In Florida’s election we have a constitutional amendment on abortion rights to vote on. I believe that choosing to abort a child is wrong in almost all circumstances. My belief is founded on both moral and religious convictions. Every abortion causes me anguish. Yet I am voting for the amendment to restore abortion rights in Florida. Why?
I am not voting on whether to have abortions. I am voting on whether to harm women and doctors who terminate a pregnancy before a child is able to survive outside the womb. Here is the text of the amendment:
No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider. This amendment does not change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.
If I don’t vote for this amendment, I am agreeing to use coercion against women and doctors to keep them from aborting pregnancies. How much coercion would it take to stop all abortions? Abortion is a private decision between a woman and her doctor. As a society, should we harm someone for a choice in which we had no part, even if it is wrong?
I abhor the thought of aborting a pregnancy because it’s easier not to be pregnant or because having a child would be inconvenient. I like to think that if I were a woman or a doctor I would value human life too highly to abort a pregnancy for selfish reasons. However, I am neither a woman nor a doctor, so I do not expect to ever have to face that choice.
If I were asked, there are exceptional circumstances in which I would advise that terminating a pregnancy before a baby can be delivered is the right choice.
Babies do not take care of themselves. The welfare of a child depends upon the welfare of the mother. If we care about babies, we have to take care of women. That is why if a pregnancy cannot be continued without harm to the mother, the mother’s welfare must come first, even though terminating the pregnancy would be a tragedy. Mothers who suffer such a tragedy and doctors who assist them through it deserve support, not punishment.
Another tragedy that I would consider justifies an abortion is when a baby is incapable of surviving after birth. Continuing such a pregnancy would needlessly increase the suffering of both the mother and the child.
There is a limit to when and where my ideas of right and wrong should be imposed on others. We don’t make laws to prevent sin. We make laws to preserve peace and freedom. The idea that life begins at conception comes from Roman Catholicism. People shouldn’t have to let Roman Catholicism tell them when life begins. They should decide that for themselves based on their best judgment and the available science. Your faith should only govern you. Trying to govern others by your faith violates their peace and freedom.
If you killed an intruder who came into your home, that would be a tragedy to me. I might think you made the wrong choice. If I were in your place I might have found a way to avoid it. But I would accept that you had the right to make that choice for yourself. You had neither the time nor the obligation to consult me. However, I would not accept that you have the right to go out and kill someone who gets in your way. Similarly, accepting a woman’s right to choose what happens inside her own body is not the same as accepting the murder of children.
We have a responsibility to consider whether what we do to stop something bad makes things worse. When people do something horrible, does that give you a license to do horrible things to them? No! You are responsible for what you do, no matter what other people do. I would be wrong if I chose to harm people who made choices I thought were wrong. And I would be wrong if I agreed for someone else to harm them. If I didn’t vote for this amendment, that’s what I would be doing. Don’t try to have it both ways. If you don’t vote for this amendment, you won’t be able to say, It’s not me that’s harming you, it’s the law. You helped make the law.
I believe that choosing to abort a pregnancy for any selfish reason is wrong. I advise against it. But this vote is not advice. It is not a way for me to express my beliefs. This vote is my choice not to harm people who do not share my beliefs or take my advice.