LET'S TALK ABOUT ABORTION

Abortion. An act that is quite prevalent and heavily permeated in almost every society. Ironically, it is also an act that seems an abomination and usually spoken about in hushed tones. Not so anymore. Today, we address the elephant in the room. Today, we talk about abortion, unsentimentally - With rationality. With logic. With common sense.

The furore generated by the recent abortion bill in one of the states in the country still lingers. An extremely sensitive issue that has seemingly divided almost anybody with a functional brain into two clear camps: The 'Pro-Abortion' and The 'Anti-Abortion'. There is simply no fence-sitting about this. No-one seems passive on the topic. I have yet to meet anybody who is indifferent on said subject. Everyone apparently has an opinion which they strongly believe, whether For or Against.

So, without further ado, let’s take a look at the differing stances of the warring camps:

The Pro-Abortionists {mainly comprised of liberal governments, cross-sections of largely unsentimental citizens, Pro-Mothers’ groups, western influences, and presumably, the women wanting said abortions!} – This faction believes that the reproductive rights and the medical/psychological health concerns of the mother should be held to the utmost. They believe that the mother has the right to decide whether or not to carry the unborn foetus to full term since she would be the one to be responsible for it afterwards. In passing government bills for the legalization of abortion, they state that such bills would eliminate intimate violence in private and public life, prohibit sexual, psychological and domestic abuse as well as help regress harmful traditional practices. For them, these steps would enable every woman to enjoy reproductive rights and also the rights to medical abortion in cases of intimate assaults, molestation and inbreeding. They insist that medical abortion should be legalized in cases where the pregnancy endangers the life and (or) the physical, mental, psychological, emotional health of the mother.

The Anti-Abortionists {mainly comprised of conservative governments, citizens with sentimental leanings, religious groups, Pro-Child's activists, and cultural traditionalists} – This faction simply has one belief: Abortion is murder. Full-stop. For them, abortion, no matter the preceeding circumstances, is tantamount to snuffing the life out of a living thing. This camp usually don’t seek to propagate laws as they simply revert to various religious books and cultural traditional teachings in order to back up their case. Morality, religion, culture and tradition are their watchwords. Unsurprisingly, and somewhat fittingly, they are also known as the 'Pro-Life' group. They argue that abortion is definitely murder, since to them, life begins at conception; an assertion which is very much in stark contrast to that of the Pro-Abortionists.

Invariably, this leads us to the heavily debated question - Where then does life begin?.. At fertilization? At birth? At some random point during our nine-month gestative course? Well, to the best of my knowledge, no true absolute answer has yet been proffered as there seem to be different responses being bandied about. Hmm.. one of the mysteries of life, perhaps? However, I digress as that is not the aim of this article. So for now, we shall leave that question to the scientists and religionists to duke it out and hopefully come up with a universal answer eventually.

Sometimes, when I personally go through the arguments of the Pro-Abortionists, I can’t help but relate to their assertions. It’s seemingly filled with rational thinking, backed by generous drops of common sense and quite frankly, no apparent logical loopholes. Because, let’s face it, the concerns for the medical well-being and stigma eradication of a mother we can physically see are far greater than the uncertain life of an unborn foetus {cell? zygote? embryo?} which we barely even know, right? WRONG!!! screams the Anti-Abortionist! Because to him, ALL life is equal, cellular zygote or not! Again, an atom of logic in that assertion too… Ahh.. This is turning out to be a no-win situation for both parties.

BUT, and there's always a but, a no-win situation is never good for anybody, right? Right. Hence, a helpful compromise has to be reached. Permitted exceptions to the rules, if you like. A sort of peace treaty between the battling camps in this war of abortion.. Consequently then, positives should be filtered and implemented from both stances. Medical abortion could be legalized, and as a last resort, if and only if such procedure serves as a preventive measure for when pregnancy endangers the life of the mother or harmfully affects her physical, mental, psychological or emotional health and well-being. In the same vein, it could also serve as a panacea in cases of intimate assault {rape}, molestation and inbreeding.

With this template however, the fear of the abuse of the system arises. There might be a proliferation of abortion cases as people who hitherto weren’t qualified for the procedure could attempt to cheat the system by posing as victims. This is where the government comes in. Well equipped medical centres should be provided and staffed with competent medical personnel who would be properly sanitized on the absoluteness of the use of the abortion procedure. It should be seen as the absolute last resort and be used only when it is undoubtedly necessary after judicious weighing of the consequences. The keyword here should be 'medical abortion' – Abortion done only when it is absolutely medically {or psychologically} necessary. That way, we at least don’t feel guilty over the lost foetus because we have medically/psychologically saved the mother and primed her in condition where she can hopefully have another foetus {this time, carried to birth} in future.

So, can the warring parties please sheathe their swords? No?

As I think of what to type in order to conclude this article, I can’t help but overhear two of my colleagues with opposing stances arguing fervently about this same hydra-headed topic, Abortion…

*Pro-Abortion colleague:  "So, you're forcing a woman who was violently raped to go through the terrible trauma of carrying a foetus for nine hard months and birthing the baby just to satisfy your moral sensibilities? You care nothing about the the psychological health of the mother, the well-being of the child without a father or even the stigmatization the child would endure as a product of molestation! All you care about is just to massage your religious ego to achieve a false moral high. Pathetic. What if that mother was your sister? How would you feel??"

*Anti-Abortion colleague:  "Shut up! What if YOU were aborted? Would you have collected your salary this month?!!"

That last response induces a chuckle from me which in turn alerts them to my presence as their eyes simultaneously dart across to where I’m seated. As they both beseechingly look to me in order to get my opinion, I can’t help but to begin stammering before blurting out:-   

"Well, I think, er, um, yeah, you see guys, I'm eternally grateful that Nelson Mandela wasn't aborted. I'm glad and appreciative that the world got to experience such a great man. I'm indeed certainly relieved that his mother didn't abort him...  Adolf Hitler? well, not so much!"..

Dear readers, please kindly make of all that what you will..

Needless to say, the fire still burns and the war still rages, I guess..