From Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale 1985 (Folio Society edition, illustrated by Anna & Elena Balbusso) |
APOLOGIA
By Hendrik van der Breggen
June 4, 2019
Steinbach's
Life Hike 2019
Last Saturday I was a part of Steinbach's
annual Life Hike in which about 1200 people peacefully demonstrated their
concern over Canada's lack of restrictions on abortion. [Steinbach is located in Manitoba, Canada, and has a population of 16,000.] Canada has no law on
abortion
and thus legally permits the killing of an unborn child at any stage of pregnancy.
At the Life Hike, I noticed a handful of
counter-protesters (who, I later learned, had traveled to Steinbach from elsewhere).
Several of the counter-protesters wore costumes from the television version of Margaret
Atwood's 1985 story The Handmaid's Tale and
they all carried placards bearing messages.
CBC Manitoba reported (accurately) that
Steinbach's pro-life folks would like to have a civil discussion/debate about
abortion, whereas the counter-protesters are not open to such debate and would
rather (in their words) “just speak out, be loud, smack it down.” And: “We're
not going to open this conversation.”
Because the counter-protesters have in
fact entered the conversation by showing up at the Life Hike wielding placards
that communicated “pro-choice” messages, I would like to respond thoughtfully
to each of those messages. In other words, I would like to continue the
conversation that, contrary to their protestations, the counter-protesters initiated.
I will list the placards' messages that I
noticed (perhaps there were more) and then I will assess them (the numbering is
mine).
- Placard 1: The Handmaid's Tale is not a manual. – Margaret Atwood.
- Placard 2: Forced pregnancy kills.
- Placard 3: Sex is not consent to impregnate. It takes two. But only one dies on a back alley abortion table. Pro-choice saves lives.
- Placard 4: You trust God but not a doctor? Who is the dinosaur now?
- Placard 5: If I wanted government in my womb, I'd f*#k an MP.
Placard 1: The Handmaid's Tale is not a manual. – Margaret Atwood.
Assessment: Yes, this is true. Margaret
Atwood's book The Handmaid's Tale is
a novel—i.e., a work of fiction—that
depicts a dystopian, totalitarian future in which fertile women are forced to
get pregnant so humankind can continue. So, yes, The Handmaid's Tale is not a manual.
What is more, I am confident that all of
the people at the Life Hike would not take Atwood's book as a manual. No
pro-life person that I have ever met thinks that fertile women should be forced
to get pregnant!
The placard's message, in other words,
misrepresents the pro-life movement by suggesting that pro-life proponents want
fertile women to be forced to get pregnant. But pro-life proponents do not want
this at all.
Placard 2: Forced pregnancy kills.
Assessment: First, nobody in the pro-life
movement is forcing or wants to force anyone to get pregnant. Second, most/all
normal pregnancies don't kill anyone. Third, I'm pretty sure that all
pro-lifers would allow for abortion if continued pregnancy actually threatens
the life of the mother. Fourth, the incidence of life-threatening pregnancies
is very, very low.
Placard 3: Sex is not consent to impregnate. It takes two. But
only one dies on a back alley abortion table. Pro-choice saves lives.
Assessment: First, consent to sex
(whether condoms or other forms of contraception are used or not) involves
consent to risking the outcome, which is to risk—and thereby invite—pregnancy.
Saying no to or “disinviting” the deliberately risked outcome (we KNOW
contraception isn’t 100% foolproof) is like gambling at Las Vegas and demanding
one’s money back after losing it. Taking a risk entails taking responsibility
for that risk.
Second, to justify abortion generally by the
specter of “back alley” abortions is weird. Back alley abortions are those
abortions performed illegally by qualified or unqualified abortionists, usually
in a less than sanitary environment. Outlawing abortion might increase the
incidence of back alley abortions (but maybe not, as I argue below). Significantly,
however, we must ask: Does the killing of an innocent human being by a possibly
inefficient killer in an unsanitary environment justify the killing of other
innocent human beings by expert killers in a sanitary environment? The answer
is, of course, no.
Although the situation of a desperate
woman seeking a back alley abortion is terrible and sad—and in need of a
life-enhancing solution for mother AND child—we must remember that balking at
outlawing abortion for fear of promoting back alley abortions is to suggest
legitimacy to the argument that we should legalize killing to reduce the
incidence of back alley murders.
Third, as Fordham University ethicist Charles
Camosy argues in his book Beyond the Abortion Wars (2015), the
criminalization of abortion in general need not lead to increased deaths of
women due to illegal “back alley” abortions. Why not? Because abortion has
become a relatively safe procedure (due to advanced medical technology) and
there is evidence that previous high estimates of “back alley” abortions were
fabricated (as admitted by ex-abortionist Dr. Bernard Nathanson, co-founder of
the National Abortion Right and Action League). Moreover, because law serves as
a teacher, public policy restrictions on abortion can encourage a culture in
which not only pre-natal children are protected but also desperate women
seeking abortion are helped.
Fourth, being “pro-choice” on abortion
does not save the lives of those who are aborted.
Fifth, there is evidence that abortion also
has health complications for many women (see the documentary Hush).
Placard 4: You trust God but not a doctor? Who is the dinosaur
now?
Assessment: First, some clarifications. Slogans
are sometimes difficult to interpret, but I suspect this is an attempt to smear
Steinbach residents as silly backward country hicks (“dinosaurs”) who, like the
residents of Dayton, Tennessee, as portrayed in the (inaccurate) movie Inherit the Wind depicting the 1925
Scopes trial, were closed-minded anti-evolutionists, i.e., dogmatic foaming-at-the-mouth
fundamentalists who don't trust science but instead trust a literal reading of
Genesis. (In this trial, sometimes known as the “Scopes Monkey Trial,” a
biology teacher named John Thomas Scopes allegedly broke the law banning the
teaching of evolution in high school. Scopes lost in the trial, but evolution
won the day. For a Pulitzer prize-winning investigation of the trial, which
shows the mythical nature of the popular movie Inherit the Wind, see Edward J. Larson's book Summer for the Gods.)
I think the attempt to smear Steinbach
residents as hicks or dinosaurs fails.
First, many pro-lifers who are Christians
are open to non-literal readings of Genesis and are open to evolutionary theory
(without atheist assumptions) insofar as actual evidence supports it.
Second, not all pro-lifers are Christians
or even believers in God. Witness organizations such as Secular Pro-Life and Pro-Life Humanists.
Third, whether one trusts in God or not, science
and good reasoning show that human life begins at
conception—and
many doctors believe this, too.
In other words, the placard's slogan
misrepresents pro-lifers and is, frankly, silly.
Placard 5: If I wanted government in my womb, I'd f*#k an MP
Assessment: This placard's message is
silly, too. It's also rude. And crude. In fact, it's an embarrassment to intelligent
public discourse. It's also an insult to our local Member of Parliament and his
family, not to mention the rest of the participants in the Life Hike, including
children.
At risk of fanning foolishness by giving
it serious attention, consider this as food for thought: If one doesn't want
anyone in one's womb, then maybe one shouldn't engage in an activity that
invites them. (And, for additional thought, please reread the first point of my
above reply to placard 3.)
Surely, a major reason for the existence
of good government is to protect the lives of innocent people, including
children. In the discussion about abortion—which ends the life of a preborn
child—let's keep the focus of the discussion on that, without getting rude and
crude. In Canada, there is no law protecting children who can be aborted—killed—right
up to the moment of birth.
If this isn't troubling, maybe some
perspective is needed.
Consider this: Every year in Canada about
100,000 unborn children are killed by abortion.
The significance of this number may be difficult to grasp, so think about the gun control discussion. Compare the abortion number to the number of homicides that occur yearly in Canada.
The significance of this number may be difficult to grasp, so think about the gun control discussion. Compare the abortion number to the number of homicides that occur yearly in Canada.
Here are the most recent numbers from
Statistics Canada for homicides, where “homicide” includes murder,
manslaughter, and infanticide, whether a gun is used or not:
o Year 2013: homicides 509
o Year 2014: homicides 522
o Year 2015: homicides 609
o Year 2016: homicides 612
o Year 2017: homicides 660
That’s about 580 homicides per year
versus about 100,000 unborn children destroyed per year. In other words,
approximately 0.6 percent of killings in Canada are due to homicide, and
approximately 99.4 percent are due to abortion.
Yes, there are tough cases that might
justify abortion. For examples, rape, incest, threats to the life of the
mother.
But these tough cases account for a very
small percentage of the total abortions. Ethicist Charles Camosy, in his
(previously mentioned) book Beyond the
Abortion Wars, says the tough cases amount to 2 percent of the total cases.
I’ve heard others report that it might be 5 percent. Whether 2 or 5 percent,
it’s a small percentage. That means an awful lot of cases are due to social
problems.
But, surely, social problems require
social solutions, not the killing of children.
This is why over 1200 people showed up at
Steinbach's Life Hike.
Conclusion: I hope my above assessments
further the public discussion/debate on abortion in a respectful intelligent
manner.
Hendrik
van der Breggen, PhD, is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Providence
University College and will be, at the end of June, retired.
Note to critics: Before commenting,
please read at least a few of my previous columns. Thanks.
Past APOLOGIA columns
concerning abortion, for additional reading and study:
o Shout your abortion? September 6, 2018
o Shout your abortion? September 6, 2018
o Planned
Parenthood is a scam, May 31, 2018
o Pro-life
replies to pro-choice arguments, April 19, 2018
o Abortion
and the hard cases, March 22, 2018
o Reproductive
freedom versus abortion, March 8, 2018
o Aborting Trudeau's (other) abortion argument, January 30, 2018
o Canada Summer Jobs kerfuffle, January 18, 2018
o About my abortion columns, October 26, 2017
o Resisting the Culture of Death, October 11, 2017
o Ideological investigative journalism, February 16, 2017
o Abortion, February 2, 2017
o About outlawing abortions, November 24, 2016
o Untangling abortion arguments, November 9, 2016
o We need an abortion law, October 12, 2016
o Beyond the abortion wars, August 8, 2016
o We need an abortion law, September 3, 2015
o We need an abortion law, May 29, 2014
o Aborting the least of these, May 15, 2014
o Euphemisms: The good, the bad, and the ugly, March 28, 2013
o Reflections on Motions 312 and 408, October 4, 2012
o Is the fetus a human being? May 10, 2012
o Abortion in the news (part 2), November 9, 2011
o Abortion in the news (part 1), October 20, 2011
o On abortion, again, October 16, 2008
o Acorns and oak trees…and abortion, October 2, 2008
o Aborting an abortion argument, September 18, 2008
o Morgentaler's abortion of logic, September 4, 2008
o Aborting Trudeau's (other) abortion argument, January 30, 2018
o Canada Summer Jobs kerfuffle, January 18, 2018
o About my abortion columns, October 26, 2017
o Resisting the Culture of Death, October 11, 2017
o Ideological investigative journalism, February 16, 2017
o Abortion, February 2, 2017
o About outlawing abortions, November 24, 2016
o Untangling abortion arguments, November 9, 2016
o We need an abortion law, October 12, 2016
o Beyond the abortion wars, August 8, 2016
o We need an abortion law, September 3, 2015
o We need an abortion law, May 29, 2014
o Aborting the least of these, May 15, 2014
o Euphemisms: The good, the bad, and the ugly, March 28, 2013
o Reflections on Motions 312 and 408, October 4, 2012
o Is the fetus a human being? May 10, 2012
o Abortion in the news (part 2), November 9, 2011
o Abortion in the news (part 1), October 20, 2011
o On abortion, again, October 16, 2008
o Acorns and oak trees…and abortion, October 2, 2008
o Aborting an abortion argument, September 18, 2008
o Morgentaler's abortion of logic, September 4, 2008
Past Winnipeg
Sun columns concerning abortion, for additional reading and study:
o Perspective
needed on abortion, March 10, 2018
o Social
solutions should never include killing, February 14, 2017
o About
outlawing abortions, January 7, 2017
Past Political
Animal Magazine articles concerning abortion, for additional reading
and study:
o Perspective
needed on abortion, April 2018
o Pro-life
replies to pro-choice arguments, April 2018
Academic articles
concerning abortion, for even more reading and study:
o Beyond
the Abortion Wars (book review) (June 2016)
For support for crisis
pregnancy:
o Crisis Pregnancy Centre of Winnipeg
o Crisis Pregnancy Centre of Winnipeg
2 comments:
Here is a thoughtful recent review of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale: The Handmaid’s Tale: One Dystopia Begets Another. From the article: "The Handmaid’s Tale is at best a thought-provoking literary work, and at worst a straw-man argument against traditionalism and conservatism. Atwood fails to deliver an intelligent critique of conservative Christian values, and her book does not reach the caliber of George Orwell’s tales."
And here is a recent article on the cultural phenomenon of “The Handmaid's Tale”: Missing the Handmaid's Tale, by Rebecca F.
According to Rebecca F., who was working with South Sudanese refugees at the time the TV series based on Margaret Atwood's book became popular, “this dystopian tale of Gilead—a futuristic America overtaken by a brutal, religious cult that subjugates women through mass rape, forced impregnation, genital mutilation, and torture—seemed eerily similar to the land whose people were starving in front of me.”
Rebecca F. goes on to argue that the framing of Atwood's story by the TV series, its spokespersons, and mainstream media as concerned with abortion restrictions is deeply problematic. First, Atwood's original story isn't about abortion restrictions, but the framing of it as such depicts anyone in the U.S. who favors restrictions as the villains in Atwood's story—and this is not helpful for political discourse. In fact, Rebecca F. argues, it “fuels polarization.” Second, such framing crowds out other real abuses from the discussion. As the author points out (again), “Women in South Sudan are continually facing real-life horrors eerily similar to those experienced by fictional handmaids.…” “But,” the author immediately adds, “news coverage of such modern abuses remains slim, and connections to 'The Handmaid's Tale' appear non-existent in mass media.” Also, according to the author, the connection to coercive commercial surrogacy is being overshadowed by the (misguided) abortion-restrictions frame, “resulting in a missed opportunity to illuminate this abuse of women worldwide.” Indeed, according to Rebecca F., “The agenda has been set: discussing 'The Handmaid's Tale' means discussing U.S. abortion restrictions and little else.”
Rebecca F.'s article is an important read.
At this juncture, let me (Hendrik) draw attention back to my article about the handmaid counter-protesters at my city's pro-life event by quoting two more sentences from Rebecca F's article: “'Handmaid's Tale' media coverage overwhelmingly (and often exclusively) connects the story to a single real-world issue: abortion restrictions. The link likely finds its roots in pro-choice groups' use of the show's costumes to protest restrictive abortion legislation….” Yes, indeed, so that's all the more reason we should carefully assess and refute the false and misleading messages presented in these protesters' placards.
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