I was having a fine and productive day, enjoying some Earl Grey tea and getting a head start on my weekend homework, when I saw this meme:
I normally hate butthurt rants, but I truly am very offended. I saw this on a Liberal Facebook page that I usually agree wholeheartedly with. Besides the obvious reason that I'm always disappointed when liberals resort to hateful, vitriolic rhetoric when they don't have to (after all, facts are on our side), I'd like to talk about it.
You all know that I identify as pro-life. I think I've made that clear in several posts. However, when it comes to what I actually believe in the gigantic mess that is the abortion debate, I'm too much of both to truly qualify as either one. Let me explain:
My sincere hope, which I know I share with many, both pro-life and pro-choice, is to make abortion a horror of the past, but I hope to do it by making it unnecessary. I agree with the liberal, largely pro-choice idea that contraception, comprehensive sexual education, social safety nets, and adoption reform will greatly reduce abortion rates, and that until such things exist our country isn't ready to repeal Roe v. Wade and eliminate safe abortions. I would never for a second deny the advancement in women's social status after the legalization of abortion, though I truly think the same can be achieved through less violent and destructive means. The ONLY restriction I currently support is a time limit to ensure that, barring freak circumstances, pain-capable fetuses are protected, making abortion as humane as possible.
You may ask, "Why don't you just call yourself pro-choice?" It's a question I get a lot when this comes up. Really.
The answer comes down to personal preference. I dislike the general attitude of pro-choice towards the act of abortion and the unborn themselves. Terms like "incubator," "clump of cells," and "rape baby" (the absolute worst one) completely turn me off to their message. I agree with them on their solution to the problem, but not on their attitude about the problem. Yes, I realize that this is a generalization and that there are pro-choice individuals who do not use such terminology. And I appreciate that, but like I said, it's personal preference.
I also, as you can imagine, dislike the contempt that flies at me the moment "pro-life" comes out of my mouth. Immediately I'm Satan, wanting women to die in botched illegal abortions and be slaves to reproduction. I shouldn't have to explain to you after everything I've just said that this isn't the case. I do think that abortion is the very sad, though sometimes necessary, taking of a life. I've been called an assortment of names for this thought, from naive to dipshit (pardon the language) to sentimental creep. (Yes, I realize that there are pro-life people who truly are monsters, and that not all pro-choice people react that way to a simple disagreement.)
And this ties into the meme I posted. How dare anyone criticize me calling myself a certain thing without knowing anything about what I truly think. I am more than a label. If you [pro-choicers] would be offended by a meme that says "Oh, you're pro-choice? Please tell me how many abortions you've gleefully had!", then you understand why I'm miffed right now. Pro-choice =/= abortion-lover. Pro-life =/= woman-hater.
End of story.
I'll go a little bit further, though I don't feel I should have to. I will adopt children one day. I will be a foster parent one day. I hate to break it to you, but I'm living in a college dorm and still largely financially dependent on my parents. In no way am I fit, nor eligible, to adopt anyone. Does that mean that I'm not allowed to call myself pro-life? No.
And what about those who can't adopt for other reasons? Perhaps a prior conviction, perhaps financial struggles, what have you. How are you being fair to them? Are they unqualified to call themselves pro-life? What if, by the time I'm estimating I'll be adopting, I'm one of them? Will I be unqualified?
No. No, no, no. Because my label means nothing regarding my actions, or even my true beliefs. And no one has the right to tell me what I can and can't call myself. Or to mock my sincerity when they know nothing about me.
Ali
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