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More Thoughts on Abortion
I don’t like to talk about it much, but as a child, I enjoyed a plethora of physical, sexual and emotional abuse. The primary cause of this was the fact that my parents were not ready, neither emotionally, mentally nor spiritually, for the awesome challenge and ridiculous responsibility of a child.
After years of meditation, prayer, and studying various aspects of psychology, I have come to a higher degree of acceptance than I once thought possible. However, I am one of the lucky ones. Most of my friends, those who also suffered abuse, have suffered through repeated attempts at suicide, various periods of extended drug abuse, and most tragically, some have decided to continue the cycle by repeating this violence on their own children. Even today I wonder whether I have yet matured to a point capable of supporting children. I choose to error on the side of caution, and remain childless.
None of this can justify the forced murder of another human being, however, I don’t think it is fair to disregard these trends either.
My fundamental objection to the pro-life view is that it fails to consider the fate of children once they have been born. This view does not address the nearly one million victims of child abuse every year, nor the nearly half-million children currently living under foster care. Of these, approx. 400,000 are not eligible for adoption at all- they will either be returned to abusive parents, or worse yet, remain wards of the state, perhaps forever, due to decreased mental or physical abilities.
To suggest that any woman facing an abortion could just as easily offer it to adoption is as naive as it is dangerous. This view disregards the increasingly common Post Adoption Depression Syndrome suffered by the adopted mothers of these children, and the extreme cases of Postpartum Depression suffered by women who give their babies away. This handicap provides an imperfect environment for the child, especially if the mother lacks a husband, significant other, strong family, or other reliable support network. Mothers in this situation are more likely to abuse drugs, and more likely to commit suicide (PDF).
And what of the children left in the care of such women? Are we fighting for the nobility of their life, only to hand it over to people suffering from legitimate and commonly understood mental disorders? Worse yet, what will become of these children left for adoption? As any adoptive parent will tell you, the process of adoption is one of the greatest bureaucratic nightmares ever engineered in the modern world. As a wanting mother jumps through various regulatory hoops, the child, already deprived of a birth mother, will sit in foster care- for months, and sometimes for years.
Have I mentioned yet that children in foster care are MORE likely to be abused than children in the general population? How about the fact that this rate of abuse nearly doubled between 1987 and 1996? How about the fact that our newspapers are filled with the stories of abuses suffered by children while in foster care?
Sexual abuse is another animal altogether, causing physical and emotional damage that can be tramatic and long-lasting. It is not uncommon for a girl raped prior to puberty to forfeit her own right to progeny- such abuse can cause sterility, and a plethora of other issues, in the developing reproductive systems of young women. This is, simply stated, horrific. But worse still: most children who suffer sexual assault are attacked by a member of their own family. Depending on which statistics you read, a step-child is approx 25% more likely to be abused than a child living with both biological parents. An adopted child is 33% more likely to suffer.
It happens. It happens more often than we would like to admit. One of these children, already deprived of a birth parent, already forced through the hassles of the adoption process, having survived the abuses of foster care, is currently being sexually assaulted by her would-be dad. More disgusting: she is likely less than 9 years old. More disgusting still: statistically, it is unlikely to be her first attack.
This is an issue that extends long beyond birth, that reaches far beyond those issues of property, privacy and the right to life. This world does not want for life- it wants for an environment more cohesive to healthy life. In this I am certain: it is the quality, not quantity of life by which the values of a society must be judged.
And, having fallen on deaf ears, having failed to reach those convinced against abortion on religious grounds, allow me to close with the words of Jesus Christ (Matt 19:14):
But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”
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