Genesis 2:7 - "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."
Some biblical translations substitute "living being", "living creature" or "living person" for the phrase "living soul", but one thing common to every biblical translation of this passage in Genesis is that human life begins with a breath. That's the foundation for my opinion on the question of abortion. Human life starts with a breath.
I realize some people think differently. Some believe human life starts when a fetus becomes viable. Others contend it begins with a fetal heartbeat. Still more argue it starts at conception. Anybody's belief, including that stated in Genesis might be true, but therein lays the rub. Legislating against abortion presupposes that a particular religious belief is the correct answer to a proposition that cannot be proven.
Many people, including myself, believe that we humans possess souls, but the concept of "soul" is actually a matter of faith and not something provable by scientific investigation. Because our Constitution guarantees religious freedom, each of us is guaranteed the right to believe in the existence of a spiritual soul. However, because our Constitution also forbids government from passing laws to establish religion, government has no right to force religious belief on anyone. Banning abortion on the grounds that it violates a religious definition of human life or human soul means imposing a particular religious belief on our entire population. If it's unconstitutional for the government to force everyone to buy health insurance, forcing everyone to buy a particular religious belief can't be tolerated either.
Honestly folks, who wouldn't have aborted Adolf Hitler had they known of the atrocities he was going to commit during his lifetime? Most families and loved ones of 9/11 victims would have pulled the plug on Osama bin Laden in a heartbeat. "All life is precious" is a nice sounding bumper sticker, but black and white morality doesn't always work in our grey world. All life isn't considered precious when we drop bombs on innocent women and children in war. All life isn't precious when we execute prisoners, just as it isn't precious when people kill others in self defense. It's a grey world out there. Let's not pretend it isn't.
We Americans cherish our right of self-defense. However, it's patently unfair that a man can take another man's life if he feels his own life is being threatened, but a woman can't abort a fetus that threatens hers. Women deserve the same right of self-protection we men take for granted. The same goes for rape and incest victims. There's no justice in requiring those women to suffer daily torture just because the alternative offends somebodies religious belief.
A 2004 study conducted by the Guttmacher Institute in New York found that 73% of women who had an abortion reported that one reason they did so was because they could not afford to raise a child. Some of those women probably were financially able to take on such a task, but what about those women who weren't? Forty-two percent of women seeking abortions have incomes below the current federal poverty level ($10,830 for a single woman with no children). I pose that question because many who rail against abortion also demand an end to our nation's welfare system. There's a cruel irony in requiring that fetuses be brought to full term and then withholding the food, shelter and health care needed to bring them safely to adulthood.
Another anti-abortion argument asserts that pregnant women must take responsibility for their decision to engage in sex, as if pregnancy is a form of punishment, and that they should not be permitted to terminate their pregnancy, because to do so encourages promiscuity. To refute that argument I would point out that it's not true that women who seek abortions haven't been responsible. Over half of them were already using some form of birth control. Their method of choice simply didn't work. Next, it's never been established that abortion encourages promiscuity. In fact, well over half of all women seeking abortions are married and/or cohabiting, which suggests that for the women involved, maintaining current relationships is a greater motivation for seeking an abortion than the desire to have indiscriminate sex. All that's left then is the notion that women must be punished for having sex. In our society "taking responsibility" means accepting the punishment for a particular behavior or outcome, which translates in the abortion debate as forcing women to carry unwanted fetuses for having engaged in sex. That's a distinctly religious principle that government has no right forcing upon women.
I recently saw a bumper sticker that said "Abortion is not a choice". I agree. It's a right!
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