Today I met a woman who believed abortion should be legal because “life is just not perfect” and there are too many tragic circumstances that necessitate abortion.  Like what?  Like the tragedy of rape, incest, and young mothers.  This idea of contextual morality is all too rampant at UWF.  I saw it in my ethics class and I’ve heard it from every pro-abortion person I’ve spoken with.

What is contextual morality?  In a nutshell, it means you and I have human rights until it becomes inconvenient.  For ex:  Rape is wrong, but is excusable when a man ‘just can’t help himself’.  Or, child abuse is wrong, except when parents are stressed out. Thus, contextual morality does NOT guarantee protection from human rights violations.  It merely advocates human rights when its politically correct to do so, but when faced with the pressures of real life – contextual morality is a cop out, a wuss, flip-flop, a COWARD.

Morality must be consistent.  Otherwise it is unfair.  How can anything be called “ethical” or “moral” if it is not “just”?

You will most likely encounter people like this at UWF.  Be prepared for the false compassion of those who are concerned about one victim but inhuman towards another.  They see the tragedy of a rape victim but fail to acknowledge the tragedy of mass millions of slaughtered unborn children.  How do you respond to a moral contextualist?  You do not allow them to dehumanize the unborn in the conversation.  They must must must acknowledge who (plural) they are talking about.

When they talk about a victim of rape who has been impregnated, they must be reminded they are speaking about a victim of rape and a newly conceived innocent child.  Don’t allow them to pit the child against the mother.  Both are innocent. They must FIRST be convinced that you also see the tragedy of the mother and bemoan this atrocity.  How could we not??  At the same time, they need to also see the innocence of this newly conceived child, who should not be punished for something he or she could not help.  Then they need to know that peace is the answer.  Killing never heals.

They need to know that unfortunately nothing can erase the victim’s memory of the crime – not even abortion.  The damage has been done, the criminal must be punished to the full extent of the law and the victim needs to receive protection and healing.  Abortion only adds another trauma to the victim.  Rather than forgetting that she became pregnant, she will always remember the day she took the life of her child.  This does no justice to the mother.  A peaceful solution is to give the child up for adoption.  When a victim gives birth, she has the solace that despite the terrible manner in which she was impregnated, she can squelch the violence that began with her oppressor by giving the precious gift of this child to a gracious barren couple.  By the way, this is NOT something I’ve thought up myself, it is what victims of rape have already said about their experience choosing life.

Remember, any “compassion” that advocates murder is false compassion.  If we want an end to the violence of rape and incest, we will end it through laws that protect victims and punish offenders.

May peace reign in our hearts, in our actions, and soon in our society!