Judith Arcana’s approach to the abortion debate is a completely new point of view to me. Due to the environment in which I was raised (catholic school in a notoriously conservative state), abortion was only ever brought up as a moral question of life and death; it was never approached as a women’s issue, the focus was always on the well-being of the unborn rather than the mother. Only when I came to Colgate did I become familiar with the logic behind a pro-choice mindset. Very superficially, I had always summarized the debate this way: on one side there were people who saw an unborn baby and thought abortion was a moral question of life and death, on the other side there were people who saw an embryo and were fighting for the right to choose. Arcana’s argument throws my rudimentary understanding out the window. She makes the compelling pro-choice argument that women are aware of the life and death situation of an abortion decision. She says women do not need to hide behind rhetoric that makes light of the decision. Instead, she thinks that it is better for them to openly accept the true weight of the choice; it will allow them to make an informed decision and accept responsibility. Arcana claims that maternity begins with conception, which is an argument I would have never associated with a pro-choice stand point. But by making this claim for the purpose of supporting a mother’s right to choose what is best for her child, I think Arcana strengthens the pro-choice case.
Michael, when you said, “Due to the environment in which I was raised (catholic school in a notoriously conservative state), abortion was only ever brought up as a moral question of life and death” I began to think about sexual education taught in my public high school, or lack of education. While your catholic school only talked about abortion in relation to morals, my high school avoided the issue completely. Although many females were getting pregnant and having abortions, health was offered and taught by gym teachers instead. I wrote about this in my news flash. The problem with this lack of education is that many students end up feeling confused.
ReplyDeleteI said, “… abstinence-only programs create students that are uneducated and confused about sex. While schools discourage premarital sex, sexuality is glorified in the media. These schools fail to realize that they are not alone in shaping the lives of teenagers. Popular television shows among teenagers, like Sex in the City and Gossip Girl, promote a sexually charged atmosphere and a fantasy world in which, the truth about sex often becomes miscued. Nonetheless, uninformed viewers still want to participate in these fantasies.”