Abortion etc.

Apparently the Super-bowl (the world cup of American football which excludes the rest of the World) this year will feature an advertisement by the odious "Focus on the Family" a religious organisation that makes a lot of money (tax exempt) from believers and opposes abortion, evolution, homosexuality etc. (the usual evangelical Christian canards). The ad will feature a football player called Tim Tebow whose Mother Pam contracted a serious disease whilst pregnant and doing "missionary" work in the Philippines; anyway the doctors advised an abortion based on comparable case histories but being a Christian she declined and luckily  for both had a healthy baby who grew up to be the football player. You can imagine the nature of the storyboard behind this advertisement.

In an article in the Slate this story is summarised and the author (clearly a pro-choice advocate) rounds it off with a nice concluding statement, I liked it a lot and thought it worthwhile reproducing it here,

Pro-lifers have always struggled with the invisibility of unborn life: millions of babies aborted every year, concealed in wombs behind closed doors. How do you open the world's eyes to what it can't see? In Tim Tebow, they see the invisible made visible: a child who has lived to tell his story because an abortion didn't happen. "If his mother had followed her doctor's advice," notes LifeSiteNews, "he would be just another abortion statistic."

But what's true of abortion is also true of pregnancy complications. If Pam Tebow's abruption had taken a different turn, her son would be just another perinatal mortality statistic, and she might be just another maternal mortality statistic. And you would know nothing of her story, just as you know nothing of the women who have died carrying pregnancies like hers.

And what do you know of the women who chose to abort in similar circumstances? You never saw their tears for the life lost. You never heard their prayers for another chance. Maybe you've seen them rocking their babies or laughing with their toddlers. But did you make the connection? Do you know their stories? Is Pam Tebow's choice the only way to celebrate life and family?

Pam made a brave choice, and she has raised a fine son. Celebrate his life. But celebrate her luck, too—and say a prayer for all the women and babies who didn't make the cut.

Real life is never as simple as we would like it to be, but its always worth asking the question "will our actions reduce or increase suffering?" I believe it's only within the context of that question that the truly ethical position lies.