Summary
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| Anti-abortion protesters in the US |
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Response
Abortion has been a controversial issue in the US for at least the last fifty years. It was made legal everywhere in a famous 1973 US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) opinion, Roe v. Wade, but opponents, including many politicians who want Christian and other religious votes, have tried to limit the right of American woman to a safe, legal abortion. Although I enjoy reading SCOTUS opinions, which are models of critical thinking in solid academic English, I don't always agree with the majority opinion. Roe v. Wade is interesting because although I think that women should have a right to an abortion when they want one, for any reason and at any time in the pregnancy, I don't think that a SCOTUS ruling was the best way to achieve that. It would be better if the politicians changed the law themselves. But the same as with same-sex marriage in 2015, it was a decision by the nine justices of the Supreme Court that changed the law with their interpretation of the US Constitution.Although not so heated as the issue is in the US, abortion also remains controversial in Australia. In fact, it was only this year that parliement acted to finally remove abortion from the list of crimes that doctors or women could commit. However, in most Australian states, abortion has been legal, with restrictions, for many years.
I think it's an emotional issue because it's about life and death, about religious belief, and about what people think makes an act morally right or wrong. I can understand why religious people are against abortion, but they are wrong. It's also a reminder that religion should not be used to make the law. If there is no good reason for making something legal or illegal that is independent of religious belief, then the law should not be made; otherwise, everyone's religious prejudices should have the same legal right to be forced on other people, and that seems wrong to me. Should steak be illegal because cows are sacred to Hinus? Should beer be a criminal drug because its against Islam? This leads to a lot of confused thinking because in the US, the First Amendment to their excellent constitution, which has lasted more than 200 years, forbids the government from either supporting or opposing any religion. This means that the people who oppose abortion because they are Christian or some other religion have to make up other arguments, and those arguments are all very weak arguments. For example, they argue that all life is sacred, but then they go out and kill pigs, cows and chickens to turn them into tasty snacks. Or they argue that human life is sacred, but then they need to explain what makes all human life, in particular the life an unborn human, so different to the lives of pigs, cows and chickens; they cannot give any good reason, I think that the honest name for the "pro-life" people who oppose abortion is really the anti-person people. It's being a person that makes our lives valuable, and unborn babies, while exerting a powerful emotional response from us, do not have any characteristic of human persons. They do not think They do not have plans. They are not self-conscios. They do not have emotional bonds. They do not have any other trait that defines us as persons.
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Question
What is a controversial social issue in your country?
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Reference
- Coronavirus: Texas says abortions 'non-essential' amid pandemic. (2020, March 25). BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/52012243
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ReplyDeleteIn Thailand, abortion has also been a controversial issue for several years, beginning with groups of obstetricians. However, similar to many other countries, abortion is opposed by many conservative people, usually religious people. Because Buddhism also believes that abortion is a great sin, and women who have an abortion should be caught up by karma for many other lives.
ReplyDeleteFor me, as a Catholic person, I understand both people who support and oppose abortion. But actually, I usually defined myself as a liberal Catholic. In the case of abortion, I do not think it is a morally right thing to do. But I think it is a right for women to have an abortion because I give priority to the lives of children that will be born by unintended pregnancies. In most cases of unwanted pregnancy, mothers are usually teenagers who are not ready to raise children. How will the lives of these children be if their mothers actually do not want them or are not mature enough to raise them? In this aspect, anti-abortion will lead to more social problems.
Moreover, in the case of Thailand, abortion is illegal except for cases of maternal health and being rape. So, women who would like to have abortion have no choice but to choose an unlicensed clinic, which endangers mothers' lives. So, I think legalizing abortion will help, rather than destroy, more lives.
Finally, I would like to respond to religious people that people have the freedom to believe or not to believe in religions. You cannot put a particular faith to be an absolute norm of the society, which is interfaith. And for Christians, the scripture, according to Luke (6: 37) said: "Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven." It is not our duty and our right to judge people whether their decision is right or wrong, but the Lord. And I also believe that no mother does not feel guilty while having an abortion. And as we feel guilty, the Lord is always ready to forgive our sins.
Thank you Tung for the thoughtful reply to my post. I like your point that abortion often prevents a bad life. About 20 years ago, an economist did an analysis on the causes of the dramatic drop in all types of crime in the US in the 1990s, when crime rates that had been rising suddenly dropped by about half within a few years. He upset a lot of people when his analysis of the statistics suggested that the single biggest explanation of the drop in crime was that abortion had been legalized in the US twenty years earlier. His explanation, solidly supported by the statistical analysis, was that the mothers who had abortions made wise choices that prevented many children being born into awful lives that would lead to crime. The crime did not happen because abortion was legally available instead of forcing women to have children that they were not able to give a good life.
DeleteThe evidence strongly suggests that abortion is as healthy for society as it is good for women who choose it for whatever reason.
If you would like to follow it up, a more recent source that builds on Levitt's original paper is: Donohue, J. J. & Levitt, S. D. (2019). [Abstract]. The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime over the Last Two Decades. National Bureau of Economic Research. Working Paper 25863. https://www.nber.org/papers/w25863 (The abstract includes a link to the full pdf of the paper.)
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ReplyDeleteA controversial social issue in my country is political polarization. In last 10 years Thailand has facing a political conflict between a difference of political perspective, generation gap. I think it's a serious issue because people in our society become more extreme that is putting democracy in danger. The fundamental of Democracy is pluralism, society should have diversity, which is culture, race, group of people that can live together peacefully even they have different interests. Sadly, political polarization going to divide us a part.
ReplyDeleteNowadays, not only in Thailand but also global are facing this problem too. The rising of political polarization divides people to be “us” and “them”. It’s hard to keep listening someone that we didn’t agree with their ideology or they are on opposite side of our political ideology. This consequence led to violent issue because it’s easy way to changes society than start a dialogue, for talk and deep listen a variety perspective. It may take long time and request more tolerant and patient.
In my view, our society must address polarization as a serious problem. we need to create a space or public sphere for allowing people to see things from another’s perspective. I believe that if people start to talk it better than fight.