Introduction
The issue abortion existed in the human race since time immemorial and it has gone on till today. Whether abortion is morally right or wrong largely depends on one’s own conviction about the issue. The moral authority termination of life lies in the hands of the mother despite the influence of the society about the issue. This paper looks at how the author supports the argument that it is a moral duty for the mother not to bring unwanted offspring into the world.
Summary of the article
Sawyer, a mother of two kids has experienced what it takes to bring a child into this world. Her interpretation of her pregnancy depended on her current situation. She would term pregnancy as a baby when she was prepared and wanted to have a baby but also interpreted the same as a group of cells when she didn’t want anything to do with the baby.
She claimed to have a change of thought after having the two kids. She agreed to the fact that abortion is a terribly traumatic experience. She supports the fact that abortion is hardly supported by the society even in the cases that are supported by the law.
The society is said to brand the mother giver of life yet limits her right over the same. The mother is expected to carry to term every child conceived no matter the cost and that according to the society is the true motherhood.
Sawyer disagrees with the controversial argument on when life begins and instead prefers women to have the authority over life and not life argument instead. After having her two kids she understood what it meant to bring meaningful life to earth. She argued that a mother should be given the chance to bring only the wanted child onto the earth.
Rhetorical analysis
Sawyer expresses how she previously strongly believed in pro choice feminist movement like dye in the wool. Those were the days that she believed that pregnancy meant life in her and she had duty to preserve it. She explained how by finding herself pregnant, and understanding what goes along with it her eyes seemed to open to a new thought about having the right to determine the fate of the fetus.
She makes us sympathize with women by the way she pictures the experience they usually go through during abortion “Of course, it’s terribly traumatic, no woman enters into this lightly” (Moran 1). This shows that women do not like it and that they only do it as a last resort.
To them it is not a very pleasant experience and as such we should understand their predicament when they choose to have an abortion. Her concerns about how the society doesn’t care about the predicament of the woman are felt in her view on the stand of the society which has zero tolerance to abortion even in the most liberated society.
The society is biased in its judgment about abortion as it does not look at the constructive side of abortion. Jokes about issues to do with abortion are rare and issues concerning abortion are hardly discussed as much as other less important issues. She makes us understand how biased the society treats abortion. According to her, no one encourages a woman to discuss the positive side of abortion.
The irony on the issue of abortion is clearly seen on her description of the woman as “Mother, gentle giver of life” according to the society and her role ends there. It is ironical that the gentle giver of life cannot make further decisions about the life that she has the authority to make in the first place.
According to her, the society has no feelings about what the women go through as a result of unwanted conceptions they are expected to carry on irrespective of “how disruptive or ruinous, because her love would be great enough for anything” (Moran 1) certainly this is not what anyone would want for a woman. At such conditions it would be wise to let women have abortion rather than let them go through a traumatic experience all in the name of love.
Sawyer gives a strong argument that anyone can arguably reckon with. The society has spent so much time and energy on the discussion about the inconclusive debate on when life begins. Without a clear definition on when life begins then the woman is always left with no moral choice. Instead she advocates for a totally different thought of letting the woman have the dominion over life and also the dominion over not-life.
This way she believes that the woman will never have to go through hell all in the name of womanhood but instead will have the option to terminate life if she feels that it absolutely justifiable to undertake the practice on moral grounds. She cannot simply understand how nature can be biased as to give the woman ability to make, host, shelter, nurture and protect life and yet not empower her to end it too especially when its existence will be catastrophic. However she is not advocating for unwarranted and unjustifiable abortions.
It may be argued that she went through a transformation time after she had her two children. Her ordeal through the hectic nine month period the labor pains, caring for the delicate new born, spending through sleepless nights and giving all the motherly support care and most important love to the baby who needed more than just love from a dedicated stable and a willing mother changed her perception and conviction about the issue of abortion.
By understanding the requirements of being a reasonable mother she didn’t hesitate having an abortion after the conviction since she understood what another child would have meant for her.
She was in no way prepared for bringing yet another life in to the world and watch as her already happy family go through stressing moments and furthermore she was already tired of all the stress that goes with giving life and thus was justified to terminate the pregnancy.
By looking at the case like this it was easy for her to make the decision easily and without moral guilt. And still she didn’t want to take a gamble on such an important issue (Head 1; Summary 1).
The society as she puts it usually goes overboard when dealing with abortion. She argues that anti abortion campaigners base their arguments about the sanctity of life but she still can’t understand why the issue of sanctity only comes in when people are talking about abortion and never mentioned when other sanctity of life threatening cases such as Vladimir Putin. This may suggest that the issue of sanctity of life is not in good faith and is only used as a tool of oppression of women (Newman and Newman 2).
She needs us to clearly understand her conviction about abortion by arguing that the world would be a better place to live in if there were much less evil people in it. She feels that it may be far much justifiable to end an early pregnancy than bring forth an unwanted child who would be a problem to the already existing family or even the society.
It is still ironical that according to her the majority of mankind’s miseries is attributed to unhappy children who grew up to be angry adults. She argues that such occurrences are blamed on women and yet the society doesn’t give her the mandate to terminate the problem at its root. As she concludes she wants it to be clear that abortion should be taken as “intelligent, logical, humble, compassionate thing to do” (Moran 1) and ultimately as an act of good mothering.
Conclusion
The issue of abortion demands a critical thought in all perspectives. The author has expressed her opinion concerning the issue of abortion. By giving her own encounter as a woman, she was able to capture the argument about why abortion is morally right by blending her personal ordeal and the realities of life.
The society was depicted as insensitive and ironic in that it gave some rights and took them with the other hand. Though she doesn’t advocate for unjustified abortions she strongly agrees that women should be left to use the mandate given to them by nature in a moral way.
Works Cited
Head, Tom. Is abortion now legal in every state? Living Liberties, 2011. Web.
Moran, Caitlin. Abortion: why it’s the ultimate motherly act. The Sunday Times, 2007. Web.
Newman, B and Newman, Phillips. Development through Life: A Psychosocial. New York, NY. 2008. Print.
Summary. Summary of Abortion Laws around the World. Pregnant Pause, 2002. Web.