In my view, you're trying to split an unsplittable hair.
Perhaps that's because you're thinking black/white and I'm not.
I have a respect for life. Should have been raised a Buddhist, probably. Anyway, I've yammered enough here about rescuing bugs from the pool, about trying to deal with my squirrel and my mice without killing them. But I ended up killing some mice when other measures didn't work. I'm not about to have my home overrun with mice. That's not healthy for me or my neighbors. I wrestled with the decision, as you all know. I ended up trying to be as humane as possible with the mice. And I felt horrible when they died. Still feel bad when I think about it. But I killed them.
I was raised by products of the depression, so I was taught that it is wrong to waste. Yet I will throw good food away rather than eat something spoiled or eat more than I need. What is the point of getting sick or getting fat to avoid the moral misdemeanor of wasting food. I feel bad about it. I resolve to avoid getting into that position in the future. But I'm not about to eat spoiled food as punishment for my poor grocery planning. That's just stupid.
It seems to me that there are a number of factors involved in choosing to do something with moral implications. One is the moral severity of the act. One is the respect one shows for the moral issues when choosing the path. Another is whether the natural penalty fits the crime. And yet another is the projected consequences of various options.
No, I don't think that relying on the rhythm method shows adequate respect for the act of abortion. But I know for a fact that one can be sexually active for a lifetime without getting pregnant if one is careful. Lifetime abstinence is unreasonable, silly, and may produce another whole set of moral consequences. Particularly given the moral severity of the potential abortion, which may be the essence of our difference, which I would consider a moral misdemeanor of higher order. I'd rate it of greater moral consequence than wasting food or killing a mouse, but not by much as long as it's done early. And the potential complications upon complications of continuing the pregnancy are huge.
So there you are. Abstinence is stupid. Inhuman and stupid. If you consider all abortion as murder, then maybe that's a small price to pay, but if you don't...
Addendum: Squirrel is alive and well and in residence. I haven't seen any signs of mice since last I posted about it and I put away all my traps this morning. |
