The very term "pro-life" seems beyond criticism. However when you look at the platform of the pro-life movement what emerges is a narrow minded and mean spirited vision that is in practice is so anti-life, it makes the 'pro-life' slogan seem like cruel irony.
It is a given that anyone with a shred of humanity regards newborns as a blessing. We are all pro-life in that sense. What type of human wouldn't feel good to know that a woman has successfully birthed a healthy newborn child. It goes without saying.
But the people who put on badges, and carry slogans bearing the 'pro-life' message, are driven by ideology and hard nosed theological convictions that in practice are destroying the lives of women around the globe, and damning others to a living hell.
Amnesty International recently concluded that rape and enforced impregnation are not simply the tragic results of war, but are in fact the tools of war and oppression. It is going to push for the decriminalization of abortion in the 97 countries which have outlawed it. It also intends to take steps to help obtain greater access to abortion for women who are victims of war and ensure that women who have suffered complications as a result of an abortion get proper medical treatment.
All of these measures are admirable and long overdue. Needless to say the first critic to attack this position was a senior Vatican cardinal who called on Catholics worldwide to withdraw their funding and support for Amnesty International.
Women are going to get abortions whether or not they are legal. By banning abortion, you are in effect not only putting the life of the unborn child at risk - but the life of the mother as well. As a result of the dogmatic positions taken by Muslims and Christians on the issue of abortion, 20 million women every year are exposed to risky abortions. It is estimated that up to 5 million of these women end up hospitalized as a result of complications and botched procedures.
What exactly is 'pro-life' about this global holocaust? What is pro-life about denying desperately
needed contraception and abortion services, in order to prevent suffering for women and their families?
Is the Roman Catholic church with its myopic insistence on opposing abortion under any but the most extreme circumstances going to cover the medical costs of women in developing countries who have been damaged by back alley abortionists? Is it going to compensate women for the stigma of giving birth to a rapist's child? Is it going to provide back-up and support to those women who are unable to feed the children they can't support? Is it going to compensate those who have developed medical problems as a result of being compelled to see unwanted pregnancies through to term? No of course it isn't. It issues statements from the Vatican that far from reflecting the moral high ground on this issue, reflects a reactionary obduracy that is so far removed from reality - it is arguably immoral.
In developing countries in which the abortion taboo holds sway, women are routinely denied basic contraception - pills , IUD's, even surgical procedures to prevent pregnancy. A young mother who can barely afford to feed one child, can easily end up with as many as 8 children. In impoverished circumstances many of these children become malnourished. As a result of a weakened immune system some become sick, and even die. The mothers are frequently malnourished themselves, and overwhelmed with the burdens they face. Children in these circumstances have been targeted by traffickers in some Asian countries and often parents are more than willing to take a small amount of cash to lessen the pressure of providing for many mouths.
The Vatican opposes the use of condoms - a simple measure that could be a boon for those caught in the poverty and reproduction trap. Some Catholic ethicists view the use of condoms when used as a preventative measure against HIV to be "a lesser evil". Those Catholic theologians who have spoken out publicly in support of condoms in the fight against AIDS have on a number of occasions experienced censure from the Vatican. When the present pope was head of the Vatican's Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith, he criticized the US Conference of Bishops for supporting the use of condoms.
We have the spectacle of elderly celibate men with the benefit of institutional protection, who never want for a meal or a roof over their heads, presuming to speak for women the world over who are desperate - not for doctrine or sanctimonious idealism - but for practical solutions that will improve the quality of their lives.
Unsafe abortion and the denial of contraception is
nothing less than a global pandemic. The tragedy is that an institution with global reach that claims to speak for the poor and disenfranchised, is in the business of driving these people to the wall with its insistence on enforcing theological tenets that are completely out of sync with contemporary realities.
Aidan Maconachy is a freelance writer and artist based in Ontario. You can visit his blog at http://aidanmaconachyblog.blogspot.com/
