I’m reposting some additional
comments I left over at Joe Carter and Justin Taylor’s blog on the rape
exception.
steve hays
October 27, 2012 at 5:18 pm
Booth Muller
“Even if we do not agree that it’s morally acceptable, I submit that it’s foolish to think abortion will ever be legally unacceptable after a rape. And I think Christians should reconcile ourselves to that. There are, after all, many morally unacceptable things that we would not even want to be legally prohibited — e.g. coveting our neighbor’s goods, or taking the Lord’s name in vain. I believe we Christians should not even try to ban abortion in the case of rape, though we should reserve our right to try to persuade the victim/mother not to abort the child.”
Several things wrong with
that objection:
i) You’re conflating two
different issues: (a) We shouldn’t try to ban abortion in case of rape because that’s
politically unrealistic; (b) We shouldn’t try to ban abortion in case of rape
because there ought to be a rape exception. Whether or not it’s politically
realistic is a separate issue from whether it’s right or wrong.
ii) Even if it the attempt to
ban abortion in that situation couldn’t succeed politically, that might still
be a worthwhile effort if it was a teaching moment. If the attempt to ban
abortion in that situation gave prolifers a public platform to explain the
ethical issues surrounding abortion in general, then that might be productive.
If the prolife case is never made, people never hear the supporting arguments.
Never fighting for the cause becomes a self-defeating exercise. You can’t
persuade people if you fail to engage the argument in the first place.
iii) Even if it’s politically
unrealistic to ban it at a national level, that doesn’t mean it’s politically
unrealistic to ban in at a local level. For some states are more socially
conservative than others.
steve hays
October 27, 2012 at 5:32 pm
No doubt that’s a hardship on
the mother. No doubt that’s unfair to the mother.
However, the acid test of
morality is doing the right thing even when it hurts.
Suppose I have a
special-needs brother. Maybe he’s autistic. He’s a danger to himself. He
requires supervision. He will never be able to live on his own.
Maybe our parents care for my
autistic brother for as long as they can. But unless he accidentally kills
himself, he is likely to outlive our parents. Moreover, long before they die, they
may become too enfeebled by the infirmities of old age to look after him.
At that point it falls to me.
I didn’t ask for that. I didn’t sign up for that. But it’s my fraternal duty to
look out for my autistic brother, even though that’s a tremendous imposition on
me.
And there’s no reason why
that shouldn’t be a legal requirement as well. Why should I be allowed to
desert him, and leave it up to strangers to care for him?
steve hays
October 27, 2012 at 6:12 pm
Let’s take another
hypothetical. Suppose I go on a charter fishing trip with three other tourists.
While we’re out at sea we’re overtaken by a terrible squall. Our fishing boat
is blown off course and capsizes. Only two passengers (including me) make it to
the lifeboat. The captain and the other two passengers drown.
The rations of food and water
on the lifeboat are in short supply. It would up my chances of survival if I
pushed my fellow passenger overboard while he slept.
I didn’t ask for this
predicament. And I barely know my fellow passenger. We just met a few hours
ago.
Do I have a responsibility
for his welfare, even if it puts my own survival at greater risk?
Suppose he’s injured. He
needs me to hold the canteen and pour what little fresh water we have into his
mouth. What if I just let him die? The rations will go twice as far with half
the passengers. I didn’t create this situation.
steve hays
October 28, 2012 at 11:15 am
Booth Muller
“Is it just to require her to provide nine months of sustenance to a person whose very existence she finds distasteful, perhaps even revolting or horrifying?”
Suppose I’m the parent of a student who was
killed in the Columbine massacre. Never a day goes by that I don’t think about
my dead child. Never a day goes by that I don’t miss my dead child.
However, there are times when I can put it in
the back of my mind. When there are other things I think about.
Suppose, every now and then, when I go shopping,
I bump into the parents of Eric Harris or Dylan Klebod. The moment I see their
parents, that brings everything back. Suddenly I’m reliving that horrible day.
I can’t look at their parents without remembering what happened to my child.
The grief I managed to suppress instantly rises to the surface.
Does the fact that they remind me of a
horrifying experience mean they ought to be executed to spare my feelings?
steve hays
October 28, 2012 at 11:00 am
Booth Muller
“Even if we do not agree that it’s morally acceptable, I submit that it’s foolish to think abortion will ever be legally unacceptable after a rape. And I think Christians should reconcile ourselves to that. There are, after all, many morally unacceptable things that we would not even want to be legally prohibited — e.g. coveting our neighbor’s goods, or taking the Lord’s name in vain. I believe we Christians should not even try to ban abortion in the case of rape, though we should reserve our right to try to persuade the victim/mother not to abort the child.”
Even if prolifers will never
succeed in banning abortion in case of rape, we also can’t dodge the issue. We
can’t get away with not making a case for our position, even if that’s
hypothetical.
And that’s because abortion
proponents won’t let us remain silent on this issue. Because the issue is so
emotionally charged, they use abortion in case of rape as a wedge issue. They
taunt prolifers with that scenario. They exploit that issue to make us back
down. “Well, if you do make an exception in the case of rape, then where do you
draw the line?”
So this debate is
unavoidable.
steve hays
October 28, 2012 at 11:33 am
Booth Muller
“But in the case of rape? Pregnancy is costly to the mother, both emotionally and physically.”
We should be extremely
sympathetic to the plight of the rape victim. We should be as understanding as
possible (our understanding is necessarily limited when it didn’t happen to
us).
However, there’s a danger of
patronizing women. Acting as though women are too emotionally fragile to cope
with traumatic situations. That’s a popular stereotype which many women
understandably resent. Are we holding women to a lower standard than men?
I knew a man whose wife
developed mental illness. For a time, she was institutionalized. That was too
much for him to deal with. He couldn’t cope. So he left her for another woman.
While she was in the asylum, he divorced her and remarried.
His first wife later
recovered, no thanks to him.
Now, he was in a tough
situation. He didn’t have a functioning marriage. No doubt it was painful to
see his wife in that condition. To compare her with what she had been, before
mental illness overtook her.
Still, I suspect most of us
have contempt for the man. He deserted his wife when she needed him more than
ever. When she was most vulnerable.
We expect him to tough it
out. That’s his duty. Even though she can’t be a wife to him, he can still be a
husband to her.
Are we in danger of
belittling women by treating them as such frail creatures that they can’t cope
with wrenching situations when we expect men to rise to the occasion? Isn’t
that attitude demeaning to women? There are some very tough women in the Bible.
There are some very tough women in church history.
steve hays
October 28, 2012 at 11:43 am
Booth Muller
“But in the case of rape? Pregnancy is costly to the mother, both emotionally and physically.”
What about parents who have
an autistic child? Their child has no sense of danger. He requires constant
supervision. It’s emotionally and physically exhausting to monitor his
activities round the clock.
And unlike most kids, who
outgrow the need for constant supervision, their autistic kid will make
unceasing demands on his parents.
The parents never planned to
have an autistic child. They didn’t agree to that ahead of time. It took them
by surprise. Perhaps, had they known the outcome, they would have practiced
contraception.
Does that mean it’s okay for
the beleaguered father to drive his autistic son to a remote location and
abandon him by the side of the road? To either leave him to die or shift the
burden to someone else?
(Mind you, I think parents of
autistic kids are entitled to a support system.)
steve hays
October 28, 2012 at 2:06 pm
Booth Muller
“But in the case of rape? Pregnancy is costly to the mother, both emotionally and physically.”
True. What about caring for
an elderly parent who’s becoming senile? That’s emotionally and physically
exhausting, too. And the grown child didn’t choose to be put in that situation.
Lou G.
October 27, 2012 at 4:43 PM
With regard to the personal attacks and insults - supposedly in the name of defending Christ! - I think Frank Viola's article is appropriate. (Joe, please do not delete this comment - it needs to be read).http://www.patheos.com/blogs/frankviola/jerk/
steve hays
October 27, 2012 at 5:41 PM
Once again, it's revealing to see some people
who are more concerned about imagined slights and hurt feelings (even when
their resentment is unjustified) than they are about doing irreparable harm to
defenseless little babies. What does that tell you about their moral compass?
What does that tell you about their value-system–or lack thereof? That
certainly fails to reflect anything resembling a Biblical scale of values. It's
wholly self-absorbed rather than showing any real concern for those most in
need.
I'm reminded of Geisler saying,"I'll grant you the 1% if you'll grant me the 99".
ReplyDeleteWhich causes me to think, 'Grant me the 1% rape victims and I'll grant you the other 99%' in this country with no restrictions (Canada). Something is better than nothing right?
Delete“Why should I be allowed to desert him [an autistic brother], and leave it up to strangers to care for him?”
ReplyDeleteSuppose your brother would likely be much better off as a ward of the State with full time professional care-givers available night and day, able to tend to his needs in a way you couldn’t possibly afford. Access to physical and mental health care. A social structure. Why wouldn’t you want him to be cared for by them?
There's a difference between having some outside assistance, and ditching him in a facility.
ReplyDelete"(Mind you, I think parents of autistic kids are entitled to a support system."
ReplyDeleteEntitled in what sense? Are they entitled to receive tax dollars to support their child?
i) In principle, it could be private charity. Also, if we lowered the tax burden, donations to private charity could rise, since wage-earners would have more disposable income to contribute.
Deleteii) However, I don't object to gov't assistance to the disabled. To those who are physically or mentally disabled through no fault of their own. At the same time, assistance isn't the same thing as shifting responsibility to a gov't agency.
The moral and rational blindness of of so many people, including so many Christians, on this issue is astounding. And then for the pro-abortionist to act hurt because you haven't pampered them enough with flowery words.
ReplyDeleteJanitor - I finally got to listen the whole debate over again (on Unbelievable on YE Creation vs. OE Creation) - left a comment there "a mission without a mission field". You wanted to know what I thought and I gave some thoughts. I need to study all of the issues more - the more I listen to both sides, the more I realize I don't know. (especially the science parts; but Lloyd and McIntosh won on Biblical exegesis and sound theology.
Delete