The Dilemma Of The Non-Religious Pro-Lifer, page 1

(if this is in the wrong forum, please move it; thanks)

I'm not a religious person. I have started doing a serious reading of the Bible & I find no comfort in it. I'm for religious freedom & the freedom to not believe in religion. As far as I'm concerned, there is nothing wrong with homosexuality. And I don't I don't want religious beliefs to influence our laws. Basically, according to a lot of religious people, I'm going to Hell.

Also, I think abortion is the ending of a life.

I think it is the ending of a life not because God told me to, but out of the most basic logical & moral conclusions. I'm not even saying that it should be illegal, I'm not going so far as to suggest laws banning or controlling it or whatnot--I'm simply saying that when you abort a fetus you are ending his or her life. And I guess it really irks me when pro-choicers, in their zest to legitimize the practice, so enthusiastically and dogmatically promote the theory that a fetus is a lifeless bundle of tissue that hardly deserves more than a quick toss in the hazardous waste bin at the hospital. Surely the fetus deserves slightly more of a send-off than that? Perhaps a one-minute a moment of silence? 30 seconds?

But a good pro-choicer would never dare acknowledge the humanity of the fetus, because that would hurt their "cause." So in the interest in winning an argument & "sticking" it to the pro-lifers (who the pro-choicers deep down consider to be nutty religious hicks anyway) they adamantly persist in their views that the fetus is a lifeless bundle of tissue.

If a pro-choicer herself or one's significant other gets pregnant, how would that person regard the developing fetus that carries half their DNA? Since a fetus is only a pile of lifeless tissue, wouldn't it be silly to attribute any human characteristics on such a creature, such as talking lovingly to the woman's belly, the woman "feeling" that the baby is inside of her & loving it, etc? And if she miscarries--why mourn? It's just lifeless bio-waste anyway! However, don't parents-to-be pro-choicers do this sort of stuff all the time? I knew an ardent pro-choicer who later suffered a miscarriage. She was very upset & took 2 weeks off of work to grieve. But according to her pro-choice philosophy, the fetus, which wasn't near full-term, was lifeless bio-mass anyway--I know this sounds harsh, but shouldn't she have been consistent in her philosophy? The answer is: no, because it was an illogical, obscene philosophy to begin with. Indeed, she named her lifeless bio-mass and considers it a deceased member of the family.

But what is the non-religious pro-lifer to do? Are there others like me? What are my options; to stand alone in the face of the liberal/secular-humanist tide and be called a "collaborator" with the Conservatives & a religious nut? Or do I "sell out" and join the ranks of the Christians?

How can such enlightened people as liberals be so damned cold-blooded & blind on this one issue? To refuse to even acknowledge that the "lifeless biomass" could possibly be something more? To refuse to acknowledge the medical reports from mainstream institutions like John Hopkins that fetuses experience more pain than we do? They want so badly to "beat" the Conservatives & the Religious Right yet they have so much blood on their own hands. That's why, as much as I don't agree with Christians on most things, I support their fight against secular-humanists. Because I feel a society that has successfully devalued humans at one stage of life can go on to devalue them at others.

And if indeed, as many pro-choicers claim, I'm not taking life "for real," that I'm not looking at the harsh reality of life and overpopulation and unfit mothers etc etc, and in this harsh reality abortions ARE necessary--can they at least admit that the fetus is more than lifeless, soulless biomass? At least admit that an abortion is the ending, albeit tactically, of a life--and stop all this Orwellian newspeak bulls**t. Because maybe this is a sh*tty world, maybe babies are better off dead than being born to poor mothers, maybe the key to ending overpopulation is more killing, etc--but at least be honest about it and give the victims their due recognition. Those who persist in viewing fetuses as having the same worth as a hunk of fat from a lipo job are, in my opinion, utterly detestable--but worse than detestable, they are willingly stupid and ignorant of reality in order to prove a philosophical point.

So if there are any non-religious pro-lifers out there--somebody's got to start a movement or do something! Because as much as the Religious Right scares us, they've got the correct viewpoint on this matter, and I feel their objection to what is essentially a fetal holocaust gives them the moral (not Bible-moral, just moral) authority to prevail. And I'm a person saying this who thinks gays should get married and that Satanists are misunderstood. I'm utterly alone out here on this topic. And I forgot about this topic for a long time, and then I had a dream last night where the full horror of this situation hit me and I just woke up and lay awake in bed contemplating the whole thing--and I was like dammit, I don't want to champion this cause, it's totally unpopular with my peers and it's a total uphill battle. But in order for liberals & secular-humanists to evolve and grow & stay healthy & prevail, people like me HAVE to say something. It's more important that we say something than 20 busloads of Christians.

I'm not asking for a ban on abortion. I'm just asking for us (the non-religious, the progressive & the liberal) to have the courage to acknowledge fetuses as possessing life. How many pro-choicers have the guts to do that?