Eggs And Abortion: Freedom Of Choice

One of the privileges of living in America is the fundamental nature of our freedom of choice. Founded on the principle of liberty, we are a young nation built upon this belief and over our short period of history we have see a variety of selection of choices rising above others. At one time in our history, we had chosen slavery as an acceptable form of behavior, another time segregation, another time discrimination of women and children, and still today, the use of the death penalty.

As we venture through an election year, we are activating our system of choice - one person, one vote - to elect the next President, an individual to represent us at home and around the world. The President is just that, an individual bound to us, an individual to reflect our choices - not to make them for us but to listen to the majority of us and to act accordingly. We each must make our choices known. We each must take note of our beliefs, our thoughts on the issues of the day, and decide how we would like our country to act, and vote accordingly.

This is why, in this election, we must choose a candidate who listens, who reflects and then acts, not one who thinks they know better than the American people. We constantly evoke our freedom of choice. For example, about six years ago, I chose to become vegetarian. This chose arose for me because I sense the great interconnectedness of all life, past, present, and future, and decided to act in ways that minimize pain and suffering of all life. My son asked me the other day if I eat eggs and I said no because an egg has the potential to become an embryo. He then asked me if I believe in abortion rights and I said yes, an apparent hypocrisy to him. That made me pause to think further about the issues and how to address this apparent inconsistency.

It comes down to the belief in freedom of choice, that we each have the capacity to make decisions to enhance wellbeing and reduce suffering of ourselves, others and the planet, and that we each must be given that right to choose. A country with fewer rules and regulations is one that places a greater emphasis on the individual's right to choose. I choose to be a vegetarian but I would never want rules or regulations enforcing my choice on others. While I choose not to eat meat, I still choose to wear leather (shoes, handbag, etc.), again, an inconsistency to many but in my view a middle ground in the current circumstances in which we live.

Much of my life I spent unaware of my freedom of choice, fairly convinced that I was more a pawn in the game of life and less of a player selecting the moves of the game. I now realize that I am both pawn and player, making moves that arise from the circumstances around me, the moves of others as well as the choices I make given those circumstances. Each player has the goal of protecting the King in the game of chess. By analogy to life, each of us has the goal of protecting our humanity.

We can each act in ways that enhance our humanity by increasing our own awareness of our choices and their impact on ourselves, others, and the planet. As we evoke our individual choices on a day-to-day basis or in our election process, we act accordingly and as a nation reflect these individual actions. Notice your actions today, from what you eat to how you treat others and the planet. Become aware of your thoughts and feelings and how these drive your actions, and how you can make choices that override individual thoughts and feelings to promote our humanity.

I want a President in office who will reflect my belief that humanity is basically 'good', and given the choice, the majority of us will choose to act in ways that help not harm one another and the planet. Let us vote for a leader who will listen and reflect before acting on our behalf.

Comments

[singermuse]

Having left my childbearing years a reasonable distance behind me, I am grateful not to have to make the decision to have or not to have a child/abor­tion/adopt­ion/etc...
Contrary to what the fundies think, it IS possible to be both pro choice and pro birth (since to really be "pro-life" one would have to be against the death penalty and against war in general and most fundies are pro-death penalty and pro-war). I am personally pro choice and pro LIFE. I would not and have never had an abortion, but I do not feel I have the right to take that choice away from any woman.
This is as it should be.
If the "pro-lifers" want to be "real" then they should get their heads out of the bedrooms and women's bodies where they have no business being, and perhaps start doing something in this world to end suffering, starvation, disease, war, and death.

[dividebyzero]

Why is any of this even a question?

I love children. Do not be confused!

The thing is that science views a fetus as a parasite because it displays all the characteristics of a parasite. That is not to say that children are evil, vile things that should be dissolved by medication or surgery. It's just that technically speaking anything before the last couple weeks of pregnancy is nothing but a growth. That may suck based on your religion but this is reason and not fairy tales (yes, religion is myth, period... It may help you through tough times but it's still myth by definition).

Next science says that in order to be considered living the organism needs to be self dependent. We may be able to incubate preemies but that's modern medicine and it is FAR from a sure thing.

A lot of folks have brought up the statistic that half of all pregnancies end in spontaneous abortion (even the most experienced doctors can't figure out the reasons why they abort). This isn't surprising when you study biology. Everything I learned in my human development class made me wonder how in the hell pregnancy or birth even happens given all the obstacles in the way.

Then there's all the sociological, philosophical, legal, and moral reasons for the right to choice.

If you really want to make a difference in the number of abortions in this country or the world, why don't people focus on comprehensive sex education which has been scientifically proven to reduce teen pregnancy and abortion rates? Statistics prove that an ounce of prevention does indeed go a long long way, not only with this issue but EVERY other medical wedge issue.

This is clearly a wedge issue like gay rights, stem cell research and many others which are used to divert our attention away from the real issues.

To be truly Christ-like we should look beyond these issues and actually go the extra mile to understand what it means to do unto others as we would have them do unto us.

Thank you.

[akzidenzgrotesk]

as far as i see it (and i've been involved in countless arguments between pro-choice and so called pro-life parties), what the abortion argument comes down to is who is more important and needs the protection more: the woman or the fetus? personally, i think the woman is more important. maybe it's because i am one (although i don't begrudge my mother the right to have aborted me; i'm glad she didn't in retrospect, but if she had i don't think it would i would blame her for it, assuming i had the capacity to place blame in the first place.) i don't defend irresponsibility at all, but a woman should never be punished so severely for it. and a responsible woman who does everything right but happens to have an accident of some sort should certainly not be punished for being a sexual being. sure, you can say it's not fair to the fetus who never gets a choice in the matter, and in a way you'd be right. but i think the living, breathing, functioning woman's rights should always trump those of a fetus who can't make choices one way or the other for anything. i don't have any cute analogies (like tapeworms or parasites or whatever), but that's what it comes down to; the woman is the one who needs her rights protected. if and when that fetus becomes a woman, her rights should also be protected.

[johnnyjust]

How about asserting some choice before having sex?

Asking too much?

And please stop "forcing your morality" on me when you talk about the freedom to choose abortion.

If you don't want a child, don't conceive one.

[rockchick]

Fetuses are parasites, basically, dress it up how you will. If it can't live on its own, outside a woman's body, it's not a person.

And if it is, then the woman is its mother and she and she alone has the right to determine what's best.

Focus your energy on all the unwanted children who enter this world only to be abused, starved and murdered once they have actually become people. Not on the lump of cells mindlessly dividing in somebody's womb who doesn't want it there.

[bethinCary]

If men's birth control was invented-it would solve alot of problems.

[Dap]

Dear Dr. Smalley,

That's why I heart ya SOoooooooooo! What a *Grand* essay/post, I concur. Agape. (Love in fellowship of our shared fragile Humanity)

[ADR]

Susan,

"... the majority of us will choose to act in ways that help not harm one another ..."

Is a fetus a human? Science would say yes, no question. Is it harmed or killed when it is aborted? If it is, then you should not be for abortion because you are taking a human life, especially the later you get into a pregnancy. A human life that you are not allowing to have the freedom of choice you espouse.

"...At one time in our history, we had chosen slavery as an acceptable form of behavior, another time segregation, another time discrimination of women and children, and still today, the use of the death penalty... "

As you wrote, folks in this country felt African-Americans were not human at all, but just "property". As such, they were treated as not human in so many awful ways. We look back at history and find slave-owners as basically just plain evil. One day that will be the same for all who so feverishly fight for the right for a woman to choose...to kill her "property"...

[BamaRainbow]

Ms Smalley, perhaps you need a basic lesson in biology. Chicken eggs (and the eggs of other poultry) that are eaten have gone well past the "potential to become an embryo" stage. The ONLY WAY FOR A CHICKEN EGG TO BECOME AN EMBRYO IS FOR THAT EGG TO BE FERTILIZED. Egg producers have pretty much (over the millennia of commercial egg production) developed ways of identifying fertilized eggs (the ones that HAVE BECOME EMBRYOS) from unfertilized eggs.
A hen, raised for egg production, produces eggs on a near-daily basis as a natural by-product of chicken biology. They are kept separate from the roosters (or "male chickens"--the ones that produce the fertilization necessary for embryos to develop).
Think of it more along this line. A human woman produces (on average) one egg a month. If she doesn't have sex, there's NO chance for that egg to become an embryo. (That's simply because the necessary material for fertilization hasn't been introduced.) If that egg isn't fertilized by a sperm, it's passed through the Fallopian tubes, down through the uterus, eventually emerging through the vagina in a process known by women as "the menstrual cycle". (The egg is accompanied by unnecessary uterine lining that develops when the egg is released.) If the egg IS fertilized, it begins to divide over and over again on its way until it attaches to the uterine wall. By this point, the fertilized egg has become an embryo.
So, if you decide to supplement your diet with eggs, feel free to do so without fear of being deemed a hypocrite on abortion simply because THERE IS NO CONNECTION. Now, about your decision to keep wearing leather while forgoing eating meat, I can't help you in defending that hypocrisy. There's simply no way. But on eggs, just consider that the "henfruit" to be nothing more than a by-product of the chicken's menstrual cycle.

[mommadona]

Let's get over this argument ASAP.

Let's review:

The MAJORITY of UNWANTED PREGNANCY occurs amongst TEENAGE girls impregnated by OLDER MEN.

The MAJORITY of abortions occur with women who have MORE THAN THREE CHILDREN or ARE TEENAGED GIRLS FROM 'RELIGIOUS HOMES'.

The MAJOR cause of abortion is the MALE'S LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY AND RESPONSIBILITY.

I am SICK of women carrying this guilt trip around.

[kardwell]

The arguments against choice based upon assertions about valuing life are pathetically vacant. Lies, actually. If we valued life in this country we would ensure that all children have access to proper nutrition, safe shelter, solid education, medical care, and prenatal care -- but that isn't the reality in the USA, is it?

We would give significant financial and medical support to pregnant women and mother's, as do most European countries -- but we don't do we?

If we truly wanted to prevent pregnancy, thus prevent abortion, we would provide comprehensive health and sex education to young women and men, support free or cost-effective health care, family planning and contraception through clinics like Planned Parenthood -- but we don't do we?

[kardwell]

My body and my right to control my reproductive destiny is no one's business but my own. Period. It is that simple.

If you do not believe in abortion, don't have one. Fine with me. But do not impose your moral beliefs and religious value systems on me or other women.

[bethinCary]

I believe in the reincarnation of the soul.
I have also only recently come to think about when actual life. I do now think life begins at conception-but I'm still confused about rape/inces­t/unwanted pregnancy or passing judgement.
But for myself, I could not/would not--just because I do believe a soul HAS already been reincarnated at conception.
I know 3 women who've had abortions, one went on to college, marry the guy and have another (but it bothers her greatly to have done so). The other 2-have had more than 1-all times were efforts to purposely get pregnant to trap a guy into marraige---and it backfired on them both. This is one of the reasons I think more education-both on self-esteem for women and sex ed is sadly needed---not more abortions.
I think only when a girl is comfortable in her own skin with saying "no" to anyone-fir­mly,forcef­ully, and knowing her own voice and standing up for it--should they make the choice to have sex.

[dreamcatcher]

On my way to my doctor’s appointment to get a yearly pap and a refill my prescription of the pill. As I pull in what so I see? A group of “pro-life” activists standing outside the protective gate of Planned Parenthood. Waving signs and who are holding hands with their kids. Then I head in and talk to a receptionist threw a slit in the bullet proof glass that covers the window into the main office. Is this a facility were I can learn and get treatment for reproductive health or is this a jail?
The reason that these facilities need to take protective measures is to the safety of their patience’s and staff. From who? From “pro-life” activist who have attempted and succeeded in harming and killing Doctors, staff and patience’s in clinics around the nation.
Seems ridiculous to call you self “pro-life” when you wish to end the life of a doctor who “ends lives”.
Clinics such as Planned Parenthood offers complete reproductive health care at reduced rates and allow patients to pay on a sliding scale. They provide information and options to prevent pregnancy in the first place. If someone is pregnant they will get the care they need, at a price they can afford.


The bottom line is, Your Body Your Choice!

[Lt]

Without an actual "BIRTH" there is no person, no human being, no nothing.

Lets get real the abortion issue is just another religious control game