To just keep my damn mouth shut.
It is an inevitable discussion with fundamentalists, and even just some Christians in general, and that is your stand on abortion. With most, it is a black or white issue; you are either for it, or against it, and there are absolutely no shades of gray. So, of course, when they start cornering me on the issue, I give them a gray area, and 9 times out of 10, it blows up in my face.
I was born before abortion became legal, but I am pretty sure if it had been legal at that time, I would not be here; when I point that out, it leads to the inevitable question: "Well, since you weren't aborted, and you are here now, aren't you glad abortion wasn't legal?" After being asked this yesterday for the 100th time, I finally popped off that it sure is a hell of a lot easier being an aborted fetus than an unwanted child.
Which is exactly the wrong tact to take, but this question is one that has no answer, because if I had been aborted, I would have never known. I'm sure I would have felt something, but it is nothing I would have remembered, obviously, and in reality, the world would have barely been any different had I not been born at all. This isn't some self pitying declaration; it is just a fact. There are millions of people in this world who will never care if I exist or not, and the cemeteries are full of people who never impacted my life one way or the other.
On the flip side, being an unwanted child is hell. I had it tough, but it was nothing in comparison to what I've seen happen to other children, and when I see any child put through that kind of pain, it just kills me. A child should never have to go hungry, or be hurt by the person or people who are suppose to love and cherish them, and to bring a child into this world, only to inflict that kind of misery on something so innocent...
Of course, when I say that, then I'm just using one excuse to justify this horror known as abortion. It's fine when they flip it around on me, but I can't do it to them. Go figure.
Truth be known, I am actually against it. I could never do it, and have never done it. Do I want it made illegal? No. First of all, as I've said before, I don't know anyone else's situation, and I am in no position to judge another's choice. There are things we don't know and reasons we aren't privy to, and I have no place in that decision, especially when you are dealing with cases of rape and incest. Besides, women have been finding ways to terminate unwanted pregnancies for centuries; overturning Roe v. Wade isn't going to change that; it's just going to make it a lot more dangerous for the woman.
(Of course, if we weren't such prudes about discussing contraception and safe sex practices, there would be far fewer unwanted and unplanned pregnancies.)
This is a topic in which there is no easy answer, and if I was smart, I'd avoid discussing it with them at all; yet something about the way they crusade it as being against God, when the argument they make isn't even Biblical, then I have a hard time keeping quiet. It is a case where they've twisted and co-opted the Bible to make it say what they want it to say, when in fact, it doesn't say that at all.
However, this topic just happens to be a little more painful for me than most.
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