| I'm not here to provide a long rant about which side is right on the abortion issue, eventhough I'm pretty strongly pro-choice. This blog has been extremely slow so I don't think anyone would mind if I did, but, frankly, I don't give a damn about arguing with people about why they are "pro-life."
If one wishes to be considered truly "pro-life," they should be against killing for any reason. The debate is not between one side that is for life and one side that is against life. The debate is about justice. When is it ok to end a person's life?
The government, given due process, is the only institution or entity allowed to take away or violate the rights of its citizens, to use violence, or, taken to an extreme, end one's life. It is certainly a delicate issue considering the end of one's life is not reversible, and, therefore, it should not be taken lightly.
So, it should be noted that it isn't right to kill a person for expressing themselves. In my perspective, this is not an instance of one citizen killing another because they are against abortion, it is one citizen killing another in an effort to take away their freedom of speech. No person should be able to do that and get away with it, regardless of the details of the disagreement.
The government can surely take away a person's right to express themselves, but it better have a damn good reason.
There is perhaps an opportunity when events like this occur. If we can avoid politicizing the tragedy, there is a chance to have a dialogue about abortion. We can have a conversation that is genuine in its attempts to reduce the number of abortions by creating the circumstances more favorable to responsible parenthood and more nurturing to single mothers.
But, alas, those victimized may have a hard time thinking rationally in such circumstances, and those uninterested in finding common ground and lacking a personal attachment to the victim(s) will try to push their agenda.
Hell, we can't even agree on what to call each other. Sometimes we can't even define ourselves. Instead, we let tragedies and political agendas define us. |
