Stop Ignoring the Women

 I would rather not write this post on Mothers' Day, but I suppose it is an appropriate topic. Actually, I'd rather not write this post at all, but I am so troubled by recent legal proceedings that the choices before me seem to be--write; or--become angry at everybody.

I come to this topic as a woman, most obviously because I am one, but more to my intent, I come as a fierce defender of woman. That's not to say all women are great. There are plenty I don't like, and a few that sometimes I really hate, but woman is my primary viewpoint. And from that viewpoint, I am disgusted with the wave of legislation that is seeking to limit women's options in health. Please, just consider: is it fair to ban abortion but refuse to offer maternal support? Is it fair to put all of the financial burden of pregnancy and childcare on the woman when--last I checked--it takes two to make a baby? Is it fair to penalize just the woman? Look, I get it, life isn't fair...but we're not supposed to be making it less fair.

Many of the statements by legislators on these abortion bans talk about it being the “right” thing. They keep using that word, and I do not think it means what they think it means. In a country of many faiths and opinions, what is “right”? For my baccalaureate nursing degree, I took a class on ethics, and one of the key things I got out of that class is that “right” decisions factor in many considerations. And in my years working as a nurse, I have learned that what is moral may not be ethical, and vice versa. I don’t think it is moral to support drug use, but I do believe it to be ethical to support safer drug use with programs such as clean needle exchanges and free opioid-reversal drugs for overdoses. I don’t think it is moral to support violence, yet I believe it to be ethical to lend support to the non-aggressor even if that means violence will be prolonged. I do not think it is moral to kill fetuses, but I believe it is ethical to have abortion as an option for certain situations. I don’t want to be the one determining which situations those are --even in the middle of the pandemic when I was unemployed, and came across several available positions in an abortion clinic, I preferred not to be involved in such scenarios, knowing it meant I would continue jobless-- but I definitely don’t want people who don’t even understand women’s health to be dictating when women can have abortions. [Medical professionals don’t have a way to “replant” ectopic pregnancies in the uterus, so unless legislators want a woman’s blood on their hands, abortions are needed.]

Have compassion. For those pushing for abortion bans on religious grounds, don't forget that a key component of Christian faith is charity--not the charity of giving out money [although that certainly can be an aspect of charity], but the charity of attempting to understand another's sorrows, of withholding self-righteous judgment.

Stop standing on the soap box, and start passing out the soap.