The new US Administration has just reinstated a “gag order”
that prevents funding to foreign NGO’s that offer abortion as part of their
services. I posted a meme in response, a
quick, satirical jab at what is an incredibly complex, and deeply human
issue. It caused some
consternation. Here’s a more considered response.
The first time my voice was ever published, was in the
Sydney Morning Herald. I was twelve, and
had written a letter to the editor.
There, under the bold heading “YOUTH WRITES”, were my words, written in
defence of the unborn, after a science class where we examined the foetus of a
sheep, sourced from the local abbatoir.
The foetus was a perfectly formed, delicate, mini-sheep. Hairless except for its beautiful eyelashes,
it appeared to be sleeping. It was
clearly, absolutely, fully “sheep”. No
formless glob of cells there. This
thing had an identity, had clearly been viable, and its one, miraculous life
had been cut short. Abortion, I
reasoned, was clearly murder. How could
anyone end something as precious as a developing human life?
Now, at age 51, my perspective is more nuanced. I’ve never been in the position to need
abortion services. My children were
planned, and desperately wanted. I don’t
see pregnancy termination as an easy or desirable option for anyone. Actually, I don’t know a single person who
does. And I value human life and
potential. However, this is not a
decision I feel I could ever make, for another woman.
When I was sixteen, if I had
found myself that awkward position, there’s no doubt I would have continued the
pregnancy. I had supportive (and
pro-life) parents, and a loving community surrounding me. I also lived in a country that provided
benefits and services for each child born.
There was an inspirational student in my HSC cohort, in fact, who had
left school to have a child, and was returning to further her own education. I don’t know where she is now, but chances
are, she’s had a fulfilling, normal life, and so has her little girl. But this is Australia. We have so many choices and options - SO much
support. Still, that doesn’t mean life
choices are simple for everyone. Even
here, the stereotype that I once held, of the typical “abortion seeker” – a
selfish, irresponsible woman who perhaps thought more highly of her career
prospects than a precious human life – is far from accurate. Not everyone has the social support, family
and psychological stability, emotional capability, physical health, or in some
cases the maturity (think of your average twelve year old!) to cope with
parenthood. Or even pregnancy leading to
adoption. To anyone in this privileged,
bountiful country of mine, who is facing, or has faced, the difficult choice of
whether to continue a pregnancy in difficult circumstances – you have my heart,
not my judgment. I know that life is
rarely simple, and that what looks, in purely ideological terms, so black and
white, just isn’t.
But let’s leave Australia and the developed world out of
this, for a moment. After all, the
contentious US Gag Rule applies to NGO’s working in developing countries. Places where what we might consider “grey
areas” shade very quickly to black. If
we, in our first world comfort zone, still
have situations where pregnancy is a disastrous outcome (and we do!) How much
more is this multiplied in the third world?
In places where child marriage may be commonplace, rape endemic, and
poverty crushing and intractable, how appropriate is it, to push an ideal of
sacred human life and sacrificial motherhood?
Is that really all you would give, to a ten year old child bride, a
young rape victim, or even an impoverished mother of seven, without the health
to carry a child safely, or the means to feed the children she already
has?
US funding does not, and never has, directly funded abortion
services. However it has provided desperately needed health
care and access to contraception to places that would otherwise have none. Many of the organisations who receive this
funding also use privately sourced
funds to provide abortion services when needed.
They do this, whilst simultaneously working to provide care,
contraception and education in order to prevent unplanned pregnancy. The “Gag Rule” does not pull funding from
abortion services. It pulls it from
health, education and contraceptive access, in places that often have no other
avenues. All because of an ideal that simply
does not fit a convoluted world. And all
to win the approval and votes of people who applaud airy ideals, oblivious of
real-life complexities.
