Response to "A Defense of Abortion"

A short response to Judith Jarvis Thomson’s “A Defense of Abortion” (http://spot.colorado.edu/~heathwoo/Phil160,Fall02/thomson.htm):

JJT lays a weak foundation by beginning with anomalies as a defense of choice for all. Her first example, cases of rape, is often the first argument pro-choice advocates use because they know people are moved by cases of rape. Rape is alarmingly common. This was my greatest concern when I was contemplating the arguments surrounding abortion: I know dozens of women, including many close friends, who have been raped or sexually assaulted. I was sexually assaulted in high school. The thought of a victim being faced with a pregnancy that has been forced on her is horrifying.

However, pregnancy resulting from rape is extremely rare because:
(1) Many American women use ongoing birth control methods (the pill, IUD).
(2) For most women, there is a very narrow window in which they can become pregnant each month. For the most fertile women on the planet, it’s five to six days; average is perhaps two to four. (This is why couples are said to be “trying” to get pregnant; the average period for “trying” is having sex daily for five to nine months, based on the woman’s age, before a pregnancy is achieved.) Add in the many probability-lowering factors: sperm quantity/speed, health of the egg that month, the fact that eggs don’t always get fertilized even on a “fertile” day and that fertilized eggs often don’t implant, and that trauma increases the likelihood of miscarriage.
(3) rape victims who report the crime usually receive medical treatments to lessen the possibility of implantation of a potentially fertilized egg.

JJT’s second example, of pregnancy presenting a threat to the mother’s life, is also extremely rare. Such cases most often end in miscarriage long before any serious threat presents. More importantly, few pro-life advocates take the position that the at-risk mother must carry the pregnancy to term. Rather, a more consistent pro-life position is to assert that since all life is valuable, the mother’s life is no less valuable than the child’s. Since JJT is prone to using absurd, unrelated illustrations, I’ll use one of my own: Two construction workers are impaled through the chest by a steel rod. While surgeons could save the worker in the front by getting him immediately into surgery, the pressure of his body is sustaining the one in the back. The front worker’s choice will decide who lives.

Compare this with another silly illustration: A man is walking down the street and someone is blocking his path. He yells out, “I have an appointment and I must get there, so you need to move now!” But the pedestrian blocking the path doesn’t move. So the walking man pulls out a revolver and shoots the other pedestrian dead.

What’s my point? Anyone can create a ridiculous illustration (or even a plausible-yet-unrelated one) as a defense. It’s very dangerous to base one’s stance on unrelated scenarios such as the sudden appearance of a violinist that’s surgically attached to your body, or expanding babies that live in teeny, tiny homes and grow so quickly that they crush the homeowner inside. Or people who shoot pedestrians who don’t move quickly enough down the street. I would submit that the topic is far too serious—both pro-choice and pro-life advocates recognize that it’s a moral issue—to build one’s argument largely based on a string of analogies. Do coats and boxes of chocolate really have a direct correlation with mothers and fetuses?

I’d submit that analogies are helpful for explanation, but hardly the building blocks of good argumentation.

Moving on … a precedent shouldn’t be established merely based on anomalies. (Note that the Mosaic law takes anomalies into account, e.g. the norm is to rest on the Sabbath, but if your ox falls into a pit during the Sabbath, it’s good and right to do whatever work is needed to aid the animal.) We base our laws on the norm; we alter our laws to account for extenuating circumstances.

In any case, the above examples, of rape cases and of the at-risk mother, cannot in any sense be considered the norm in regard to abortion. As JJT has constructed her argument, using anomalies as the foundation and building upon that with piecemeal analogy, I find it unsubstantial and unpersuasive.

Aside from what JJT has presented, more important questions have been raised: What is the moral position for a Christian in regard to these rare cases? Is it morally permissible for a woman to terminate a pregnancy that results from rape? Or if her life is in danger? Realizing the limits of my own knowledge on these topics, I would refer those interested in more insight to Scott Rae, a philosophy professor and an ethicist who consults for hospitals on topics such as abortion, euthanasia, fertility treatments, and stem-cell research. He discusses some specific scenarios in his book “Moral Choices,” and I’m sure I could get a list of resource readings from him if anyone is interested.

Downtime

Feeling blue this season? Me, too. But for once, my primary goal isn't to get happy again. Instead, I'm most interested in finding out what God is teaching me through my sadness. Read more about my thoughts on this topic on Kyria.com:

Downtime

Could God have a sanctifying purpose for the sadness I feel?

Earlier this week, I realized I've been really depressed. I had no appetite. I couldn't sleep at night—though I did manage to sleep all day a few times. It felt like my greatest accomplishment was to get out of bed, take a shower, and dress in something other than my bathrobe. ...

FULL ARTICLE:
http://kyria.com/topics/hottopics/selfcare/downtime.html

Youth Survey: Win a Book!

CALLING ALL STUDENTS, ages 13 to 21: Fill out this very short survey by Friday, Dec. 10, and you could win an autographed book of your choice by author Shannon Primicerio!

(The survey is for me, by the way, to aid in some youth curriculum I'm working on--thanks for your help!)

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VQ2ZKLM

Strictly for the Hard Core: What Happens When We Die?

This is a revision of a research paper I wrote. I chose the topic after a Christian friend passed away, which caused me to think on questions such as: Since death is the punishment for sin, and God has forgiven the believer's sin, then why does a believer still die? Is death any different for the believer?

This short paper summarizes the thinking of some the great church minds including Augustine, John Calvin, William Shedd, and Norman Geisler on the origin of death, the difference between physical and spiritual death, and why the believer need not fear death.

Holly's Complete TCW Posts Now Online

As some of you know, Today's Christian Woman closed up shop last fall. Since the site no longer exists, I've posted the blogs I wrote for them on my site, http://hollyvicenterobaina.blogspot.com/. Enjoy the old stuff while I finish up my master's in Christian Apologetics at Biola University. New stuff TK soon!

FREE Advent Audio Devotionals

These short audio devotions for Advent were created by Marina Christian Fellowship in Los Angeles, CA. They include Scripture readings and music: www.marinachristian.org/tomorrowiwillcome_1

There's more info about the devotions and the folks who put them together on the web page. My sister is the female vocalist.

Who Am I? I Forgot ...

Holly's latest piece is now on Kyria.com:

Who Am I? I Forgot ...
When we let important stuff slide, our true identity slips away.

(If you're not able to access this, email me at contacthnt@gmail.com.)

The Power of Positive Spanking

I haven't posted on my personal blog for a couple months, and (thankfully, I guess) a few folks took notice, asking, "No bloggy? What gives?"

For starters, the magazine I regularly blogged for (Today's Christian Woman) folded a couple months ago. But I'd be lying if I said that's why I haven't written anything lately.

I'm also finishing up a master's degree in Christian Apologetics--I'm set to graduate next May. But I'd also be lying if I said that's why I haven't written.

In truth, the well has been dry. And not because I didn't want to write.

My Source had cut me off.

For the past few months, I've been focused on everything except God. I still knew I loved God, but my identity in Christ had gotten mushed down beneath the busy work of everyday life. Every prayer was beginning with the phrase, "I'm sorry I haven't spent time with you, God." And ending with the words, "I'm going to make time for you, real soon. Just not right now."

I do believe God takes away a person's ministry if they're not focused on him. (After all, if you're gonna be in the position of telling other people about God, you've got to be dedicated to knowing him yourself, right?) I've seen God give me a "time out," time and time again. And I've seen God do this to other folks.

I knew I was being disciplined, and that I should recognize. But frankly, I wanted to be naughty. I was enjoying a period of having every thought in my head be about ME. I was focused on the things I thought I wanted to accomplish. Thinking about how to make the future a happy one for myself. And patting myself on the back for what I've done in the past. In short, I'd mentally made myself the center of the world.

Fortunately, my Father is willing to dish out some tough love. He sent some folks to spiritually smack me upside the head (and I doubt they even knew they were doing so). And he reminded me that I don't know what's best for me--my goals, I realized, really didn't suit me at all. He showed me that my self-centered, self-congratulatory attitude was causing me to look inward for community (um, it isn't there), and to pull away from authentic relationships. God once again proved that my idea of "happy" was making me miserable.

I'm beginning to deeply appreciate God's discipline. I know that if he didn't love me, he'd let me wander off. But he seeks me out and draws me back every time. As CCM artist Michael Tait once put it in his song, God's love is "stronger than gravity," ever pulling us back to the Source of everything that's good.

And I'm learning discipline isn't just about punishment. God has taken me through some emotionally difficult times so I'll learn to trust and rely on him. He's put circumstances in my life to teach me how to be more Christ-like. I've experienced his love as my patient schoolmaster.

Next week, I'll post the link to an article I wrote for Kyria.com on H-n-T. It explains a bit more about these spiritual struggles I've been having. Please pray with me as I wait on God for his direction, and for me as God cleans me up from the mud puddle o' self-centeredness that I've been rolling around in.