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Link to share: https://hanglberger-manfred.de/en-abortion-2-values.htm
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Abortion There are two competing values at stake: The woman's right to self-determination and the right to life of the unborn child.
When
there are two competing values, it is inappropriate for the Church to be committed
to the realization of one value only. In addition, it has emerged that a number of factors are essential in order to greatly reduce the number of abortions and thus protect the right to life of the unborn child. For one cannot protect the child's right to life against women's right to self-determination, but only in cooperation with women. Hence, these are factors that help women to lead a self-determined life. 1. This includes giving women sensitive and factual information about their bodies and their sexuality as early as childhood so that they can develop a positive relationship with their bodies. 2. Moreover, women of adolescent age should be made aware of possible biographical and intergenerational burdens and offered rites for their resolution. Unfortunately, such psychological stress in female adolescents and adult women can lead them to enter into unhealthy relationships with men and thereby become pregnant unintentionally. 3. Throughout the whole field of education, the problems of inferiority feelings and the development of a healthy self-esteem should be treated in a very differentiated manner. In this context, major importance should be attached to the equal cooperation of boys and girls, of men and women. 4. In school education, in adult education and in the media, not only the woman's right to self-determination should be pointed out, but also the unborn‘s right to life. Information about the development of the embryo is important for this, such as the fact that the heart of the unborn child is already beating after three weeks. 5. We must work towards relationships based on partnership and equality between men and women in the family, in business, in politics, in religion and in all other areas of society. 6. On the way to a healthy self-esteem, it can be helpful for women if there is easy access to contraceptives. This can also significantly strengthen the woman's right to self-determination. In poor countries, contraceptives should be accessible without financial burden on poorer women. 7. Liberal legislation should not lead to abortions being misused as a means of family planning, which can become very frequent in terms of numbers, as for example in some former communist countries in Eastern Europe. This can be an indication that neither human life nor the life of the unborn child has been fundamentally respected. 8. Even in the case of an unwanted pregnancy, financial hardship should not be a reason for abortion. Appropriate financial support should be provided by states, Churches and aid organizations. Unfortunately, preventing misuse of such aid is not easy either. It has been found that with liberal laws that focus on women's right to self-determination, after an initial increase in the number of abortions, they soon fall far more rapidly than in countries with stricter laws. There, the number of illegal abortions is very high and the number of women who die is also high in those places - due to the abortions being performed illegally and thus mostly in a bungling and dilettantish manner. If the Catholic Church only wants to defend the right to life of the unborn child and exerts massive political influence to do so, as is the case in some countries such as the USA, it often achieves the opposite of what it intends to do. When there are two competing values, it is problematic if, for reasons of principle, one thinks that one has to vehemently and uncompromisingly defend the right to life of the unborn. The result is an extreme polarization in society and a loss of authority for the Church among a large part of the population. This does not solve the main problem: the number of abortions remains high. An
observation in modern states where human dignity is respected: It would therefore be the primary task of the Church to fight for equal rights for women in all areas of life and to uncover all areas in which they cannot lead a self-determined life and to work towards an improvement - this above all within its own ranks. In addition, Churches would have the task of preparing for confirmation at an age when it is possible to recognise biographical and intergenerational psychological burdens and offer rites for their resolution. For self-acceptance and affirmation of life, which the Christian faith wants to make possible for young people, also has to do with mental health, with self-knowledge and self-responsibility. This can be a valuable contribution to opening young people's eyes to how to learn to lead a self-determined life. It
would be an important task of the Churches to conduct comprehensive research
into the causes why women (want to) carry out an abortion and to make efforts
to eliminate these causes. However, Churches that try to enforce their sometimes very one-sided values with the help of state laws deny their message of human dignity and personal responsibility. For it would be the task of the Christian churches to help people lead their lives in a self-determined and value-oriented way. Perceiving values and living responsibly with them can often only be achieved by becoming guilty. Even if state laws are not insignificant for the perception of values, bans and threats of punishment, when it comes to abortion, do not solve the problem, but often have the opposite effect.
Manfred Hanglberger (www.hanglberger-manfred.de)
Link to share: https://hanglberger-manfred.de/en-abortion-2-values.htm
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