Many years ago, a neighbor of mine had a miscarriage after trying to get pregnant, unsuccessfully, for many years. It was very hard for me to see her go through such a terrible time. She was distraught. I was upset. Her husband was trying very hard to comfort her, and kept telling her “it was the will of god”. He didn’t know what else to say.
Statistically, over 30% of all pregnancies end in miscarriage before the end of the third month, what’s medically known as a “spontaneous abortion.” The number might even be higher, there is substantial evidence which says that many women don’t even realize they are pregnant if the miscarriage occurs about the time their next period is due. Usually, a woman just assumes she is “late” by a few weeks. The body just decides there is something wrong, and the pregnancy is terminated on the spot.
So here’s my point. There are many who believe that all life is sacred, and that abortion is a sin, yet a “spontaneous abortion” which ends over 30% of all pregnancies worldwide is “the will of god”. How come it’s ok for god to kill all these unborn children? He must be quite the bastard and the ultimate sinner. If I were an angry, uninformed, born again Christian, I would have a real problem with this. I mean, if it’s ok to kill a doctor who performs abortions, then the Christians must have solemn duty to kill god. After all, he’s responsible for the deaths of more innocent babies than anyone. Even Hitler wasn’t able to keep up with the number of outrageous murders that this god of theirs commits!
But seriously, I can honestly say that I hope that no one is actually “pro abortion”. It doesn’t matter if it’s “spontaneous” or an “induced” medical procedure, the net result is just the same. It’s a horrible way to end a pregnancy. It’s difficult for both the mother and father, it’s expensive, and it’s just a messy process to have to go through, emotionally and physically.
Birth control as a way of preventing pregnancy, however, is exceedingly important. No one in the world should be against birth control; the survival of the human race depends on it! We have a choice – we can control our population, control our consumption of natural resources, and save the planet ... or we can continue to overpopulate the world, kill off all other species, and subject our children to abject poverty and a life of misery. Hmm. I’ll pick “door number 1”. Quality of life should always be valued over quantity of life.
I’ve always said that it is ENVIRONMENTALLY IRRESPONSIBLE to have more than two children. And as I said in an earlier post:
I am a very staunch "pro-life" advocate, but the biggest threat to life on this planet is the over population of the human species.
Of course, I disagree with this bleeding heart liberal attitude that “life is sacred and must be preserved at any cost” (or is that the conservative Christian attitude? I always get those confused.) That “cost” is killing us. If you are upset that your healthcare premiums are going up, just remember that your insurer is spending billions of dollars saving premature babies. For the last five million or so years of human history, premature babies would most likely be stillborn. That’s the natural conclusion of a failed pregnancy – but now, with modern medical technology, we’re trying to change the rules. (if you’re religious, then think of it this way – we’re trying to go against god’s will, no matter what the church leaders are trying to lead you to believe.)
We have finite resources, which need to be used much more efficiently. For the cost of delivering a single preemie, we could provide healthcare for 50 kids for a full year. And it doesn’t stop there – these children have substantially higher incidents of emotional problems, mental retardation, and other serious health issues. Our education system suffers, crime rates are statistically higher, our welfare system is stressed, and it lowers the quality of life for everyone – including (especially!) the kids that were “saved”.
Yes, it’s exceedingly sad and emotionally devastating when a miscarriage occurs, or a child is stillborn. It’s traumatic for everyone when a four year old gets hit by a car. We wonder what went wrong when a teenager OD’s on drugs or a college student commits suicide. It’s even sad when someone dies at the ripe old age of 95. But that’s what life is all about. And yes, it’s sad when someone gets divorced, or gets cancer, or any of the other challenges that life throws at us.
But it’s also sad when a highly intelligent child is living an impoverished life, eating lead based paint chips off a wall in a third world country, and her talents never get recognized and she never gets the education she needs to fulfill her potential because her village has too many mouths to feed. This is especially sad because it IS preventable, if we concentrate our resources on the right things.
It’s not nearly as sad when a couple of cells that might have possibly developed into a human being are aborted. Don’t give me any baloney about “if abortion were legal 130 years ago, then Einstein might never have been born.” That’s a flawed argument, as the same can be said for Hitler and Stalin. Or more recently, how about Idi Amin and Pol Pot? Surely, the world would have been better off without them.
We need to nurture the Einstein's we already have. We need to focus our energy and our resources on making sure the brightest kids who are going to be the next generation of leaders, doctors, teachers, engineers, and scientists get the best education and the opportunities that life has to offer them.
My neighbor who had the miscarriage never did manage to get pregnant. It’s too bad, because they both would have made excellent parents. But the pain of the unfortunate event did pass, and the last I heard she was working in a day care and was very happy.