| |
ABORTION - TOWARDS A HOLISTIC APPROACH
March 2005
It was dismaying, wasn’t it, that the head of the Catholic Church in
Britain, Cardinal McCormick, chose the run-up to a general election to
express his concerns about abortion? Almost immediately, all the usual
Christian conservatives rushed into the battle.
It is dismaying because the early termination of a pregnancy is an
event filled with suffering and confusion – and therefore requires
safe, patient and considered attention. To add to the situation’s
difficulties by pouring on to them the petrol of short-term political
campaigning is cruel.
It is also inappropriate for fundamentalist Christians to take the high
ground as if they alone have some absolute wisdom with which to judge
the situation.
But to be sensitive to the rights and the existence of the fetus is
indeed appropriate. The problem is in judging the timing when those
rights begin to have a sovereignty that demands a respect equal to that
of the mother. Taken to its most extreme, the fundamentalist Christian
stance is that the new sacrosanct life begins the very moment that a
sperm marries with an egg. From that precise second of conception, the
argument goes, a complete human being is imbued with full dignity and
human rights.
This is to say that a single-celled biological entity has all the
integrity and consciousness of a full human being. This is a very
extreme assertion. But it also contains an important grain of truth
honoured in a different context by mystics, animists and pagans,
Buddhists, Hindis and Taoists - which is that every cell and every
atom, every aspect of life and wave of energy, is filled with value and
consciousness. According to this perspective, the whole of existence is
a field of consciousness out of which innumerable ‘beings’ emerge into
what we call Life.
From this perspective, the single-celled fetus is indeed sacred – but
it is sacred along with all other forms of life, alongside every
animal, plant and rock. The right-to-lifers would demonstrate
consistency and integrity if their respect for life was extended to all
other human beings and life forms. Are these campaigners
environmentally careful? Do they respect what they eat? Do they stand
against the savagery of corporal and capital punishment? How many of
them support moves to ban parents from striking their children?
If you love life, you love life. It lacks integrity and it lacks love
if there are only certain inclusions, in this case the impregnated
eggs. Any discussion about the ethics of early termination has to take
place within an atmosphere of reverence for the sacred life of all
beings.
One of the reasons for my engagement in this subject is that my father,
Philip, was a medical doctor and psychiatrist, much beloved of
feminists because during the years of illegal abortions, he was one of
the few medics always prepared to provide one of the necessary
signatures for a legal abortion. For years I was proud of his
radicalism, but I then began to have second thoughts because of his
utilitarian attitude. He never paused to contemplate the whole
situation.
The whole situation not only includes the wellbeing of the mother, the
respect for all cellular life and the rights of the fetus, but it can
also include another important spiritual insight, that of
reincarnation. From this perspective, subscribed to by many world
religions and by folk as distinguished as the Dalai Lama and Plato, the
sacred incarnation of a human being does not just happen once.
Incarnation is a process of the soul’s education and is an event that
happens many, many times. So, when we look at a developing fetus, we
are not only looking at a miraculous biological event, we are also
witnessing the reincarnation of a soul who will blend intimately with
the physical creature.
This adds a dramatic new perspective. It shows that the soul’s sacred
incarnation is not a once-only event, but part of a long process of
lives. This one life is not therefore the only opportunity for having a
life. There have been and there will be many more. Equally, it
illuminates the mother’s condition too. This is not her only life and
ideas about her life being ‘ruined’ forever need to be placed in a much
longer time frame.
The philosophy of reincarnation therefore adds a dimension, but it does
not provide moral clarity. The needs and suffering of the new child and
of the mother have still to be clearly contemplated.
All of this goes to support the original point that a discussion about
abortion should not take place in a politically charged and impatient
atmosphere. It is true that the general guidelines do require careful
debate, especially about the time limit after which a termination is
obviously wrong. Careful debate is also required about
terminating the lives of the ‘disabled’, who can bring a profound
blessing and education into many families, and who may live deep and
fulfilling lives.
This debate would be enhanced by spiritual insights beyond the usual
Christian and humanistic ideas, especially by those two important
concepts, animism and reincarnation – that there is sacred life in all
atoms, cells and beings, not just in people, and that the spiritual
path of a human being is one of many lives, not just one.
Several times in my life I have known women seeking early termination.
The most inspiring I have encountered were the women who knew early on
that they were pregnant and had deep instincts that it was
inappropriate. In these cases, the women went into meditation and
prayer, talking to their wombs, to the cells of the early fetus and
also to the soul that was seeking incarnation. They entered into
conversation with these elements, explaining their side of the story,
apologizing for the situation and respectfully asking for a spontaneous
and early termination. They gave their bodies and spirits the utmost
respect.
Two of these women did indeed spontaneously terminate. Two others did
not, but they proceeded with a surgical intervention, knowing that they
had spiritually and morally behaved with integrity and care.
At its most ideal, making love, getting pregnant, childbirth and
parenting are a sequence of conscious and loving events. But life is
not like that. At the very least, though, as we consider these crucial
matters, our guidelines need to be those in which we attempt to create
a culture that includes more contemplation and long term awareness.
All my love.
return to top
|
|
