Okay, personal experience time!
Today, I was doing a photo-project presentation for a class on the presence of the "Jesuit Mission" here at SLU. One of the members in my group is deeply religious, which I totally respect. You do you, I'll do me. A picture he had taken was of the SLU Students For Life anti-abortion protest display out on the quad earlier this month (or maybe late October, it's not important I know the exact date...). I'll try my best to accurately quote what he said "This is a display by SLU Students For Life, mourning the deaths of thousands of innocent children who died of abortion or other similar causes. This is in line with the Jesuit Mission because it reflects a "reverence for God's creation" and respects the lives that were taken by such a horrific act." I swear if I wasn't getting graded at that moment, I would've jumped on that comment. It was really insensitive, melodramatic, and well, not surprising. Typical white, conservative, Catholic, male, heterosexual perspective on an incredibly complex and multi-faceted issue. It was BEYOND frustrating and annoying to me, especially since it's that kind of ignorant rhetoric that ostracizes women who do have to make the difficult and painful decision of whether or not to abort their pregnancies. Don't preach your religion and your personal philosophies to the class, especially on a topic you know nothing about and can never understand. (An idea that needs to get across the old, white men of our legislature, I think...)
I hate disrespectful statements like those... One of my best friends got pregnant over the summer (despite the fact that she does use birth control), and had an abortion at the beginning of the school year. People don't seem to realize how difficult it was for her to make the decision she had to make, which is something that really bothers me. Personally, I think that she made the smarter decision given her circumstances, due to the fact that she's not capable of raising a child right now. I think that many of the people who criticize these women are "pro-birth" rather than pro-life, in the sense that they care about the child being born, but not about what happens to them afterward. The fail to realize that the women these children are born to don't have adequate means of supporting them, and this will greatly affect the quality of their lives.
ReplyDeleteThat was not right for him to say. I am also deeply religious, and I believe religious people should do their best to be very caring and helpful towards others. If tragedy strikes, we need to be there to pick people up, not bring them down father. Yes, abortions are tragic events, but it's not like women do it because they want to. It's not like, "Yes! I love abortions!" Not at all... Everyone has to understand that these decisions are probably the hardest ones these people will ever make, and that can't be taken lightly. It is also in the Jesuit Mission to be "men and women for others," and making people feel bad about things they probably felt horrible about in the first place is not representative of that theme. While I am more towards the Pro-Life side, I do not appreciate the lack of concern for others in his statement.
ReplyDeleteSo my original reply got deleted..so I'm going to remake a shorter reply.
ReplyDeleteI think you handled the situation beautifully. I don't think I could've restrained myself from asking if he's every known a woman who's had to get an abortion and heard her story. If he's ever visited a clinic or gone to assist in a sexual education (or prevention if that's his naive value) to try and PREVENT pregnancies from ever occurring?
I've known a few women who made the tough choice to have an abortion. One of the more heart-sinking was in regards to the baby's health because it wasn't developing properly and wouldn't have survived into the third trimester.
I'm always very skeptical of people who are so apathetic and distanced from the reality of these situations. Try to tell me the only people getting abortions aren't thinking about the lives of their child as well as their own. Try to tell me these women are selfish and promiscuous without control because I'll show you women who completely break that stereotype.