I dont remember when I heard the story or why, but it had a rather profound effect on me, as I would discover later. It was a story my father told me about my Uncle Charlie. He wasnt my only uncle there were seven others. My dads mother birthed nine boys, dying from childbirth shortly after the last one was born.
Uncle Charlie was an alcoholic, or in my fathers words, a drunk. When he told me the story, my father was still angry at his brother. Perhaps thats the reason he would even think to mention it to me, just a kid at that time.
Charlie had a wife and several children, all of them neglected because of his addiction. His wife was pregnant with another child and in despair, as she couldnt feed, clothe and care for the ones she already had. So she decided to take the matter into her own hands with a coat hanger. My father sat at her bedside in the hospital as she bled to death. Uncle Charlie was somewhere, drunk.
Years later, I joined the Clergy Consultation Service on Problem Pregnancies. This was an organization of Christian clergy who offered to counsel with women seeking an abortion, at a time in this country when it was illegal. The only option in the U.S. at that time was back alley butchers (and desperate women were seeking them out).
In reviewing a folder long buried in my files, I discovered that I counseled 77 women in my time with CCS. A few important details stood out from that review. One young woman was 15 (a victim of incest). The oldest woman of 40 had several children already. All the rest were of the normal child-bearing age. Only one arrived for counseling with the responsible male present (where were all the other 76?). None of the women were unsure whether this was the right decision, although they were pressed by the counseling process to consider all the options (including adoption) and the possible ramifications of their action. Most had some family support.
If after counseling, a woman was determined to go ahead with the procedure, our responsibility as members of CCS was to give them information about safe and reputable abortion services in Canada or England. Of the 77 women I saw, all decided to proceed. With the passage of Roe vs. Wade in January 1973 with a 7-2 decision of the Supreme Court, CCS ceased to exist.
Now, in 2024, we have returned to the problems of the past with the repeal of Roe, and states are making it more difficult, if not impossible, for women to seek a safe procedure. Should the state, or states, be making laws to enshrine a belief of a particular religious community?
We need to recognize that it was only in 1869 that the Roman Catholic Church prohibited abortion at any time for any reason. In earlier days, ensoulment only occurred several weeks after conception. Before fetal animation, abortion was acceptable. Catholic Theology also taught the male fetus became animated at 40 days, the female fetus at 80 days.
Protestant thought varies. Mainline Protestant churches generally believe in legalized abortion, whereas evangelical Christians are generally opposed. With such variation even in the Christian community, one has to ask why the state needs to be involved at all. This should be a matter of individual moral choice, guided by their personal faith tradition.
Personally, I believe women should have the right to make decisions about their own bodies and choose to give birth. Too many pregnancies are unwanted, often the result of dominant, aggressive males. (These are the ones who gladly put up the money for the abortion.)
I also believe this position is more biblically based, not the result of theology in a patriarchal tradition (that still wont allow women to become priests). In the book of Genesis, we are told in the Creation story that God breathed into Adam the breath of life. Thats the animating story I believe defines when life really begins; that first breath. Before that, there is certainly potential. In most circumstances we want to encourage and support that potential, with love; especially if that conception was loving. Sometimes, it isnt.
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