Abortion
I sometimes receive letters from women, young girls, who have had abortions and are suffering.
Their suffering is double.
Firstly the suffering they feel inside, for although they were sure that no other decision was possible, after the abortion they were tormented by terrible doubt. A young 19 year-old told me that "nothing worse than this can happen to a woman". This suffering cannot be ignored, cannot be wiped away. The abortion leaves a wound behind, something has been violently removed from the woman.
More pain is caused externally, the noisy condemnation by radical opponents of abortion and their shock-troops and other defenders of a strictly-defined morality. On this crusade the extreme right and religious fundamentalists have joined forces, and these new crusaders are determined to force their definition of the truth on others. A truly frightening prospect.
Wishing to control conscience is dangerous and could spell disaster.
Equally, the scrapping of existing legislation as has occurred in certain countries is also a dangerous development. Society has the duty of preventing illegal abortion which is for the mother so dangerous, and must do all it can to prevent its trivialisation and spread. That is in the interests of women. In this respect education is and remains the best prevention.
The dignity of a man and woman realises itself in the free and responsible decision taken in a climate of mutual respect. Who can measure the incalculable worth of such a joint decision that says yes to life?
There is no law that frees the woman, or frees the man from the duty and personal responsability of listening to the voice of their consciences.
But in order that everyone can say yes to life, society must start to question its solidarity and the value it places on social justice. How can we expect a woman who has been abandoned, is unemployed, or living in unacceptable conditions to keep her child?
It is not given to us to judge a woman who has decided to have an abortion. We should though be asking ourselves if we have done enough to give her the warmth, sympathy and help she needed to make an abortion irrelevant.