Posted on 12/26/2007 6:28:25 AM PST by Alouette
For some people, ending a pregnancy is the only way to keep on living
Yael Mishali Published: 12.26.07, 00:39 / Israel Opinion
Abortion is a type of murder; I have no doubt about that. In this context we can debate over questions such as the duration of a pregnancy and when exactly do several cells turn into a person with a soul, but I have no interest in doing that. I accept the universal assumption that as of a certain moment, we are talking about a real person, and “aborting it” is a type of murder.
And still, as a woman and a mother, I must reject the religious hypocrisy and politically correct attitude of the religious social discourse, and declare that I am in favor of abortions. I support the right of a woman (or parents) to decide to end the pregnancy because she feels it is impossible for her to proceed with it.
When a woman says “I cannot raise this child” I believe her, and I do not wish to force her (or that child) to embark on a life of distress of one type or another.
I am not talking about other women, but rather, about myself. Despite the regret inherent in this realization, I know that I would not be able to decide to raise a child with a serious defect. I would not have been able to find out during my pregnancy that my child suffers from Down syndrome or a similar defect and continue the pregnancy as if nothing had happened.
As a mother, had my daughter faced pregnancy at a very young age, I would strongly recommend that she terminate it rather than punish herself and the child throughout her life because of the mistake she made. Generally speaking, when a mother of five, or three, or two feels that this pregnancy is exhausting her and the only thing she can see in the future is growing mental (or financial) distress, I completely agree that it would be better to terminate the pregnancy and rehabilitate the soul before any future pregnancy.
A question of saving lives?
The Chief Rabbinate decided to act against abortions. They take it for granted that the vast majority of abortions are “not necessary” because the “life of the mother is not at risk.” I agree with them that if we are only talking about actual death, this is not a question of saving lives.
However, if they take the time to visit psychiatric wards at various hospitals and see the growing numbers of ultra-Orthodox mothers who can no longer bear the burden, if they meet mothers who are unable to love the children they did not want to have, if they meet women whose lives were stopped because of an early pregnancy that left them bitter, if they see children whose parents could not devote enough time to them because their siblings were born with a defect, perhaps then the rabbis would be able to expand the definition of “saving a life”.
When a woman says that for her the pregnancy is a matter of life or death, you rabbis (with all due respect) cannot tell her it isn’t so.
I, of course, admire and appreciate all of those people who are not like me. The ones who raise children with defects with great love, and who courageously face any mission God had tasked them with.
I feel the same about people whose daughter has no chance of becoming pregnant too early, or ones for whom a mental or financial difficulty has no meaning. But even those saints must realize that for us, the simple people, terminating a pregnancy is sometimes the only way to keep on living.
This also ties in with all those men, and occasionally women, who kill their entire family rather than see them go on without them.
Utter selfishness.
Eliminating "defective" people is nothing new. A fellow named Adolph Hitler considered the Jews "defective" people and aborted 6 million of them. One would think the author would remember that.
Don’t shoot the messenger on this one, BUT abortions are on the rise in America of this type of child and another disease called Spina bifida.
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This kind of abortion is OK with me but should be done ASAP. Not when the fetus is older and viable. In sterner traditional societies these kind of “births” were left to die. This kind of abandonment of non viables has gone on forever especially when a tribe or family has limited resources
Sometimes it is difficult to convey that subtlety or sarcasm via a keyboard without other clues/hints via visual or aural means. But now I understand the intent of your post...
Why would an abortion be better, for argument sake, say at 6 weeks than at 20 weeks. in your opinion?
I thank God that this woman was not my mother.
I hate abortion!!!!! But, may-be her mother should have aborted her and, we would not have read the article???
She should include toddlers and elderly relatives in her rant.
And...why not the poor, socially undesirable, assorted enemies, and those declared by whim to be “jerks.”
Interesting details: I hadn't realized that the following people had spina bifida:
People like that give us hope and make us proud of the human race. Somehow, abortion only manages to accomplish the opposite.
The I, me syndrome makes me ill. When I read of Down’s Syndrome as being one of the dreaded diseases, I am even sicker — the most loving, children of Innocence created by God are those so “afflicted”. Her selfishness is disgusting and her acknowledgement that she is wrong is sheer hypocracy.
I raised my step-daughter who has Down Syndrome and Autism. We tried to adopt another Down Syndrome child but there are very long WAITING LISTS!!!!! So why would anyone abort a Down syndrome baby?
Afterwards, the woman should consider a tubal ligation.
Maybe the author should declare her support for infanticide in case a child slips by the abortionist.
Agreed.
The more I read, the more convinced I am that the core of the issue is evil. There is no other way to explain how a rational thought process can conclude that abortion is both murder and also permissible when personally suitable.
Pure evil.
People on the left have long been strong proponents of eugenics
If a “gay gene” is ever discovered, I wonder how the liberal butchers will react to people aborting such children.
No matter what reason is given by the murderers: Autistic, predisposed to homosexual conduct, family history of depression, Down’s, etc, it all comes down to the same evil thoughts and practices that would make Hitler proud. I fear for the future of this country when we can’t even recognize the beauty and preciousness of something as innocent as an unborn child.
Has the author ever heard of birth control?
What about adoption??
Seriously, ANY hardship in life nullifies that life's value? Unless someone has an easy, cushy life it isn't worth living? Hooo boy....
Then, "lady", how about NOT HAVING SEX!!!! You selfish, ignorant, evil "person"!
Abortion is murder, but...
it’s always some flowery ‘me’ language that follows that statement.
Huckabee has surged because he won a couple of debates and he’s got evangelical support. If a quick rise can happen to the liberal pro-life evangelical Huckster, it can happen to the conservative pro-life evangelical Hunter.
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According to Intrade, the winner of the December 12th GOP debate was... Duncan Hunter.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1938773/posts
Why the smart money is on Duncan Hunter
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1926032/posts
In this poll Hunter is up 3% and even with Paul and Thompson.
http://www.wxyz.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=3481ef60-8195-46a9-af04-b87b907bcfdd
I find it interesting that despite the headline, in the article she does not actually come right out and say “abortion IS murder.” Instead she only allows that it is a “TYPE of murder.” Just an observation about how she seems to need to play linguistic games with herself and with the world, compulsively sticking in qualifiers to dilute the impact of what she’s saying.
I wonder what “type” she thinks it is? (besides “acceptable,” of course!) How would she categorize other “types” of murder? Does she approve or disapprove of those other “types” based on the impact on the quality of life for the murderer? Or is it really more dependent for her on the “type” of victim chosen?
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