Abortion: Left, Right, and Center...

In light of the recent protests (pictures below) over obama's commencement speech at Notre Dame which of course centered around his support for abortion rights, I guess it is time to address the issue up, front and center from a fresh, different dimension and I think those involved in the war of words should already start engaging each other. And as appalling as human behaviors could be, this dissension had actually claimed the life of a famous pro-choice activist and abortion doctor who was shot dead in a Reformation Lutheran Church in his Wichita, Kansas hometown. Here's the link to the news. I bet there were many more cases of such nature which did not get to the headlines.

We are very much aware of what those pro-life proponents have in their mind about abortion. And we totally get what those pro-choice upholders have in their mind either. Both camps have undoubtedly heckled each other to a point where the differences seem irreconcilable. Even Obama himself in his commencement speech acknowledged and I quote "at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable." Hence, I do not understand why these very people cannot stop to think for a while and have the guts to step out of their niche and try to see the issue from a fresh set of focal point. Who cares if you're not a Christian or a Buddhist or an Agnostic for juz a moment? You juz have to think and fully utilize your brain and put yourselves in someone else's shoes. We have to admit that we are different. We cannot always agree on a single thing all the time. There will be times when we disagree. It's a lie if you think we are made to agree with each other, even the so called God couldn't agree with most of the things we do. And this is why dialogue proves important and not by killing someone. Resolving the differences by engaging in a heinous act of violence is juz absurd and totally unacceptable. If they think this could be resolved that easily by killing off someone who's obstructing them, there's no way they can guarantee the other camp won't be thinking about plotting to do the same. The fiery debate between the two camps is highly saturated, we know it and they know it and has been going on for too long with no ultimate end in sight. Let me put these in a very simple form of disparity between the two.

Pro-life upholders(mostly devout Christians and Catholics) think ABORTION is completely WRONG, SINFUL and defies God's teachings:

i) every abortion kills a baby,

ii) deliberate abortion of unborn baby when the mother's life is not in danger is murder,

iii)abortion equals killing the most defenseless human beings,

iv)abortion takes away the right to life of the unborn baby,

v) baby is a growing, living human right from the earliest stage. they believe life starts at conception.

Pro-choice upholders(mostly agnostics) think abortion is a matter of individual rights.

i) women have the right to choose what they wanna do with their own lives.

ii) the responsibilities are a matter of individual choice.

iii) believe in the separation of church and state.

iv) religious freedom and education are a constitutional right for every citizen.

v) not everyone is christian by birth, hence it's their choice to be one or not.

The differences are too much to bear. Yeah. Believe it or not, it's not gonna be easy for us to find anything in common between the two feuding camps. However, I truly believe we will be able to find the common ground juz by engaging each other. Dialogue or diplomacy is very very important to break the stalemate.

While we're at it, I personally think abortion is an individual choice. If they are christians, whether or not they approve abortion is completely up to them. Who are we to judge them? We are no God. This is between them and God. We can only advise and tell them it is wrong. But in the end, the decision lies in their hands. We cannot force our beliefs on someone else. Even in Buddhist teachings, we too can only advise. We cannot force our beliefs on others. Buddhists believe in karma. Whatever you do will bounce back on you. Therefore, if you truly understand the word karma, you will be able to get why Buddhism kinda stands in the middle when it comes to abortion. Buddhism doesn't say much about restricting and stopping you from going for abortion, it tells you what is right and what is wrong and in the end, you will have to decide through your wisdom on what to do next.