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abortion, birth control, and the culture wars
Got your attention, didn’t I? Yes, I’m going to post on abortion and birth control. Because we have to start talking to each other across the culture war divide.
But first: pause for a moment, lower your hackles, and consider the term, “war.” What does it evoke? A battle unto death. Prepare to kill, prepare to die, that’s what war is about. And there are times, perhaps, for war. But the followers of Jesus who care about the teachings of Jesus are not to be war enthusiasts. The war that counts, we’re told, is the one that is NOT waged against flesh and blood. Can we agree on that? So when we are talking with another human being, when we are struggling with other human beings over issues, war may be the LAST metaphor we should rely on to frame our discussion. If the teachings of Jesus matter to us, that is.
Pro-life, pro-choice. The epicenter of the culture war. What would happen if two people, one pro-life and one pro-choice had a conversation in which each person worked hard at listening to the other’s concerns–something that the war metaphor doesn’t prime them to do. They would focus for starters on one of their most compelling points and ask that the other consider it thoughtfully, to see if it had ANY merit.
the pro-life person speaks
The pro-life person, of course, would talk about life. Human life. When does it begin? One can certainly make a good case that human life begins at conception, the moment the egg of the human ovum is fertilized by a sperm. Everything beyond that point is a simple matter of growing complexity.
The pro-life person would talk about the morality of limiting a woman’s choice to end human life before birth. What’s going on in India and China? Women (aided, and often pressured by men) are choosing to abort female fetuses at a higher rate than male ones, leading to a dangerous shift in the population of these two most populous nations.
The pro-life person would invite the pro-choice person to consider the implications. Is unbridled choice always a higher good? Should society step in and limit choice at times? If abortion should be “safe, legal and rare,” why should it be rare? Are there moral reasons that should inform policies?
the pro-choice person speaks
The pro-choice person might talk about birth control, the prevention of pregnancy. The pro-life lobby is dominated by the catholic church, which believes all birth control other than the “natural family planning” method to be a moral evil. Even “natural family planning” [timing intercourse to prevent pregnancy] is ONLY to be employed when “grave” reasons justify it’s use. This is the teaching of the catholic church, the most influential player in the pro-life lobby. You may have noticed that the pro-life lobby, as a whole, does nothing to encourage increased access to birth control and often lends its weigh toward decreasing such access. “Let’s make birth control more readily available to sexually active teens” is not a part of the pro-life agenda as expressed by the major right to life groups.
In fact, the organized pro-life lobby tends to discourage rather than encourage access to birth control information and technology. Shockingly, the distribution of condoms in Africa to limit the spread of AIDS is discouraged. Here in the United States, it is more difficult rather than less difficult for sexually active people, especially young ones, to gain access to birth control information and technology.
Most human beings–it’s a simple fact–become sexually active before marriage. This fact is ignored by many pro-lifers as morally irrelevant. Not our problem. They shouldn’t be sexually active before marriage. (It’s a great irony that most of the people who have this view were themselves sexually active before marriage. Just the facts, ma’am.)
As a result, more of these sexually active young people become pregnant, which makes it possible for them to have an abortion. (Not a single non pregnant person has ever had an abortion.)
Is it moral, is it wise, to support policies that make it more difficult for sexually active people to prevent pregnancies, if pregnancy is the one condition that is required for an abortion to take place? The pro-choice person would invite the pro-life person to consider: is there ANY merit in this point?
but who is listening?
I’m not making a case here for any particular policy changes. I’m not making the case here for overturning Roe v. Wade or for making birth control information and technology more available than it currently is to sexually active young people. I’m making the case for having a different kind of conversation about abortion and birth control than we have had to date because we have swallowed the culture war kool-aid. We’ve blindly accepted the wisdom of thinking about these things and engaging in discussion about these things as though we were culture warriors. As those who only have eyes to see the morality of our own point of view. As those who resist ever saying to the other side: “You make a good point; I should consider that more than I do.”
But that is changing. A generation is coming of age with less enthusiasm for the metaphor of war. They are not impressed with the efficacy of the metaphor when applied to the problem of drug addiction or divides in culture. The culture wars have been about as effective as the war on drugs, in their view. They wonder what progress we might make in addressing some of these problems if we tried a different approach. Can you blame them?
Tags: abortion, AIDS, birth control, culture wars, natural family planning, pro-choice, pro-life
November 11th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
I find it interesting that you do not mention birth control when you describe the pro-life position. Is this post directed just to Catholics? I am not Catholic. I was raised Baptist, and I have been on the evangelical charismatic mystery tour since my mid 20s. But I am pro-life. I am 100 percent in favor of having birth control methods available to people that may be sexually active. I know handing them out in public schools to minors is a touchy subject. But we can never consider abortion as one of those birth control methods, or the conversation will break down. I agree, keep the sperm away from the ovum and we don’t have an issue. How can a scientifically minded, biologically aware person consider abortion a form of birth control? It is a control method, but one that carry a heavy penalty first to the unborn person and second to the mother.
November 11th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
A couple of Mother Theresa quotes came to mind as I read through this thread. I have more to say, but Cassie tells me I need to write my own blog post rather than take up other people’s white space. I will quickly add an AMEN to “A generation is coming of age with less enthusiasm for the metaphor of war.”
I was once asked why I don’t participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I’ll be there. – Mother Theresa
If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. – Mother Theresa
November 11th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
gem, I try to avoid posting comments on my won posts, but need to clarify that I do not consider abortion as a form of birth control; it ends pregnancy and doesn’t prevent it. Birth control refers to things that prevent pregnancy.
November 13th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Ken,
the past week has been tough for me. My wife was sent a very judgemental email from a member of the church we used to attend, remember I called it “the Church of Republicanism”. Aparently they don’t know any other Democrats so they had to fire their insults to us 3000 miles away. I haven’t even heard from these people for 18 months. Aparently I’m not a Christian because I voted for man who’s number 1 priority is to kill babies….. I’m very full of hate and feel a huge sense of rejection and loss from these people. I was always kind to them, and they know I’m Pro-Life, but I’m not a one issue voter and I voted for Obama so that makes me SATAN! If only I could say that everything at that church was aweful, then I could write them off. But I renewed my faith there, met my wife, and learned a lot about how to be a good husband. I feel like a man in exile…
November 13th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
california kid, this is a perfect example of the fruit of the evangelical church in America adopting the culture war motif; it shapes everything and in so doing does damage such as you experienced from a brother/sister. One thinks of Paul’s warning lest we bite and devour each other….a lot of that going around before the election with emails and the like. Let’s pray we get off the culture war kick while there’s still a culture left.
November 13th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
“Mercy triumphs over (boasts against) judgement!”
At the risk of being accused of proof-texting, I think these words from James’ epistle shout out to be the foundational principle for this type of dialog.
Mercy doesn’t mean condoning dark and dehumanizing elements in our culture and society.
If life begins at conception, then many conclusions follow that are very, very uncomfortable for society to grapple with. Likewise, if we accept the Biblical view of human sexuality, we need to acknowledge that we live in the midst of a very confused generation.
Mercy triumphs over judgment!
Sexual intimacy is meant to humanize us, but we are created for monogamy, so sexual intimacy outside of marriage dehumanizes us. Loaded words….
But Mercy triumphs over judgment!
The natural reaction to judgment is to hide, so we (as a society) try to obfuscate reality…”Sex is primarily a physical and emotional act (not a spiritual one)…a fertilized egg is not a human until (name your arbitrary cut-off)…an unwanted child is better off dead (which no one ever says but is the logical implication of much pro-choice rhetoric).
Mercy triumphs over judgment!
We can’t ignore the truth of the matter, and we shouldn’t soften hard issues because because they make for awkward conversations (not that I think that is what you are doing, Ken, I know better).
We CAN choose to focus on merciful solutions rather than focusing the majority of our efforts on judgmental solutions (through the courts, etc.). If we could wave a magic wand and eliminate abortion, what would we do will all those unwanted children, and their unprepared (emotionally and/or economically) parent(s)? The answer is as obvious as it is hard to implement…we LOVE them, we show them mercy, we become good news for them.
The answer is not in rhetoric but in action, since, as James also wrote “Faith without works is dead”
November 13th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Cali Kid- If you are ever in the Ann Arbor area, feel free to take refuge at our crib
My wife was the one who received the majority of the Obama is Satan emails in our household. I struggle with whether or not to engage in hope for an open discussion, or just keep my mouth shut in hope that the noise will just end.
November 13th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
I wish your pro-choice voice had spoken on the same terms as your pro-life one. If only it had brought forth arguments for choice, rather than against a typical (?) perception of its opposition. Then your imaginary exchange might have a better chance of developing fruitfully.
For example, one of our daughters went off to college opposing many of the things we had taught her, including our pro-life position. She joined pro-choice campus organizations and demonstrated and counter-demonstrated accordingly. She told us how her new friends would paint pro-lifers with a broad brush, accusing them of not caring about babies once they were born, of wanting to put mothers in jail, and of other things like that. But she knew us and all the people she grew up with, and she expected her friends to be relieved to find out that she personally knew pro-lifers who weren’t like that. She was pretty shocked when they turned on her instead.
Of course the opposite camp has been known to do exactly the same thing, and that is precisely my point. Could the reason we’ve had a war instead of a dialogue be because we have founded our arguments on what we fear our opponents represent instead of on the reasons for our beliefs? Even your attempt at a conciliatory conversation makes sweeping statements about Catholic reasoning and motives that have more to do with trying to apologize for what you think their opponents are thinking than with the reality of Catholic morality.
When was the last time you sat down with a knowledgeable Catholic to try your dialogue idea?
November 14th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Martha, Not sure I was tracking what your concern was. I thought the post was pretty accurate with respect to catholic teaching on contraception. I have had many conversations with knowledgeable catholics on the question of contraception. Many such conversations over many years and many recently. I spoke recently with a representative of the U.S. Catholic bishops concerning this issue–on whether it was incontravertible dogma or something that might change over time (he said the latter, though it was not likely to change in our lifetime.) I have many catholic friends with whom I have dialogued over this issue.
I think the post was a fairly accurate portrayal of catholic teaching on contraception: that except for “natural family planning” (which can only used licitly when there are “grave” reasons to prevent pregnancy–a strong word, that, especially for a conscientious catholic) all other means of contraception are wrong. I think it’s also fair to say that the various pro-life groups are heavily influenced by the catholic teaching on contraception. The catholics were the first to organize against legalized abortion (and I believe the roe v. wade decision was rooted in a “right to privacy” that was granted or assumed to exist in laws that allowed for legalized contraception.)
I think it’s accurate to say that because of the strong influence of roman catholics in the pro-life groups, there is a strong tendency for those groups not to advocate for greater access to contraception as a means of preventing unwanted pregnancies that provide the occasion for people to consider abortion. So I respectfully disagree with this roman catholic teaching and it’s influence on the pro-life movement. There are many other aspects of roman catholicism that I deeply appreciate and have tried to learn from.
So the concern I was raising in the post was with a weakness I perceive in the pro-life movement. I spoke several years ago with a leader of an evangelical relief agency doing work in Africa. He informed me that a leader of the religious right had warned his workers against distributing condoms in villages where they weren’t available. I think this kind of approach is flat out wrong. People suffer as a result, abortions increase as a result. Married men with HIV are forbidden by catholic teaching from using condoms. I think this is wrong. I understand that is based on a moral conviction that all contraception except natural family planning is morally wrong, but I still think it’s effect is to increase the number of unwanted pregnancies that lead to abortion. I just don’t think natural family planning is practical in developing nations especially. It takes enormous care, charting of physical symptoms, close monitoring of body temperature, etc. When it is presented as the only morally acceptable option to prevent pregnancy the result will be an increased rate of unwanted pregnancy.
But my main point in the post was the negative impact of framing this issue and others under the rubric of “culture war.” This framing has been widely embraced by Christians and I think it needs to be critiqued from within. Those of us who identify as pro-life need to be critical of weaknesses in the pro-life movement. This is one of them that has concerned me. In fact, as an antidote to the culture war approach (which by definition discourages partisans from acknowledging any positive things in the concerns of their opponents–assuming the worst about opponents and the best about one’s allies) I think Christians need to engage in “internal critique.” Jesus did a lot of it, and it didn’t make him popular. I think he was modeling something for us that we need to take to heart in order to get out of the “culture war” mentality.
War is such a powerful metaphor that should be used sparingly because it leads to extreme thinking, to the demonization of opponents and to an unwillingless to consider the weaknesses in the position of one’s own side. It promotes “party spirit” [partisanship.] hen I speak to pro-choice friends, invariably I end up stressing the moral problems with abortion on demand. But in the blog, I tend to have more readers or at least commenters who are Christians and strongly pro-life. In acknowledging what I think is a strong weakness in the pro-life agenda (not stressing access to contraception as a way to reduce abortions, but in fact opposing it)I realize it’s not widely appreciated. But unless we start engaging in honest internal critique, we are going to simply reinforce the culture war mentality. The view from here, at least.
November 15th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
First off I am definitly against abortion that is 11 weeks and later. I am not sure about from 1 week to 11 weeks. I will ask God that one when i get there. What I do not understand is why a woman or a doctor would want to do an abortion past 11 weeks? My mom used to work in an abortion clinic for 20 years. I remember all the stories of women who used it as contraception, for getting rid of shame for being pregnent, to a boyfriend or husband who rejected the pregnancy.
But what really bugs me is that we allow abortions past 11 weeks. This is the most wrong procedure where there is a lot of blood loss, the procedure is basically killing a human being. It puts the woman at a severe risk of infection and sometimes death. I do not get the politics in allowing this to go on. How come we can not just focus on this issue of pregnancies past 11 weeks?
Do you know that most cultures around the world believe that the life or soul of a human being comes into the womb of the mother at around 11 weeks? Muslim, Japanese, Asian, African, Buddist, Hindu, etc… all believe this. Check it out you would be surprised about this statement.
So I guess the question is why we let abortions to continue past 11 weeks? This is such a middle of the road position that I am surprised that both sides have not come to the same conclusion.
November 16th, 2008 at 12:09 am
I’m sorry that my last question obscured my point. I’m afraid I fell into the very trap I was trying to warn against.
Let me try again.
I think that as long as we present our positions in terms of errors from the opposite camp — even if we consider ourselves well-informed about them — our discussion is doomed to contribute more to war than to conversation even if we are determined to avoid it. And that goes for the internal critique as much as for the external discussion.
For instance, when your pro-choice voice judged the motives of the Catholic church, I’m afraid I took the bait and got defensive. (Now, I don’t believe you were baiting anyone; but I do believe that I forgot the role the enemy plays in the conversation.)
However, if your pro-choice voice says (just as an over-simplified example), “I care about the hard choices that women face when they have an unwanted pregnancy,” they are telling me something about the foundation of their own stance rather than putting words in my mouth or the mouths of my friends. Otherwise I find myself obliged to defend — and apparently tempted to attack — rather than to build toward accord.
I can see that I screwed up with my last question to you in exactly the same way. If I am going to attempt critique from within — and that’s what I’m doing, too — I must beware feeding the party spirit ‘within the camp’ just as much as without. It was insidiously easy to just be one Christian pointing at another and saying, “Thank you Lord, that I’m not like that tax collector over there.”
Remember how that story came out…
November 16th, 2008 at 7:05 am
I was “pro-choice” until i went to “Planned Parenthood” as a poor student for a free pregnancy test in the 1970’s. It was positive & I received multiple phone calls @ home urging me to have an abortion b/c it was going to “ruin” my career. I said “I’ll never be that poor.” Someone later pointed out Planned Parenthood has probably never planned a pregnancy Having the kid took over a year to pay off the delivery bill on & she has been a handful, but is a terrific artist, & has been the springboard for a terrific, humbling walk of faith. WE WALK BY FAITH NOT BY SIGHT. But…. showing is better than telling….
Shalom,
Ellen
December 29th, 2008 at 6:59 am
Ellen, your “humbling walk of faith” is inspiring. What else can you tell us about your life as a (single?) mom. Did you have any other kids? What would you not change, and what would you do differently now that you have 40 years of hindsight?