Quality of life important in abortion debate
Letter to the Editor
Whether abortion helps or hurts any one person's life situation is a question I can no longer answer. Yes, it is true that the instant an abortion is performed one life is lost while another is wounded. And a good Catholic education will instill in a person that abortion is wrong. However, life is an expert at homogenizing the black and white to make gray.
The horror stories that Mario Suarez described can go both ways. One example would be the life of a 19-year old woman who finds her way in and out of therapy and mental hospitals because she was raped at the age of 11 by her father and bore his child. By 19, she has her hands full with three children from three different fathers. Obviously, the children are not the cause of her problems, but they do not help her situation. A feeling of being alone engulfs her to the point of such extreme anxiety that she cannot face her children in a stable emotional state. And what happens to her children? Raised in an environment with only one parent, who is herself still a child, do they have a chance for healthy, enjoyable lives?
Or what about a young man of 20 who is on the end of a decaying relationship with his girlfriend of two years? Both have only one year of college left, but the summer before their senior year is marked by an unexpected pregnancy. Should they try and mend their relationship for this child and in the interim give up a better future for themselves and later potential children? And what happens to this child who will be raised by parents who feel trapped and resentful because of their attempt to take responsibility for their actions? How does one measure the value of this child's life? Is an aborted child better than a child that will be raised in much less than ideal circumstances? Or should life always be placed first, even over poor conditions?
These are just two of several examples that hit close to home. And in other lives like theirs, people will suggest adoption or other alternatives as the ideal choice to abortion. But, in reality, these alternatives do not always work as planned, for whatever reason. And the question that seems so hard to answer is the one concerning the quality of life. In this ever-growing world, should life overcome simply because it is life? Or should the potential quality of life be taken into account when contemplating abortion? This is the view of the realist, and it will be labeled pessimistic, but reality produces a lot of children that do not, and sadly cannot, grow out of their bad habits. So maybe they are better off being nothing.
Michael Campbell
Junior
Sorin College
September 9, 1999
All Viewpoint Stories for Friday, September 10, 1999
