Variant views on abortion

...In the same way, critics say, Catholics can believe that a fetus is "fully human" and Catholic doctors and nurses can be free not to perform abortions, without converting those beliefs into law...

...Many doubt that the opposition to abortion is sincere...

...NANCY AMIDEI Nancy Amidei works with state and local groups on a variety of health, social policy, and advocacy issues...

...Finally, I agree with those who find the opposition to condoms, contraceptives, and sex education unconscionable...

...And withholding information about safe sex while so many are dying of AIDS just seems immoral...

...At the same time, most want abortion available under some circumstances-though there are differing views on what those should be (e.g., in cases of rape or incest...

...Many who agree that human life deserves respect and the vulnerable deserve protection think Catholics go too far...

...That leads to an assumption that strong opposition to abortion must be "fronting" for something else-an inability to deal honestly with sexuality...

...Christian Science beliefs on health care and Islamic beliefs about the role of women are not imposed on Catholics and those religions do not lobby to do so...

...I tend to meet people who are trying to help in ways large and small, from donating food to taking crack-addicted babies or ex-cons into their homes...

...Many are past childbearing age, are men, or can afford private abortions (including the costs of going to another country if necessary) for themselves or their daughters...

...Often it is described as too irrational for anyone smart to take seriously: for example, someone who heard Missouri Attorney General Webster speak could not believe he was the Webster because "he seemed quite intelligent...

...In one community I heard repeatedly about the "so-called prolife" activists who opposed a group home for babies with AIDS...

...Repeatedly, I heard the view expressed that Catholics have no interest in a dialogue in the usual sense, and tolerate others' views only in order to attack them...

...What appears to be selective enforcement-that is, excommunication is threatened for supporting abortion, but not for defenders of contraception-is also seen in political terms...

...Thus when Catholics (or anyone) insist that theirs is the only politically acceptable position and must become national law, strong feelings are evoked...

...I care a lot about whether our laws reflect respect for vulnerable people and all human life, but I don't see abortion policy as the test of whether or not that is so...

...Go after that and they won't have anybody left...

...REPORT FROM ALL OVER VARIANT VIEWS ON ABORTION CONTINUING THE DEBATE Some months ago in a weak moment, I agreed to join the debate on abortion that Commonweal's editors proposed to their readers (February 23, 1990) by passing along comments I hear in my travels...

...That's especially surprising because so many of those involved are not directly affected by whether public funds are available for abortion, or even whether abortion is legal...

...Still others, including Shintoism, the Friends, and Zen Buddhism believe it is a matter of individual conscience...

...I meet people from all walks of life, all races, incomes, ages, and creeds...

...Political activism...

...That believers might act on what their religion teaches is understandable...

...I don't write off opposition to abortion as insincere or dumb, and I don't subscribe to any of the conspiracy theories...

...they asked...

...In other words, abortion is opposed because doing so serves political ends...

...Religion and pluralism...

...That seemed a relatively easy, uncon-tentious way to take part...

...She travels to roughly half the states each year...

...The criticisms I hear of the Catholic position on abortion (or the prolife position generally) tend to fall under five rough headings...

...The potential for human life puts a fetus in a special category, but to one who does not believe that life exists, fully human from the moment of conception-and many thoughtful, religious, ethical people do not-abortion is not necessarily a "tragedy," while forcing a woman to bear an unwanted child may be...

...The church may believe its position is clear but others don't see it...

...or a desire to punish women for sexual independence...

...Virtually everyone would agree that respect for human life and the need to protect the vulnerable members of our society are important, but there is little agreement about what those words mean...

...Many are active in their churches...

...It is rare to get middle-class voters politically activated (even as single-issue voters) over something that does not affect them directly...

...That does not seem unreasonable when members of so many faith communities support abortion under some circumstances, or are divided on the topic-Presbyterian, United Methodist, United Church of Christ, Unitarian, Islam (in the first forty days), reform and conservative Judaism, Lutheran, Episcopalian, American Baptist, Sikh, and Buddhist among them...

...But nothing brings out the charges of hypocrisy like opposition to sex education, family planning, or the use of condoms...

...By way of contrast, American women face a much greater risk of being poor at some point in their lives than of being denied an abortion, and poverty maims and kills...

...Many more support abortion when the mother's life is in danger or in cases of rape or incest, including Hinduism, Southern Baptist, Jehovah's Witnesses, African Methodist Episcopal, Assembly of God, and Orthodox Judaism...

...Insincerity, hypocrisy...

...Those people don't care if the babies live or die, they just know a good political issue when they see one...

...Most Americans have no moral objections to the idea of birth control (and know Catholics who practice it), so opposing both abortion and the means to prevent pregnancy is hard to swallow...

...That warning offered, here goes...

...He used to think like that, he says, when he still thought men were in charge...

...when the health of either mother or fetus is severely compromised...

...Postscript: Those who were wondering if I wrote this as a way to get my own views out may like to know: (a) I didn't ask for this and (b) I didn't seek out abortion conversations, they came to me...

...An Iowa lawyer explained that some people (male church leaders, for example) equate control over women with morality, so a society in which women have reproductive freedom must be an immoral society...

...Catholics may not go door-to-door like Jehovah's Witnesses, but on abortion that's how it comes across-nothing less than conversion will do...

...That's my idea of prolife...

...But neither do I think a fetus is fully human from the moment of conception...

...In one respect they are atypical-most are active in their communities: running soup kitchens, staffing hot-lines, volunteering, or serving on the boards of social agencies...

...But for many decent, caring people, ultimately there's a sense of misplaced energy, of time and money that might be better spent...

...They are what one woman called "abortion ayatollahs": disrespectful of other views, and contemptuous of those who hold them...

...Yet most women aren't active against policies that perpetuate poverty, and politicians aren't risking their seats for supporting them...

...But since I hear more on the prochoice side of the issue and Commonweal's readers presumably know the other side, the report that follows may seem less "uncon-tentious" and more like a long string of complaints...

...and another said of a prolife legislator: "Until I learned his stand on abortion, I thought he was smart...

...I just wish," a New Mexico nurse said, "that even half the righteousness and energy that's gone into fighting school-based clinics, condoms, and abortion had gone into fighting ignorance, poverty, and no health care...

...Most of the people I meet oppose abortion as a substitute for responsible sex and accept some limits on the right to abortion, especially in the later stages of pregnancy...

...Why else," asked a man from Long Island, "isn't there an 'Operation Rescue' for the babies who die because their mothers couldn't get prenatal care, or decent welfare...

...You know why that happens, don't you...

...Except that I spoke with more women than men, pigeon-holing those who raise the issue isn't easy...

...By now the lines are pretty well drawn...

...Catholic lay people support birth control...

...Try reading what Cardinal Joseph Bernardin says in, "The Consistent Ethic after 'Webster'" (Commonweal, April 20,1990) through the eyes of one who believes that a nonviable fetus is not a "child" or "innocent human life," and you may see the point...

...It's hard to have a dialogue, someone pointed out, when just holding another opinion makes you an evil, immoral baby-killer...

...What is 'prolife' about bringing a baby into this world and then leaving it to die...

...As to the views expressed, I agree with some of them...

...And despite having more exposure to Catholic thinking on the subject than most of those I talk to, I don't find the Catholic explanations persuasive...

...Intolerance...

...First the people...

...Ever since I realized that both sides were trying to influence the Supreme Court in the Webster case, I've known that this is a rare political issue-and not only because Americans don't normally "lobby" the Supreme Court...

...The stands...

...Hypocrisy also gets mentioned when prolife activists take what appear to be antilife stands when they support capital punishment, or oppose public funding for "special needs" children, prenatal care, child care, or welfare...

...Or it is assumed to be a front for right-wing political goals...

...Without that belief the arguments lose their force, and the "significant limits" the cardinal seeks agreement on make sense only as applied to abortions in the third trimester...

...Some feel themselves aggressively, even offensively, evangelized...

...Those holding such views don't see themselves as callously indifferent to human life, but as having a different understanding of when human life begins (something not influenced by references to a previously unheard of "natural law...

...Just when most forms of political activity are waning, abortion is getting people to take an interest in politics...

...Some of that no doubt springs from the fact that many people with strong moral and religious beliefs do not believe a fetus incapable of surviving outside the womb is a "child," a "member of society," or "an innocent human life," and insisting doesn't make it so...

...Perhaps the most commonly expressed view I hear is also the most conciliatory, namely the wish that everyone who cares about human life should spend more time fighting poverty, AIDS, teen pregnancy, and the growth in the numbers of crack-and alcohol-affected babies, and less time fighting each other...

...What they want is the right to practice their own beliefs...

...contraception is ignored for the same reason...

...Fanaticism...

...that others should have to is not...

...control...

...They include conservatives, liberals, Republicans, Democrats, elected officials, business people, students, welfare recipients, and members of the Junior League...