies and activities conducted around the time of the Roe V. Wade decision. I remember the bumper stickers - “Adoption, Not Abortion”, and “Abortion is Killing”. My views were fairly “pro-life” through most of my earlier school years. The seeds of my “liberation” from Catholic dogma, and it’s uncompromising “pro-life” stance, were actually planted during my early high school years, but began to really blossom in college. That was when I began to see organized religion as a means of controlling people and populations, and not as much a vehicle of spirituality. Thus, I began to see the abortion issue differently - a woman’s sovereignty over her body and whether/when she decides to bring new life onto the planet.

This issue is like an octopus - a large central body, with many tentacles touching many other issues: economic, social, male-female societal roles, etc. Probably more than any other, it pointed to the inherent flaws of a male-dominant culture and society, especially one like ours which prides itself on “individual freedom” and “personal responsibility”. Individual freedom - except for the pregnant woman? Personal responsibility - save for the man who impregnated her? Whose freedom is it, anyway? And whose responsibility? Something is backwards in this equation.

As a man, I cannot fully understand what a woman goes through during pregnancy, childbirth, and even after or before. To put bluntly, I don’t have the “equipment”, so I don’t deal with all of the physical/emotional/mental changes that women go through, either pregnant or not, and I don‘t have to deal with the societal expectations put on women, especially when the culture is still as male-dominated as it is.
The best I can do is to listen, observe, and do my best to provide compassion and support when needed.

So here’s what I would tell the Operation Rescue-types: if you want to reduce the number of abortions...

Then MEN need to start having more responsibility over their own sexuality, and need to be encouraged to do so:

MEN need to be willing and able to say no to sex when the opportunity arises, and the men of our society need to stop thinking of their fellow men as less than men when they do say no;

MEN need to practice safe sex - condoms, etc., - if they do engage in sexual activity;

MEN need to be detached from the expectations set by our society and media, as seen in magazines such as Maxim, GQ, Playboy, and the rest;

MEN need to stop thinking of the sex act as a power play over another human being - this dynamic of sex-as-power is a toxic one, and volumes have been written and documented about it;

MEN need to set the example for our young, that men control their sexual desire and instincts - whereas the neighborhood dog is controlled by his.

Perhaps this list is too tall an order for our society right now. I know that in some circles, the above notions would seem like unintentionally high comedy. But imagine how fewer women would be confronted with what I can only imagine as an awful decision, if a few more men would reign in their instincts.  If this mindset were more commonplace, then perhaps Dr. Tiller (and those assassinated prior to him) would still be alive today, practicing in other fields of medicine.  

You say you believe in personal responsibility and individual freedom? Try keeping the zipper up a bit more. It will guarantee you and the one you say you love, both. You guys will thank yourselves later.

And she will, too.