Responsible abortion?
John Litle
Frankly Obnoxious
Every year at some point some controversy brings up the debate over abortion, and this year is no different. Although every year the arguments seem to be the same and though many people have stopped listening altogether, I think I'll revisit the topic once more for my own entertainment. So, before you stop reading, I'd like to say why I don't like abortion, and why my reason is different from any other reason I've ever read in The Observer.
Most people on campus are pro-life. I accept that this makes it sort of a pain to be pro-choice and it makes reading "typical conservative articles" somewhat less than interesting. For that I apologize. I think the most common argument I hear against abortion is that abortion is the taking of a human life. I agree that a fetus is a genetically unique human being and that perhaps it should be given the rights of a human being, but I reject the argument that that is enough reason to ban abortion. Every day children around the world starve to death, we execute people in the United States on a regular basis, and I don't typically see the standard Notre Dame pro-lifer doing anything about that. No, it seems to me that in a world where so little care is given to the already born, it is somewhat hypocritical to be so worked up over the unborn.
I, on the other hand, find abortion reprehensible because it is a lack of responsibility. It's a cop-out. The way I see it, if you have sex, one of the results is pregnancy; and when you choose to have sex, you choose to take that into account. Abortion is not a solution to that problem, because that "problem" is the direct result of your choice to have sex. I think the whole issue stems from the fact that in the United States today no one is responsible for anything. Take the school shootings that seem so frightfully common nowadays. Was it the perpetrator's fault? Or did you blame the guns? The bullies? The parents? The school's administration? Society as a whole? Video games? Music? Movies? If you ask me it was the perpetrator's fault. Putting the blame elsewhere is an emotional attempt to explain the unexplainable — same thing with abortion. Believe it or not you are responsible for you or your partner's pregnancy. You and your partner alone. Accept it.
I suppose I could explain it differently. If you are a woman, and you have sex and become pregnant, legally in the United States you have the option of having an abortion or having a child. If you are a man and your partner becomes pregnant, legally in the United States you have no options. Now I'm not one for getting into the whole sexism fight, but doesn't that seem a little inequitable? The thing is, if a woman can have the choice to end her responsibility for her pregnancy, the man ought to have the same choice to end his responsibility for the child. After all, in countries with legal abortions it seems a child is the result of choosing not to have an abortion, not the result of sex, and therefore the man is not responsible for the child at all.
I can see the viewpoints now ... I am not saying I would not take responsibility for my child; if I did have a child I would do everything it took to care for him or her. I am just saying you can't give a woman a post conception "option" and not give the same to a man.
So, for everyone who wishes to argue that abortion is an issue of women's rights, to you I say "hogwash." If you want to say this is a fight over saving the lives of innocent fetuses, I say "I'm not buying it." This is no fight over such highbrow issues. This, plain and simple, is Americans fighting for their easy way out. It is a fight to preserve the lack of responsibility ensconced in our nation and our culture. Giving the fight any higher goals is lending credence to an argument that is completely unworthy.
John Litle is a junior MIS major who wants to add to his previous column that there is a Rape and Domestic Violence counseling center in South Bend called SOS. Its phone number is 289-HELP, and there is a volunteer on call 24 hours a day to listen, answer questions, go to the hospital or help in any way. His column appears every other Tuesday. Hate mail can be directed to johnlitle@hotmail.com, other correspondence, to jlitle@nd.edu.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
All Viewpoint Stories for Tuesday, October 30, 2001
