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| Beyond Pro-Choice and Pro-Life: A Rational Theology |
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| Opinion - Global Warning | |||
| Lisa Jain Thompson | |||
| Wednesday, 03 September 2008 16:30 | |||
 Springfield, VA, USA. I am a male to female post-op woman. Given the current state of the science and medicine, I am unable to become pregnant. A generation from now that may all change and I would have a choice that women have been making since Adam: keep any unwanted fetus that grows within me or get rid of it.
The opposing societal factions have developed fancy politico-religious labels (pro-choice/pro-life) that conceal the reality of what happens: a woman either aborts the developing fetus or she is impressed into service as a baby machine to bear a child she does not want. Neither alternative is attractive.
Proponents on both sides use women to make political points without concern to what is best for both woman and fetus. One side pretends that a human life exists from the moment of conception, the other that our lives do not begin until the physical mother says that we do. Both sides are consumed with false piety, faulty logic, and erroneous assumptions. Unbridled hubris governs all.
Let’s be upfront about one inescapable fact: abortion, at its least intrusive levels, terminates living cells that have the potential to become a human infant.
Let’s also be upfront about another unavoidable reality: a handful of cells does not a human life make. Human existence does not begin at the moment of conception.
From a theological perspective, consensus expert opinion on exactly when a human soul is infused in a fetus has varied through out the Christian Church’s history. Aristotle and The Church, from Saint Augustine to sometime in the Nineteenth Century, taught that ensoulment occurred in the fourth or fifth month after quickening, the moment when a baby starts kicking. [N1]
Before quickening, the fetus was no more than a collection of protoplasm; after quickening, the fetus was a person. Clear distinctions were made between the ensouled animated embryo and the unsouled inanimate embryo. One was human, the other only protein.
Church Canon Law reflects this theological pragmatism. Spontaneous abortions occur naturally throughout human pregnancy, especially in the first four or five months. If the fetus was ensouled at conception, a spontaneously aborted fetus would require burial in consecrated ground. No one wished to force a grieving mother to bury the mass of bloody tissue that once held the potential for human life.
The question remains, when does a human life begin? In theological terms, when does ensoulment occur?
Perhaps we can resolve this if we examine the other end of human existence where the question has been decided. At the end of life, as the collective knowledge of science and medicine continues to increase our ability to keep our protoplasm alive indefinitely, we have determined that animate human life depends upon the continued existence of a recognizably human brain wave.
When the human brain wave disappears, we withdraw all heroic efforts, allow the body to die, and give due honor to the person who has passed, burying the remains in consecrated ground if that is what we believe. We do not charge those responsible for removing life support with murder. Human existence ended long before the plug was pulled.
At some point during fetal development, a recognizable human brainwave pattern can be identified. Before that point, no matter what exists inside the womb, it is not a human. After that point is reached, no matter the physical condition of the fetus, a human life exists and every effort should be made to treat the fetus as such.
If there is contention between continuing the life of the mother or continuing the life of the fetus, the mother’s life should be tantamount, especially if there are other children. A fetus has only potential, the mother, a life, responsibilities, and, in many cases, a husband and family to care for.
The Church taught me otherwise, that I should make no choice, that I should let God decide. The Church was wrong. I knew it then, I know it now. To make no choice is to choose. If God gives me the ability to choose, I will not waste the talent he has given me. I will chose, and in most cases, that choice will favor the mother. I will not wash my hands like Pilate.
Public law, within limits, should assume that a pregnant woman is an intelligent, responsible adult capable of making her own decisions free of arbitrary regulation. Adult women must make those decisions rationally, taking full account of the fetus that grows within them.
Abortion is not birth control. Other than in those rare instances where the mother’s life is threatened by the fetus, abortion that occurs after a fetal human brainwave appears is murder of an existent human life.
There are limits on a woman’s right to make what should be a personal choice. Terminating a human fetus is not a decision that should be made lightly.
Abortion before the human brainwave exists is not murder. Before that point in fetal development, a woman’s right to choose is paramount. A woman’s body is her own, not her husband’s, not the state’s, not the church’s. The rules governing when a legal abortion may occur must have a rational basis firmly anchored by scientific research. The potential for human life, in and of itself, does not confirm the existence of human life.
I have been thinking about writing this column for many months. John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential running mate provides me the opportunity. As much as I may be in disagreement with her Pro-Life philosophy (how much remains to be seen), I find myself admiring her for having the courage to act on her beliefs. When tests early on in her last pregnancy determined that the fetus within her would be born with Down’s syndrome, she carried her baby to term rather than aborting the fetus as many might have done.
There is something to be said for that. How many of us live private lives in agreement with our public morality?
As a woman born with Harry Benjamin Syndrome, [N2] I have always known certain things. Except in the case of incest or rape, I would most certainly try to carry my baby to term. I have known that as long as I have understood the question: I would bring that potential for human life within me to fruition. I would not voluntarily terminate my pregnancy.
But science has progressed greatly since I was born. We can now detect birth defects in the very earliest stages of human development. What would I do if the fetus had a significant birth defect, would I, given that knowledge, still carry the baby to term?
My older brother died of spinal bifida, doomed long before birth to die before he was a year old. I know that my mother’s life was never the same again. My father eventually became an alcoholic. There is real possibility I carry those genes within me.
Suppose my baby was conceived with spinal bifida or something far worse?
I can only hope that I would be as strong as Sarah Palin.
Notes[N1] Ensoulment is generally defined by Christian theology as the creation of a soul within — or the placing of a soul into — a human being. Some theologians believe that newly created souls are within a developing baby, while others believe souls were created before time and added to babies while the body develops.
The subject of ensoulment most often comes up in discussions about abortion. There is considerable debate about the point at which this occurs during fetal development. [N2] The designation, Harry Benjamin Syndrome (HBS), is increasingly used by patients and advocates to identify those specific individuals who are born with a misalignment of their inate neurobiological wiring and their external genitalia. The HBS-born seek complete transition (including hormone treatment and corrective surgery).  Ms. Lisa Jain Thompson is the Co-Founder & President of TS-Si, Inc. She also serves as a Contributing Editor and columnist for the TS-Si website. Ms. Thompson's signed articles contain her own opinions and do not necessarily convey an official position of TS-Si, its partners, or affiliates. Lisa welcomes your comments. You can use the public form below or send private correspondence via her TS-Si Contact Page. We will not divulge any personal details or place you on a mailing list without your permission.                      Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites.
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