Abortion - The Bridge To Life

Religion, Politics and Life often make a heady mix. And if you have to choose between the three of them, what would be your answer?

My answer is Life.

Life

And I strongly feel your answer would not be any different.

But the big bad world of ours sometimes does not see eye to eye with us on such important and grave matters. Misplaced priorities, sometimes give an upper hand to Religion and Politics.

This blog post is fueled by this news article in the Times of India today. 

A snippet from the article is below.

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Church ups the ante on Ireland's abortion bill
 

A strong collision seems inevitable between the government and the Church of Ireland with the Catholic Church on Saturday threatening to excommunicate members who vote for the abortion legislation in its current format. 

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An anti-abortion vigil saw Cardinal Sean Brady urging 5,500 people at the rally to lobby their politicians over a draft abortion bill.
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Disturbing, Isn't it?

The sequence of events were as below.

Savita Halappanavar, an Indian national, passed away in Ireland last year because of complexities arising out of her pregnancy.

She was denied an abortion since it was illegal in Ireland. Women in Ireland have to travel to England for this process.

Her death caused mass furore across India. An innocent life could not be saved because a medical procedure could not be carried out citing local laws. The fact these local laws were influenced by religion were a matter of worry.

However, the Irish government took a learning from this incident.

According to this news article, the Irish cabinet agreed for new terms under the abortion bill. Under the new legislation, abortion would be allowed if the pregnant lady's life is at risk.

The new decision looks like below ( quoted verbatim )

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Under the terms of the bill three consultants would be asked to review a case and all must agree for a termination to proceed, Irish media reported.

If a termination is not approved a woman would be able to appeal to another panel of three doctors but they must also be unanimous for it to go ahead.
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However, this decision has not gone down well with the Church. The Church has made the following comment.

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Catholic bishops have branded changes to Ireland's strict abortion regime as morally unacceptable saying "if approved it would make the direct and intentional killing of unborn children lawful in Ireland."
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It would be a definitely a step back if the new law is not passed citing religious views and opinions. 

In this particular case, the life of an unborn individual is put before a living individual. And this irrational view ( at least that is what I feel ) makes the process of being a mother a risky proposition.

I will sincerely hope that the law makers adopt a judicious view of the situation, and take a decision which is not influenced by religion, and would benefit the women in the country.

And save a life when a unforseen situation comes up.

P.S. It would also be worthwhile to read the below case study from Freakonomics. 

It highlights how the legalization of abortion in the USA in the late 1960s resulted in reduced crime rate in the late 1980s. Read the study here.

P.S.2. In a similar view, the Church has never advocated the usage of the contraceptive pill, or the usage of contraception. You can read more about it in my blogs listed below. However, the benefits of these contraception are well proven and have stood the test of time.

Ideas and Inventions Revolutionize Life

HIV AIDS and Contraception

The Church and Contraception 

Hope Life wins, over Religion and Politics.

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All views are strictly personal.
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