Throughout this abortion debate that I've been taking part in off and on, this poem has sprung to mind. I have no idea if the author was actually thinking of abortion when he wrote it. Ultimately, it doesn't matter. I think it's beautiful and sad, and at once captures the sadness and the necessity of abortion. Your reactions will be different than mine.
I've taken pains to argue that I don't think the "abortion is murder" line works, really, and to point out ways in which many who say so don't actually follow that thinking through to its natural ends. There's a flip side to that, though, that I think has been batted around endlessly (like everything else in this debate): how can we reconcile a belief that a fetus has no rights with a feeling of sadness towards abortion? If a fetus has no rights, and its termination represents no crime, how can someone like myself feel that an abortion is still an unfortunate and unhappy occasion? It's a thorny question, though not an intractable one. For now, all I can do is consider it in the spirit that abortion is far from the only issue in which we look for the least bad choice. I'll think hard for us all.
Traveling through the Dark
William Stafford
Traveling through the dark I found a deer
dead on the edge of the Wilson River road.
It is usually best to roll them into the canyon:
that road is narrow; to swerve might make more dead.
By glow of the tail-light I stumbled back of the car
and stood by the heap, a doe, a recent killing;
she had stiffened already, almost cold.
I dragged her off; she was large in the belly.
My fingers touching her side brought me the reason—
her side was warm; her fawn lay there waiting,
alive, still, never to be born.
Beside that mountain road I hesitated.
The car aimed ahead its lowered parking lights;
under the hood purred the steady engine.
I stood in the glare of the warm exhaust turning red;
around our group I could hear the wilderness listen.
I thought hard for us all—my only swerving—,
then pushed her over the edge into the river.
14 comments:
It isn't that the fetus has no rights, it just has less rights.
:(
Less rights than the mother, I mean.
Well that was sad.
Sometimes emotions are illogical, that's part of being human. I don't think that the fetus is human; I'm pretty sure I could never personally choose an abortion. But the sadness comes from the fact that it's the end of the possibility of a life - same with an early miscarriage where the fetus was never viable. A large segment of women (I've heard 20%, but don't know if that's accurate) will have such a miscarriage, and many of them will grieve for it. It's not an actual loss, since it is just a collection of cells that cannot develop into viability, but the loss of the idea - they believed that they would have a child, and had started to consider how it would fit into their lives. On a (vastly) lesser note, it's like being upset about the jobs that you don't get hired for. You know it's only a possibility when you go in for an interview, but even when you tell yourself that, in your mind you can see it in your life, and the plans start without conscious control. So if you don't get it... well, it's upsetting. Or is that just me?
It's not just you.
I personally am immensely saddened by abortion, but strangely enough, only in relation to how it affects me. That sounds selfish, but what I mean is that I couldn't imagine making that choice, even under really compromising circumstances ie. rape, incest or the possibility of fetal abnormality. That seems irrational to me and yet it is how I feel. Conversely however, I am comfortable living in a world where abortions are all too common. Do I wish there were less? Of course, but my heart doesn't become heavy at the thought of it. At least anymore. What I think is really sad, is how unable to express these sentiments I am in liberal circles. My friends won't hear of me discussing abortion, unless I am having a laugh at the pro-lifers. The poem made me sad.
where did my comment go?
damnit. okay, a quick retype:
rfmnbb: "What I think is really sad, is how unable to express these sentiments I am in liberal circles. My friends won't hear of me discussing abortion, unless I am having a laugh at the pro-lifers."
your friends suck. sorry.
re: the poem, i think anonymous had it right: we usually frame abortion as an ethical problem, but more than that it's an existential problem. we can't have all we want--we can't live forever, we can't fulfill all our hopes and dreams. We have to settle for less; we must choose. For the pregnant teen, she can have the future she wanted for herself, or she can have the child. Not both. That's not (in my view) a choice of ethical significance, but it's a sad one.
may i say sir that your header photo is terrible: the whole sky is overexposed and the colours and focus aren't sharp and 'L'Hote' is aliasy and too grey.
Well, I appreciate your honesty, BP. I'm not much of a photographer.
I appreciate the honesty with which you tend to great this issue, but I think you're conflating two things which ought not to be conflated. There's a difference between abortion-to-avoid-some-arguable-evil and abortion-for-convenience. You seem to consistently argue on an emotional level for the former and then assume that that will get you the latter.
It doesn't. If a pregnant woman is going to die as a result of her pregnancy, even someone pro-life like myself might say that the "least bad choice" is to prescribe an abortion, even if the fetus is a person. But if no one is going to die, but the woman simply doesn't want to be pregnant, whether or not the fetus is a person does make a difference.
You can't hold up an emotionally-compelling hypothetical where abortion probably is the least bad choice and use that to argue for abortion-on-demand. Not the same thing.
That's definitely true ryan, I'm not saying that situation in the poem is literally instructive, just that it brings up themes and feelings that I connect with regarding abortion. Also, I would point out that while the negative consequences of having a baby aren't always life-threatening, they can be real and very damaging.
"You can't hold up an emotionally-compelling hypothetical where abortion probably is the least bad choice and use that to argue for abortion-on-demand."
Ryan;
Obviously you can: by pointing out how ludicrous it would be to appoint someone to decide when we were in one of those "emotionally-compelling" least bad choice scenarios, and when abortion was simply being on-demanded. Perhaps a machine which was sensitive enough to emotional particles that it could be compelled by them, and flash colored lights.
Or, you could point out that the fact that you believe that abortion is OK once one has been emotionally compelled makes it hard to believe that you really mean what you say when you claim to believe that "the fetus is a person."
But to do that, you have to be willing to make arguments about abortion in the realm of logic. Poems, origami, throat-songs, these are not going to be useful tools. Especially unhelpful is asserting that everyone who believes this conversation can be held rationally are trying to sell you something.
^^Thanks!!
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