I know I've been quite political lately. Just so many things out there that I feel so strongly about, and this current administration is bringing those things to the forefront!
I want to discuss pro-life vs. pro-birth. Now, I will preface this entire post with this: I am pro-life for myself. Should I find myself in the position of a pregnancy I cannot go through with, I would choose to carry the child and put it up for adoption (I would, however, go through open adoption where I can make sure my child is adopted and I get to choose the parents). That said, if I were to find out during the pregnancy that there was a high chance that the child would not have a good quality of life due to a medical condition, or that the child would not survive long past the womb, I would terminate. And this is where my argument of pro-live vs. pro-birth comes to play.
It seems to me that most of the people out there claiming they are pro-life are really simply pro-birth. They just want to see the baby born regardless! They aren't considering the child's quality of life, or the burden that may be put on the parents. Consider the woman who finds out during her pregnancy that say her child's lungs simply are not developing. With today's technology, we can find these kinds of issues and monitor them early. Should she really be forced to carry that baby to term, knowing that it will be put on machines the moment s/he is born and there is an 80% chance or more that the baby will not live more than a couple of weeks? Think of the emotional burden that puts on the mother! She has to go probably months knowing that this child growing inside her will not even make it, prolonging the process of her getting closure so that she can start the grief process. Add to that the financial burden that will be placed on her and her significant other after birth...the thousands of dollars in debt they will go into just to keep this child alive for a couple of weeks to satisfy the pro-birth folks!!
Sure, it may sound like I'm saying that we should be allowed to play god, and only bring into the world perfect children...but it really should be the parents' decision to continue on with the pregnancy if it is found that the child has a significant birth defect! Now, I'm not talking termination of pregnancy because they will have 6 toes or something like that...but if they find out during the pregnancy that the child has a condition that will require a whole lot of medical care through their life...a life where the child won't even be allowed to just be a child because maybe they have to be stuck inside, or confined to a wheelchair, etc., it should be the parents' right to decide to continue on!
Pro-life vs. pro-birth...do you want a baby born to live a life, or do you just want the baby born regardless of if they really have good quality life or not!
That said, I also don't believe in pushing my beliefs on others. One has to remember what it was like before Roe v Wade. Women were getting back-alley abortions and many died! Again....pro-life, or pro-birth. Do these people (most who claim themselves Christian) even care if the mother dies or not? A desperate person will go to desperate measures! If abortions become outlawed again, or are too hard to obtain, these women will go to other means...and many will die! I have to remember, I have a daughter! I have to consider, what if she found herself in a desperate situation?
Also consider the argument that there are supposedly all these parents out there who cannot have children who would gladly adopt these unwanted babies. If this were really the case, why are there some 450K kids in the foster care system right now?! Who is stepping up to adopt these kids? And though there are good foster parents, there are also many, many bad ones. Just talk to people who grew up in the system, and they will tell you some horror stories about abuse. Pro-life, or pro-birth...I have to ask again! Are these foster kids really living a good life? Are we going to ignore the statistics that show so many people who experienced terrible abuse as children grow up to be addicts or criminals...or abusers themselves? Is that really quality of life?
Pro-life vs pro-birth...ask yourself...which are you...really!