"Abortion is not just about “a woman and her body.” It’s also about a woman and her God, her sense of what is right and wrong, a woman and her own internal compass, a woman and her life and how she is called to live it."
Finally a nuanced article about the complex morally gray areas of abortion. I agree with it completely. Abortion is usually a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils. Neither side seems capable of seeing it that way.
Wow, just so purely wow! I'm not quite sure yet how, when and exactly where to lend my voice to this most intimate divide, though you are greatly helping me to find the courage to act! Thank you immensely Marianne!!
This was the article I have been waiting for for a long time. I am pro-choice, and I doubted ( if I were younger) and facing a choice about whether to have an abortion that I could have done it. Whether, morally, I could have done it. Marianne, your essay freed me up to be and act authentically about this. I'm 90. I'm never too old to learn.
Thank you rom the bottom of my heart. Thank you for leading the way as we learn to balance our inner and outer worlds.
Thank you once again, Marianne, for an important and rare perspective. As a pro-choice person, I, too, have been saying for years that acting as if the other side has no valid concerns, there is no middle ground, what's-all-the-fuss-about-just-a-blob-cells, etc., is disrespectful and unnecessarily divisive.
It also contributes to the dynamic in which the professional Democrats and Republicans get to have each other as foils. We've given them a wedge issue to mobilize their bases, while they go on about their bipartisan pro-corporate and militaristic business.
Excellent perspective Michael Goldstein! And it was so easy for Congress to pass the recent defense budget while they've mostly resisted a better social safety net via Build Back Better. It's no wonder Europeans, particularly, those from Sweden look at us sideways and rightly so! Our country can be so much better but somehow it seems the notion of sharing talent and resources is taboo compared to monetizing everything possible! Peace!
That was the best understanding and use of language to describe the abortion dilemma Marianne and I thank you for your courage to speak of this. I believe it is a difficult decision for most women and one made out of some sense of having no other choice. I also have a spiritual belief that the soul enters more and more over time as the pregnancy progresses. Contraception, education and financial ability to access services both as a mother or as a woman seeking to terminate the life within, are the biggest barriers to equality. In an ideal world no-one would need to abort and probably would not therefore. But we err, or as some say, we sin. We learn and we grow and with age there is often more wisdom and fewer errors. Fortunately God knows our whole and perfect spiritual nature and that is our true identity even though we make mistakes.
Indeed, the equality issue is huge--impacting a mother and her offspring if they are to be born here.
I think from a historic perspective, patriarchy has deemed abortion illegal since it prevents the potential of more human capital (and sacred religion is just a smoke-screen)--I'm thinking way back thousands of years to the start of agriculture, etc. , when marriage was invented by men to legalize their human offspring as a means to prosperity. We still have a long way to go when one considers the Equal Rights Amendment for Women has yet to be enacted in the U.S.--with many always pointing at our country as exceptional. Not true! So it goes...I stand behind all women to have a right to choose their life's destiny as much as humanly possible.
The accumulation of wealth and power over centuries relies on the ownership of women as means of producing an heir and passing the name of the father to the child. Matriarchal societies attached the child to the mother as they could be sure of this connection. Now our planet is owned by a handful of those patriarchs who rose to power and wealth by negating the human rights of their extended community.
On the the subject of "Abortion in a new light", I speak only from my own experience.
Beginning my Spritual growth in Alcoholics Anonymous, 35yrs ago, I had to learn how to inventory all my past mistakes & make amends for those wrong decisions. I learned I was not a bad person trying to become good, but a sick person trying to get well. To see my part in why my life was going down the drain via addiction. What this self-examinatiin taught me was that in every man, woman & child is a consciousness of God & where I had disconnected from that Source. I learned that earlier on in my life; childhood decisions made w/out any counsel, I had made decisions based on self, that later put me in positions to be hurt. From those hurts I not only hurt myself, but also hurt those who loved me; & as a result, caused havoc not only in my life, their lives & society.
Making amends for those grievances included getting Spirtitual counsel, helping others that were confronted w/ making that kind of transformative decision. And how it could & would affect their emotional & spiritual lives.
If I had been educated on the harm I was doing to my own constitution, I probably would of made a better informed decision. However, living life forward & understanding it backwards, there was alot of emotional & spiritual wreakage I had to clean up in order to be free from the spiritual bondage that that uniformed decision put my life in.
I do believe that we have the right to decide what we do to our own bodies. We also have an obligation to teach the next generation what we have learned from our own past mistakes so that we don't pass on the trauma that we inflicted upon ourselves & the damage it does to oneself & society as a whole.
If we choose to remain ignorant of our past we are doomed to repeat it & continue w/the sins of our forefathers. If I am looking to continue my Spiritual journey w/learning how to break the bondages of my past, I am responsible for helping others that have this issue of "Abortion in a different light". Let there be Peace on earth & let it begin w/me.
"Abortion is not just about “a woman and her body.” It’s also about a woman and her God, her sense of what is right and wrong, a woman and her own internal compass, a woman and her life and how she is called to live it."
Perfect, ty Marianne.
our sense of what is right and wrong won’t matter before God
I was in Sacramento that night and you shined a light.
Finally a nuanced article about the complex morally gray areas of abortion. I agree with it completely. Abortion is usually a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils. Neither side seems capable of seeing it that way.
Spot on Marianne! Nuanced and compassionate to all involved.
Wow, just so purely wow! I'm not quite sure yet how, when and exactly where to lend my voice to this most intimate divide, though you are greatly helping me to find the courage to act! Thank you immensely Marianne!!
Brilliant Marianne, I wish I was there in Sacramento.. you're a gift to the human race.
This was the article I have been waiting for for a long time. I am pro-choice, and I doubted ( if I were younger) and facing a choice about whether to have an abortion that I could have done it. Whether, morally, I could have done it. Marianne, your essay freed me up to be and act authentically about this. I'm 90. I'm never too old to learn.
Thank you rom the bottom of my heart. Thank you for leading the way as we learn to balance our inner and outer worlds.
Thank u for sharing this. We need this deep introspection on this now.
Extremely well written ... great job!
Insightful and words of wisdom ❤️🙏
Amazing = extraordinarily sublime and graciously expressed writing ...
This is so beautiful Marianne ~ amazing, truly awe-inspiring
Marianne, I admire your work. What you wrote was heartfelt and beautifully written ❤️🙏
Thank you
Thank you once again, Marianne, for an important and rare perspective. As a pro-choice person, I, too, have been saying for years that acting as if the other side has no valid concerns, there is no middle ground, what's-all-the-fuss-about-just-a-blob-cells, etc., is disrespectful and unnecessarily divisive.
It also contributes to the dynamic in which the professional Democrats and Republicans get to have each other as foils. We've given them a wedge issue to mobilize their bases, while they go on about their bipartisan pro-corporate and militaristic business.
Excellent perspective Michael Goldstein! And it was so easy for Congress to pass the recent defense budget while they've mostly resisted a better social safety net via Build Back Better. It's no wonder Europeans, particularly, those from Sweden look at us sideways and rightly so! Our country can be so much better but somehow it seems the notion of sharing talent and resources is taboo compared to monetizing everything possible! Peace!
That was the best understanding and use of language to describe the abortion dilemma Marianne and I thank you for your courage to speak of this. I believe it is a difficult decision for most women and one made out of some sense of having no other choice. I also have a spiritual belief that the soul enters more and more over time as the pregnancy progresses. Contraception, education and financial ability to access services both as a mother or as a woman seeking to terminate the life within, are the biggest barriers to equality. In an ideal world no-one would need to abort and probably would not therefore. But we err, or as some say, we sin. We learn and we grow and with age there is often more wisdom and fewer errors. Fortunately God knows our whole and perfect spiritual nature and that is our true identity even though we make mistakes.
Indeed, the equality issue is huge--impacting a mother and her offspring if they are to be born here.
I think from a historic perspective, patriarchy has deemed abortion illegal since it prevents the potential of more human capital (and sacred religion is just a smoke-screen)--I'm thinking way back thousands of years to the start of agriculture, etc. , when marriage was invented by men to legalize their human offspring as a means to prosperity. We still have a long way to go when one considers the Equal Rights Amendment for Women has yet to be enacted in the U.S.--with many always pointing at our country as exceptional. Not true! So it goes...I stand behind all women to have a right to choose their life's destiny as much as humanly possible.
The accumulation of wealth and power over centuries relies on the ownership of women as means of producing an heir and passing the name of the father to the child. Matriarchal societies attached the child to the mother as they could be sure of this connection. Now our planet is owned by a handful of those patriarchs who rose to power and wealth by negating the human rights of their extended community.
Thank you for your thoughtful reply Joan.
I appreciate hour comments as well! Wishing you a peaceful holiday season. Joan
On the the subject of "Abortion in a new light", I speak only from my own experience.
Beginning my Spritual growth in Alcoholics Anonymous, 35yrs ago, I had to learn how to inventory all my past mistakes & make amends for those wrong decisions. I learned I was not a bad person trying to become good, but a sick person trying to get well. To see my part in why my life was going down the drain via addiction. What this self-examinatiin taught me was that in every man, woman & child is a consciousness of God & where I had disconnected from that Source. I learned that earlier on in my life; childhood decisions made w/out any counsel, I had made decisions based on self, that later put me in positions to be hurt. From those hurts I not only hurt myself, but also hurt those who loved me; & as a result, caused havoc not only in my life, their lives & society.
Making amends for those grievances included getting Spirtitual counsel, helping others that were confronted w/ making that kind of transformative decision. And how it could & would affect their emotional & spiritual lives.
If I had been educated on the harm I was doing to my own constitution, I probably would of made a better informed decision. However, living life forward & understanding it backwards, there was alot of emotional & spiritual wreakage I had to clean up in order to be free from the spiritual bondage that that uniformed decision put my life in.
I do believe that we have the right to decide what we do to our own bodies. We also have an obligation to teach the next generation what we have learned from our own past mistakes so that we don't pass on the trauma that we inflicted upon ourselves & the damage it does to oneself & society as a whole.
If we choose to remain ignorant of our past we are doomed to repeat it & continue w/the sins of our forefathers. If I am looking to continue my Spiritual journey w/learning how to break the bondages of my past, I am responsible for helping others that have this issue of "Abortion in a different light". Let there be Peace on earth & let it begin w/me.
Love your last sentence and this as a song too! Bringing on peace and harmony! Thanks for this lovley reminder!