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I've been pre-occupied a great deal with the subject of choice lately. It's been all these Rethug assaults on choice that have got me reeling and the knowledge that if Obama is defeated in '12, new conservative Supremes could be elected that might be in a position to overturn Roe v. Wade. As I've said before in other posts, I think the Supremes would balk at doing it at the last minute and Obama so far seems to be secure for a second term, but currently, these extremists have commandeered our government and are launching stealth attacks on womens' right to choose in several states with ringing success.
I've been in a lively discussion, sometimes not too pleasant, on Political Forum.com under the handle of roz. I'd like to transcribe some of the arguments I've laid out in hopes that DU'ers might have some better perspectives.
The anti-choicers base their arguments mostly on religious reasons, on the Bible for the greatest part. But, does the Bible mention abortion or say anything about the sanctity of the unborn?
Christians constantly quote scripture about God "knowing you when you were in the womb." "God knitted me together in the womb." "I called you from the womb." These are their claims that God considers life to begin at conception. But, God seems to be kind of bipolar about the innocent in said womb.
In Hosea, the prophet commanded pregnant Samarian women to be ripped open. In Genesis, the Jewish patriarch, Ruben, ordered his daughter-in-law, Tamar to be sentenced to death by burning after learning that she was pregnant out of wedlock. As she was being taken to the fire, she told Ruben he was the father of her twins; she'd punked him three months earlier by seducing him dressed as a hooker. Oops. But, it seems as if the practice wasn't uncommon if their laws could sentence a pregnant woman to death. If the unborn were expendable, double that for born infants. Moses commanded his men to kill the Midianites in Exodus "down to the last suckling babe and to keep the virgins for yourselves." He ordered the men, women, children and babes in arms of Jericho to meet the same fate in the Book of Joshua as well as everything that breathes of the Canaanite people. In Numbers, a pregnant woman accused of adultery was given "bitter waters" to drink. If she was innocent, her pregnancy would proceed with no problem. If guilty, she'd miscarry. No one knows what was in the bitter waters, but some scholars have theorized that a cocktail including the now extinct silphium, an herb that was used as an abortifacient, might have been one of the ingredients.
In the New Testament, Jesus similarly never mentioned abortion. And during his life and ministry, there were several cultures and people around that practiced it. Yet, Jesus and his disciples never picketed any of the places where the procedures were going on. Jesus never included the practice in one of his many parables. He remained silent on the subject completely. Modern day Christians point at vague references to him gathering children around him, saying, "Suffer the little children to come unto me...such is the kingdom of Heaven." Seems to me he'd have grabbed a pregnant woman instead and rubbed her belly saying that you'd be impaled on the devil's pitch fork if you got rid of the fruit of her womb or something.
The subject is a lightning rod here on DU and all over the country. I feel ambiguous about it myself, especially during it's last trimester when higher brain and nervous system functions have developed. However, that's my opinion, my decision and I wouldn't ever presume to take it from another woman. But, anti-choicers are trying to take the choice not just of abortion in it's first, second and third trimester, but of every form of contraception altogether except the "natural" calender rhythm method and some even criticize that, saying God never mentioned birth control in the Bible at all and told his creation to multiply ad infinitum. Many anti-choicers can have 20 kids if they want. It's their choice, if they can afford them. If they can't my heart goes out to them. They'll need public assistance and with the way Republicans are cutting funds for programs for the poor left and right, they'll be pretty much screwed.
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