I thought I would get into the religious aspects of abortion for a little bit. I don’t do this often, but many people use religion as the basis for their decision on this subject. The Roman Catholic Church used to teach that a soul did not enter a fetus until a woman could feel the movement in her belly. This generally happens at about 16 weeks (during the second trimester). A woman was allowed to terminate her pregnancy before the quickening of the soul to the womb. In 1869, the Church changed it’s stance on this matter. It is theorized that the Church changed its position due to the fact that Napoleon asked them to because of the dropping birth rate within his country. The Church needed a strong European ally at the time and so they struck a bargain. I do not know the truth of the situation, but it is recorded that in 1869, the Church did change its position on the matter of termination of pregnancy. From 1869 forward, the Church proclaimed that life begins when an egg is fertilized^*.

But, we should not forget some of the other major world religions. In Judaism, abortion is not considered murder, though considered morally reprehensible. A baby only has right as a living entity when a majority of its body has left the womb. In fact, the bible says in Exodus 21:22-21:25 (taken from the WEB bible, though the quotes in many translations are all equivalent);

“If men fight and hurt a pregnant woman so that she gives birth prematurely, and yet no harm follows, he shall be surely fined as much as the woman's husband demands and the judges allow. But if any harm follows, then you must take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, and bruise for bruise”

This shows that even the bible does not consider a fetus to be a person and the killing of a fetus is not murder. Often, other quotes from the bible are taken out of context to justify the religious perceptions on abortion.

In Islam, a soul is said to enter the womb at 120 days. While it considers abortion to be a sin, it is considered a greater sin to terminate a pregnancy after these 120 days. However, it does state that abortions can be allowed to safe the life and protect the health of the woman in question. There are also other limited situations in which an abortion is permitted. Hinduism also views abortion as wrong, but like many other religions, it permits it in the case of the woman’s health. The same is true for the Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches. The Church of England considers that abortion is sometimes a “necessary evil” as does Liberal and Reform Judaism. Some religions, like Buddhism, Sikhism, and Quakers, have no written law on the matter and the decision is often left up to the culture or the interpretation of the individuals and community to do the “right” thing.

Not all people who are religious think that abortion should be illegal. There are organizations like Catholics for Choice and The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice that actively support the right to choose and seek to end the negative attitudes toward the procedure. As a whole, religion does not preclude people’s views. People of all religions and cultural backgrounds have abortions. Statistics show that people of all religions have abortions and that the number that takes place is not related to the countries law or cultural and religious views.

26% of the world’s population lives in countries where abortion is illegal. Yet, abortions still take place in these countries. Nearly 4 million abortions take place a year in the Latin American countries despite the fact that it is illegal in many of them. Most of these women travel to the countries where it is legal to have the procedure performed or have illegal abortions. This is highlighted by the fact that approximately 6,000 women travel from Ireland to Britain each year to have the procedure performed. Despite the illegality of abortion in many countries, abortions still take place. About 70,000 women die every year from illegal procedures**. These statistics shows that making abortion illegal does not prevent it; it only removes facilities where sanitary and safe procedures can take place. These statistics are preached again and again so perhaps they have become watered down with use.

Now, I think abortion is a serious decision and not to be taken lightly. However, in America, sex is considered a near taboo subject. It is the source of embarrassment and squeamishness. Because of this, many people do not receive preventative sexual education. In countries where sexual education is thorough and open, abortion rates are lower. This may be due to the fact that people are more open about sex and contraceptives.

Sex happens.

It is better to be educated about it than to be ignorant. I am 100% for dropping the abortion rates in all countries, but I do not think this can be achieved through illegalization of the procedure. After all, shit happens. There are steps that can be taken; however, many cultures make this difficult.

I think a wide variety of contraceptives should be free and available to anyone who wishes them. In the long run, this would save “the system” money with its preventative care. It would encourage responsibility by decreasing the embarrassment of procuring such items.

I think sexual education should talk about sex in an open and frank fashion rather than through “scare” tactics and abstinence education to keep people away from it. Like I said before: sex happens. Teaching abstinence as the only form of birth control is foolish. People have had sex since there were people. People will continue to have sex. By teaching abstinence only education and instilling fear about sex, you predispose children/teenagers/people to hide their activities. By hiding the activities, they are less likely to act responsibly and seek contraceptives.

I think more work should be done to work toward a “male pill”. Conversely, I think the female condom should become more readily available. Both sexes should take responsibility for contraceptives and for sex. Currently there is quite a bit of work being done on this. Right now two forms are being tested: implant and injection. According to this article by the BBC, full fertility will be restored in an average of three to four months after men stop their hormone treatment. If more is done to promote birth control and the proper use there of, I truly believe that the abortion rate will decline. If both men and women can be responsible for birth control, I think they should also both be active in the abortion choice.

There is a large debate right now about that very issue. Truly, I think people are grasping onto it like it’s a life preserver when it’s not really. Do men have rights over the women’s body? I should hope not. (A man would not have rights over another man’s body would they?) Do they have rights over what is growing inside of a woman’s body? I don’t know, but it has the potential to be a slippery slope that could lead us backwards. It takes responsibility away from the woman, yet, at the same time is takes responsibility away from the man as well. There was a time when a woman only had rights through a man: her husband or her father. We fought long and hard for suffrage. We fought long and hard for equality in the work place. (Well, we’re still working for equality in the workplace to be completely honest.) Now, we want a woman to only have rights through or in conjunction with her partner? I’m not saying that a man doesn’t have any rights as a father, but, this one “baby step” could be the first in a long series of steps that could lead woman back into subservience. I think this issue should be looked at for the extreme cases before the mild ones. Cases of abusive husbands and partners, cases of incest, cases of rape … would you want those men to have rights over the womb?

I wonder if that remark makes me a feminist. I don’t like to think of myself as one, but even I can see that there are many things in which men still want to lord their opinions over women and their rights. It is true I get paid less for my work because I am a woman. In college I was actually called a “bad woman and wife” because I didn’t vote the same way as my husband. It left me in shock that someone would truly and honestly believe that. I am a “bad woman” for having an opinion that is unique from my husband? I am a “bad wife” because I don’t let my husband tell me how to exercise my right within the voting booth? I didn’t even know how to respond to that statement. It left me totally and completely speechless. If we give into those kinds of feelings, soon, we may as well lose our right to vote and be equals. Our rights have to start with our body, if we can’t even protect the one thing that is uniquely ours, then what do we have left?

I have diverted from my original intent with this long winded article and I know it. To be truthful, I don’t know where I stand on the idea of a man having right to a woman’s body and more specifically the fetus growing inside said woman’s body. I think it is okay that I don’t know; at least for now.

The whole topic of abortion has always been a sticky one and I am fairly sure that it will continue to be one for some time. On the broad issue, I do know where I stand and I think that is the important part. In my mind, it doesn’t matter what other people think about the matter until how they act on the matter starts to infringe on the rights of others. Belief is a powerful thing and changing the beliefs of others is not something that anyone should force. To make someone truly believe, they must come to conclusions on their own. So, for now, things remain on the precarious balance. Unfortunately, due to people like Mr. Napoli, the balance seems to be starting to skew.