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    Life Choice: The Ethics and Ideologies of Abortion
    Life Choice: The Ethics and Ideologies of Abortion
    Life Choice: The Ethics and Ideologies of Abortion
    Ebook140 pages4 hours

    Life Choice: The Ethics and Ideologies of Abortion

    By Alan McManus

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    About this ebook

    From the no-man's-land of the continuing conflict over abortion, "Life Choice" listens to women and makes a plea for women on differing sides to respect the integrity of the motivation of their sisters - even when they totally disagree - and suggests that questioning the automatic link between legality and morality may enable women to listen to each other. The author finds the framing of this conflict as a debate unhelpful and provides an alternative view, of the ambiguity inherent in tragedy, supported by both Classical myth and contemporary philosophy. Sympathetic to the motivations of both sides, his standard of humane ethics is rooted in an awareness of the man-made divisions that separate women and of the grief and loss sustained by women on all sides. In an ideological conflict of immortal souls versus politicised bodies, "Life Choice" pleads for free expression of the contradictions of the human heart. Finally, the author challenges men to dismantle the machinery of misogyny and encourages women to find common ground in the material and moral support of women who want to continue with a pregnancy but experience great economic or social pressure not to give birth.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAlan McManus
    Release dateFeb 5, 2015
    ISBN9781311570765
    Life Choice: The Ethics and Ideologies of Abortion
    Author

    Alan McManus

    Alan McManus, M.Theol.(hons), M.Phil, PGDE, M.Litt., Ph.D., wrote his doctoral thesis on the work of the creative and contrarian American Philosopher, Dr Robert M. Pirsig. "Life Choice" is the second book in a series of considerations of the ethical implications of his reading of pirsigian metaphysics (ontology) which started with "Only Say The Word: Affirming Gay and Lesbian Love", published by Christian Alternative in 2013. As well as publishing articles on political philosophy and WW1 remembrance in the online journal, Citizenship, Social and Economics Education, his 'Strange Attractors: Myth, Dream and Memory in Educational Methodology' is the final chapter of the "International Handbook of Interpretation in Educational Research" published by Springer in 2015. "Alchemy at the Chalkface: Pirsig, Pedagogy and the Metaphysics of Quality" is available at www.robertpirsig.org.

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      Book preview

      Life Choice - Alan McManus

      foreword

      Backstage at a political fundraiser rammed wall-to-wall with Roman Catholic bishops, the Democratic candidate for the presidency of the United States negotiates for funding from the representative of a pro-choice women's group. He tells her that his view on abortion is that it should be legal, it should be safe, and it should be a lot rarer than it is now. He himself is a practicing Catholic and he believes that life begins at conception; but, he asks, who are you, who are any of us, to say where someone should draw the line for themselves?

      In this scene the presidential candidate is played by Jimmy Smits and the dialogue is from The West Wing, that glorious Shakespeare of political fantasy. It isn't real life - but in the United States, a country where a presidential campaign can live or die on conversations about a woman's right to choose, it isn't so far from real life either.

      It isn't only on the far side of the Atlantic that this issue is seen to cause rising blood pressure and spiralling emotions. Last year, the government of the Republic of Ireland passed the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act, creating provisions for legal abortion in and only in a situation where it is felt by two doctors that continued pregnancy poses a substantial risk to the life of the mother. The morning after President Higgins signed the Bill, the debate on Radio 4 amongst Irish politicians and lobbyists was so regressionist and anti-feminist I'd have been forgiven for thinking that I had dropped through a wormhole back to 1861.[1]

      My own view is that this isn't an issue on which it's important for us all to agree. Nor is it an issue on which I think that everyone's opinion is valid. Indeed, I think that the only person whose opinion on this subject is ever valid is the woman who at that specific moment is deciding whether to be pregnant or to not be pregnant.

      When I was first asked by Alan to write this, I felt a bit of a fraud.

      I don't know what I think about abortion.

      I believe in an absolute right of bodily autonomy. I believe as a woman that there is a moral imperative for societies to give women the legal right to make decisions about their bodies and their futures. I believe as a healthcare provider that when women make those choices they must be able to do so freely and safely and without judgment.

      So when I say that I don't know what I think about abortion, what I really mean is I'm not sure that I would be able to terminate a pregnancy. Trust me, I'm aware of the privilege inherent in a middle-class able-bodied gay woman pondering that particular hypothetical - and therein lies what I eventually realised, which is that it doesn't matter what I, personally, would or would not do, because I am not all women and I do not make that choice for all women.

      The only person whose choice matters is the one making it in that moment.

      The rest of us will look at the evidence gathered here and use it to do a little soul-searching of our own, and eventually come to a conclusion of our own; a conclusion that is personal, that represents our own life experiences and our own moral codes and our own choices.

      For who are you, who am I, who are any of us, to say where someone should draw the line for themselves?

      Dr Beth Routledge

      Junior Doctor, UK National Health Service

      NOTES

      [1] In 1861 the UK Government passed the Offences Against the Person Act which made the administration, procurement or use of drugs or instruments to cause or procure abortion a felony deserving penal servitude (life if the drugs or instruments were actually used for that purpose).

      Few matters cause more emotion and consternation than 'abortion' - seen for some as a fundamental right of women to choose what happens in and to her body, and for others the tragic and artificially induced end to a life that began at conception.

      Women are given centre stage in this dispute as they are throughout this book. Yet, I welcome the 'male voice' of the author, for it is naive and insincere to exclude men and a male perspective on this matter. With this in mind Alan's brave and intrepid exploration of 'life choices' and the various realities, dilemmas and conflicting emotions experienced by women (and men) is most welcome.

      A key theme is that of loss. It is worth acknowledging that the woman choosing to allow a pregnancy to follow its full course can experience a sense of loss, some grief reactions and vulnerability in light of her life changing forever, with a loss of familiar routines, freedom and independence; for even the most welcome and sought after change in our life circumstances can bring with it a sense of loss of, and grief over, what has been before.

      For the one electing to terminate (and we do not forget that there are a whole range of reasons, complexities and motivations for such a decision; rarely taken casually) there can be a more tangible experience of loss; whereby that which has begun to inhabit the womb is eliminated along with a possible future and a new reality.

      Refreshingly, we are reminded that generally 'pro-life' and 'pro-choice' advocates are often aiming at making the world a better place - where women, men and children are valued, respected and wanted. Alan's call for dialogue and the need for both 'camps' to meet without insult, harsh words and mutual judgment - as carefully articulated in the second half of the book - is also welcome.

      I agree with the sentiment and I endorse any gathering which has the development of mutual understanding and respect at its core, yet true dialogue can only take place where one is ready to lose, fully let go of one's stance in order to fully hear and embrace the reality of 'the other'. Only then can the door of mutual respect and understanding be open. This is not a task for the faint hearted or for the aggressive absolutist, rather it is a task for the wise, the truly meek and the brave.

      Mary Lappin,

      Grief and Loss Counsellor, Lecturer in Education at the University of Glasgow

      prologue: ethics and erudition

      "Does a woman forget her baby at the breast, or fail to cherish the child within her womb?"

      (Isaiah 49.15)

      "(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, a person shall not be guilty of an offence under the law relating to abortion when a pregnancy is terminated by a registered medical practitioner if two registered medical practitioners are of the opinion, formed in good faith-

      (a) that the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk to the life of the pregnant woman, or of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman or any existing children of her family, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated; or

      (b) that there is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped."

      (UK Abortion Act, 1967, Chapter 87, Section 1: Medical termination of pregnancy [1])[2]

      In the autumn of 2012, after writing (but not yet performing) 'a bleak little play about abortion' called Life Choice,[3] I ventured to post the following paragraph of this prologue on a social media website. It received a favourable response, with supportive comments, as well as some confused people asking for further clarification. It is my experience that respectful and informed ethical debate is often so shrouded in dense academic language that it can be difficult for intelligent non-specialists (inside or outside of university or seminary) to understand. Therefore the rest of the book is dedicated to unpacking this paragraph, in accessible language, and drawing possible conclusions.

      In any debate on ethics which is itself ethical, mutual understanding of differing views and starting points helps. Perhaps the debate on abortion, a debate hardly worthy of the name and often unethical, would benefit from examination of differing views on the nature of pregnancy. Political and religious groupthink aside, with all their attendant policing of thought and speech, pregnancy is clearly a unique ethical situation which problematises concepts of individuality and autonomy, as well as the relationship of those concepts with the performance of gender and with social value. Added to this complexity on the nature of pregnancy is the Kantian dismissal, by both sides, of the lesser ground of duty, in other words the denial of tragedy, in the Hegelian sense of the inevitable conflict of opposing ethics. There is also the huge emotional investment on both sides and the fear that only strident public declaration which damns the other side will serve as an identity badge for one's own side. Only when all these issues are mutually understood can this debate take place ethically. Until then we will continue to have the rude exchange of insults and opposing slogans which mutually rule out each other as self-evident.

      Universities (and seminaries) are not the ivory towers they once were and with their opening to the world has come an understanding of the varying nature of intelligence. Abstract theoretical intellect, inter-personal emotional intelligence, corporeal motor skills and business

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