Dennis Shulman on Legalized Abortion

It's Even More Complex... (0.00 / 0)

In terms of law and politics I'm 100% pro choice.

When we get into the realms of morality, conscience, the sacredness of life (and of course how we define the different stages/categories of life), what it means to be human, responsibility, sexism, and probably twenty more areas that the abortion issue touches upon; there is a lot of legitimate room for constructive discussion and even for soul searching.

I agree with you, Huntsu, when you say that it's not right to "shame women into carrying through with an unwanted pregnancy".   I would use the term "guilt trip"; but the bottom line is the same; coercion is not an effective way to promote morality (and certainly not spirituality!).  

On the contrary, I see the (bulk of the) so called "pro life" political/religious movement in the US as being an unholy and immoral abomination in the sense that it degrades the heart of the human spirit in the name of "life".

My sense is that, for the most part, "these people" are motivated by a patriarchal framework that is more about stifling female sexuality/freedom and about sexual repression in general than any real concerns for the sanctity of life.

It's a sad shame that these ideologues haven't yet learned the lesson of the Victorian era that repression doesn't work and actually causes that which is being repressed to manifest in all manner of unhealthy/perverse ways.

Having said all of that, I do still believe that there is an objectively valid case to be made against abortion in a general sense.

This isn't the time/place to make that case...but, the functional bottom line remains the same.   A woman's body is her own. And her right to choose in this regard must be respected in statutory law and in the deeper sense of moral/spiritual law.

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by: Nick Lento @ Mon Oct 27, 2008 at 15:53:41 PM UTC

I've heard Dennis make your point before (0.00 / 0)

I know that he's said before that the right thing to do is to discourage unwanted pregnancies through education, not outlaw abortion.

I don't know if Jackson is misquoting here or if Dennis misspoke, but I'm pretty sure you two are on the same page.

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by: MReilly @ Mon Oct 27, 2008 at 22:38:29 PM UTC

Misquoted? (4.00 / 4)

Please. I'm used to being accused of misquoting people -- but there's a recording on the blog post of his answer.
It was an open ended question. He could have said whatever he wanted. We didn't print the whole thing, we printed an excerpt, and told people the full audio was online if they wanted to hear the full response.

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by: Herb_Jackson @ Tue Oct 28, 2008 at 14:41:36 PM UTC

Herb-- (4.00 / 1)

Thanks for stopping by :)  

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by: Brian McGinnis @ Tue Oct 28, 2008 at 14:46:48 PM UTC

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Herb -- you are awesome (0.00 / 0)

and I got your note about the LA Times.  :-)

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by: huntsu @ Tue Oct 28, 2008 at 16:44:11 PM UTC

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