The polemical case of abortion by Walter Dos Santos (U3)

Abortion is one of the most controversial and tragic dilemmas of human beings in our times. The problem is: how to conciliate the responsibility for the protection of the prenatal human life and the preservation of the personal liberty of women? It's not enough simply adhering to one or another position and then condemning the people who disagree with us. In my opinion, if any problematic area needs balance and good sense, abortion is one of them.

First of all, I mean abortion as any action aimed at the termination of a pregnancy already established and as the last resource to be sought by a woman or a couple. As a Bible believer, I understand that the real must be distinguished from the ideal. Human life in general and prenatal human life in particular is a gift of God, who has made human beings in His image and requires preservation and respect for this gift. For this, abortions for reasons of birth control, gender selection, or convenience are to be seen in the same level of as a premeditated murder of a child or adult people. In order to avoid this option, attitudes like strengthening family relationships, assuring the rights of citizenship, educating both men and women concerning responsible sexuality and family planning should be emphasized by instances like family, churches, school and mass media. Simple initiatives and principles like these could promote a better climate for discussion of the consequences and needs of a decision like abortion.

Well, this is the ideal. Likewise, we have the real world where abortion should be performed for serious and unfortunate reasons that not merely an undesired or inconvenient pregnancy. Women and couples may face exceptional circumstances such as significant threats to the pregnant woman's life, serious danger to her health, severe congenital defects diagnosed in the fetus, and pregnancy resulting from rape or incest. To be contrary to the option of abortion in these cases, to be honest, means to impose on the involved people a bigger and more intense suffering than she or they could bear. Obviously, the final decision whether to end the pregnancy or not should be made by the woman and couple involved in these situations, after medical consultation and personal reflection. Any attempts to induce or to dissuade a woman to remain pregnant or to end pregnancy in such cases should be rejected.

Tough concepts like above were exposed by me, I suppose that an abortion might be accomplished by a woman or a couple without she or they realizing the moral consequences of her/their choices. As a Seventh-Day Adventist Christian, I radically support that no condemnation or prejudice must be directed to these people. Instead, the message of infinite love and forgiveness of God unto all of us can and need be extended to them. You can support high patterns of moral conduct without negleting high patterns of acceptance and caring love. Furthermore, I believe that Christians should not impose their morality upon society by force or legislation, especially in two cases: if society is composed by a majority of non Christians or if the so-called Christian majority doesn't support the official position of their religious leaders.