Women and some ... contd.

... It sucked that I lost the previous posting and have to write it again. So continuing on the topic of women that I had started on the previous post. The real reason that I wanted to discuss about this was the topic of abortion that has been raging on. The Beijing conference on women's right this past month was made into a farce because of this topic. Grand old Uncle Sam refused to allow the resolution, which grants equal rights to women all over the world, to pass without some technical jargon against abortion. I know in the US this is a major cause of rift between the left supported pro-choice lobby and the right supported pro-life lobby.

I am not into the debate on pro-life or pro-choice. As a "Christian" I am supposed to be blindly pro-choice. The topic of abortion has taken on a very religious colour instead of being a social issue. You have the really fundamental Christians who condemn all women and doctors who have taken part in abortion to hell while on the other side of the spectrum you have the feminists have used this issue to blanketed attack anything religious. And nobody seems to be interested in finding a middle ground.

The first issue here is about how the whole conference of more than 6000 delegates was stuck with the US and few other countries' demand to specifically state that abortion is not a women's right. This maybe due to their conviction and the conviction of their constituents but that does not give them the right to force it on the rest of the world. You have so many women's rights issues going on in the world and according to me abortion is least of the worries in the rest of the world. It may be good to harp on anti-abortion bandwagon in the US but the same ground realities don't hold in the rest of the world. Instead of finding ways to tackle more pressing issues like the right to vote ... to be considered an equal to men in improvised nations the conference was almost lost on the issue of abortion. I say almost because there was a resolution (with a reference to abortion in it) at the end of conference but no real headway.

Abortion may be a emotive and major issue in developed and slightly conservation country like the US but its not of equal importance in the rest of the world. This may be due to the cultural differences and the differences in the priority of the masses. In a country like the US a person does not become a social outcast if you are single mom, while in most other countries like India, middle east, etc that is not the case. The person would be subject to such an intense scrutiny that she would prefer death to life. I know that the times are changing but it has not fully changed for women with kids before marriage.

From what I gather the main grouse against abortion is that it maybe used by unscrupulous people for their sexual pleasure, but come on that does not give us the right to ban abortion in cases of rape, incest and danger to the mother's life. I am a catholic and been always told by the church that abortion in any case is sin. Pro-life is one of the few topics on which most churches agree (suprisingly without wanting to kill each other). But it has taken an ugly form in recent years. Bombing of abortion clinics and intimidation of the doctors and the women ... sometimes I wonder what these so called Christians are trying to do ?? Didn't Jesus say he who is without sin cast the first stone ? I can agree if they preach that its wrong and try to talk to people out of it with love. What would you prefer, somebody condemning you to hell or somebody showing their Love to help you out of the mess you are in?

I am no doctor to know when a embryo becomes a human being neither am I a theologian (Some of them seem to know more about the process of birth than the doctors). But what I do know is that I cannot support a ban on abortions until I can promise the affected women a society free of prejudice that would accept them, not just in the developed countries but also in the developing nations. Especially in cases of rape and incest. The act itself has already made them a victim, I am not in support of punishing them again by asking them to carry the scare throughout their life.

Its easy to condemn women who have aborted, until it strikes close to home. Its very easy to show the way than to walk it. I once had an argument with a teacher of mine on this subject. He told me that the catholic rule book or whatever its called says that abortion was a sin and so he as a practicing Christian can't condone it even if the women's life was on the line. I wondered if he would have said that if his wife's life was on the line. Its not that they want abort their child but the circumstances force them through. There is no greater love than a mom's love, so they would be the ones crying over it not the pro-life lobby who spend their time planting ceremonial crosses to protest it. My argument is simple ... create an environment which is not pre-judiced against the kids born out of wed lock and due to incest or rape and then you talk of banning abortion, but until such an utopian situation occurs try to focus on the problem rather than on your prejudiced beliefs!!!

I know I would have ruffled quite a number of my friends belief, but hey that's the point I am trying to make ;)

My dear sisters this is why I am smart

I thought these happened only in far away remote places of the world without a doctor.

When do you know a person is dead?

You call this luck ?

"If you look at the issue, you'll see that this isn't about the children. There are children starving in the sewers of Persia. There are babies in the AIDS wards, chucked out into the streets like … cabbage. If this were really about the children, they'd be doing something about the children that are already here. I don't play that game."
- Tori Amos

"... abortion opponents love little babies as long as they are in someone else's uterus."
- Joycelyn Elders, circa. 1990

"If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament."
- Florynce Kennedy

P.S: Personally I do not support abortion other than for rape, incest and danger to the mother's health.