This is such a hard conversation to have because it seems like no matter what you say, someone can twist your words to make you seem like a monster. I mean, it's not a simple issue, and it's certainly not one we can discuss with lightness, but I believe idealism is what has taken us away from practicality.

Tribalism

Like with many discussions on the social issues, and topics of morality, the divide is usually distorted by the regressive idea of picking a team, a side that you must fight for regardless of nuance. In other words, plenty of people that hold strong positions decided at some point in time, the jersey they would be wearing and thus would default to always one answer.

I find no other word to use here but tribalism, it's just us vs them, nothing more, nothing less. Regardless of what side you lean towards, because I think we all have ideological tendencies, there is literally no way we can simplify such complexity with a binary outlook. This is not to say that we must not hold ideals and be consistent, but more like being able to understand that not all problems are nails, and not all arguments are hammers.

What religion offers

Most religions offer a moral framework, of course this is within context and it's no doubt subjective, but for the most part, most religions hold a view on life that is absolutist. This is to say, there is no in betweens for life and death, and life is no doubt sacred.

I find these notions historically important, because they have without a doubt given society some sort of north to follow. We could say not all religions, and that would be accurate, but for the sake of this little philosophical exploration, let's stick to the ones that are still around today, and forget their fringe elements.

It would be dishonest to argue against the moral position of valuing life. Regardless of the scriptures someone might hold dear, it's not doubt that the idea of respecting life above all is noble, and if this could be expanded on, if most people were to subscribe to it, this law, this notion, would no doubt be the ideology that would end all wars. It becomes apparent that the value over life is not something that humanity practices in an absolutist fashion, but the notion of doing so is very popular.

What science offers

To the most pragmatic of minds, science is the only thing that matters. I would argue that thinking this way is myopic, because it does not take into account that life is experiential, and thus subjective, but I digress.

If we stick however to scientific facts and leave morality aside for a minute, there are plenty of reasons to terminate pregnancies, and thus suspend idealistic thoughts. A complicated pregnancy for example, that might result the death of a mother, a child or both might be a justifiable reason. A dreadful scenario that involves rape, incest or both, could also be a logical reason to make this difficult choice, but of course science does not necessarily say anything about the morality of making that choice, but we tend to conflate science with morality quite often.

The Reality

In my opinion the healthy mental framework is recognize elements on both sides of the argument as valid, but stick to a pragmatic reality. In other words, I can recognize the moral and spiritual concerns of someone who is appalled by the idea of a life being lost, but I'm aware of the existence of free will.

To put it simply, if someone has decided to not have the child, there is little to nothing anyone can do to stop that person. Yes we can offer words of wisdom, yes we can try to mediate the situation, but unless we are propositioning strapping someone to a bed for 9 months, we are literally powerless.

The legality or Illegality of abortion, won't really stop people from making choices. We should know this, since when countries have banned abortion, the dark market for the procedure would flourish, and as you might imagine, it always resulted with more lives being lost.

If there is something society can do, or should do, depending on where you stand regarding the subject, is to invest more on sex ed. Yes, one might infer that we are over sexualizing our youth, and there is merit to that concern, but is there a way of stopping the advertisement monster? Is it realistic to think we close a pandora box, when all media is filled with sex? This is precisely why I say it's time to be pragmatic about this challenge.

The key word here is tolerance. No doubt we all need to be able to listen to the other side, and take into account what they mean, not just see them like the opposing team. The question is, can we do this? Can you do this? Can we all learn to dialogue and not demonize each other?

That my friends, is the million dollar question.

MenO