As the day draws closer to the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion, a lot of words will be thrown around. Some, such as “crazy,” “insensitive” and “irrational,” will cast broad strokes on vast groups of people. Others, such as “religious fanatic,” “Nazi,” and “baby-killer” will raise both eyebrows and ugly sentiment.
This year, we would like both sides to remember one word: dignity.
It is never easy to cast a judgment on a subject matter that is thorny and laden with many theoretical and moral trap doors. It is especially hard to render an honest verdict on something that, without trying to play up the dramatic element, raises legitimate questions about life —particularly when it begins.
As students who are just beginning to journey down that road known as life, we feel that we lack the adequate scientific qualifications to make that call. As a news outlet, we strive to provide all the answers to the questions that face you, the reader, on a daily basis. When life begins and who has control over that life is not one of them.
But honestly, who can answer those questions?
While both sides, when they are not shouting or resorting to throwing rhetorical sludge at each other, do present compelling arguments, each bears blame in the bastardization of this issue.
For those picketing for the pro-life ticket, take a moment to stop and think before you hit the streets ready to wave images of mutilated fetuses at any fleeing eye. To turn what could have been someone’s soul-wrenching regret or heartbreak into a grotesque sideshow for a cause makes your call for “sanctity of life” a shameful, tasteless joke. If you want someone to actually listen and possibly engage with your message, drop your megaphone and have a conversation with him or her that isn’t chock full of lines more fit for the bumper of a Volkswagen.
For those choosing to throw their lot in with the pro-choice crowd, understand that while you may view the issue as a matter of personal freedom — there is much more to it. By frequently using words such as “choice” and “privacy,” you run the risk of anesthetizing this issue into a political talking point that overlooks the human aspect of it.
The scared pregnant teen isn’t thinking about whether the fetus growing inside of her is a constitutional liability. Rather, her mind is trying to fathom a world where isolation from friends and family is a distinct possibly, finances are uncertain and a future seemingly railroaded. Do not use her simply as your political mascot.
“Too often,” Robert Kennedy once said, “we honor swagger and bluster and the wielders or force; too often we excuse those who are willing to build their own lives on the shattered dreams of others.”
If you are truly committed to respecting life, demonstrate it by showing respect for the lives of those next to you. Do not let their views, political affiliations, skin color, gender, sexual orientation or whoever they choose or not choose to call their higher power stand in the way of seeing them for what they are: a person.
The choice is yours.
