Just came across this in the news:
Abortion was decriminalised in Spain in 1985 for certain cases: after rape, in the case of malformation of the foetus and if the pregnancy represents a threat to the physical or mental health of the woman.
The report said 95.7 percent of abortions were carried out for the last reason.
I would say this startling fact needs no commentary, but since I found it on the front page of a major news outlet, there are obviously enough human beings who need the obvious pointed out. Let’s ask ourselves 3 questions:
Question #1: Who gets to decide what constitutes a malformed foetus? Abortion rights advocates will share with you extreme cases of children born without internal organs or vital life signs. But any honest study of abortion will admit many, many abortions based on a number of prenatal tests, including tests for gender (see China’s dilemma) and genetic defects. So now we add ethical complexity to the already frightening role of playing God–now we can choose to end a life on the basis of our own limited knowledge and in the process declare all handicapped people worthless (I’d kill you if given the choice).
Question #2: Who gets to decide a physical threat? The authority placed in the hands of a doctor and a woman is immense, not to mention the fact that a child’s life is suddenly put on the same level as a virus.
Question #3: What is mental health? Many parents’ mental health is put on the line because of their teenage children; does this constitute a right to take their lives away? “Yes, Mr. and Mrs. Jones, I know that Timmy has been giving you grief. So we’re going to bathe him in a powerful salt solution until his skin is eaten away; that, or we could just take a scalpel and dismember him, it’s really up to you.”
I am disgusted at both the moral pragmatism and senselessness of our society.
