My Original Paper

Religion, Parental Influence, and Reason

Of the most controversial issues in today’s society, abortion ranks among those at the top. It’s not necessarily a new debate, but one that has been going on for quite some time. Since the Supreme Court case of Roe versus Wade in January of 1973, abortion has been a heatedly debated topic. The legalization of abortion alone has furthered the division of the right and the left in American society. Both sides full heartedly defend their position on this sensitive matter. The right argues for life at conception and equates abortion with murder, whereas the left supports women’s rights and pro-choice. Thus, as a member of society I was exposed to many different opinions on this issue. In order to form my own opinion, I had to take into account all of the opposing view points and come to a decision based on my own reasoning and logic. Of the many influences I’ve had, the three that stick out most in my mind are the Church, my mom, and my dad.
As a young child my main source of exposure to the abortion issue came through the Church. Being Roman Catholic, I was thoroughly taught the Church’s beliefs and standpoints concerning abortion. It was made very clear to me that the Church holds to the belief of life at conception. Therefore, in the eyes of the church, abortion is essentially the same as murder. This of course means the Church is strongly opposed to abortion as it holds all life to be sacred. During my religious education classes my teacher, Deacon Tony, conveyed to me the Church’s views on abortion. Since I was young, I didn’t care to think too much about the issue so I just adopted the beliefs of the Church as my own. I accepted the idea that abortion was morally wrong and that it should be illegal. However, I was young and didn’t feel as strongly about the issue as some of my classmates. In fact, I preferred not to talk about it because it spurred so much controversy. I never participated in any abortion protests or anything like that, but if someone asked me if I was pro-choice or pro-life I probably would have responded pro-life. In retrospect, the only basis I had on considering myself pro-life was because it was the stance of my religion. Thus, at a young age my opinion on abortion was formed solely by my religion, I didn’t delve into the issue any further than what I was taught in my religious education class.
Like most people, my parents had a great deal of influence in shaping my beliefs, including my beliefs on abortion. I remember coming home from school one day in the eighth grade and telling my mom that someone had put bright orange “pro-choice” stickers on all the lockers during lunch. This was the first time I ever really got into a conversation about abortion with my mom. Both my mom and dad are from large Catholic families and attended Catholic schools from preschool through college. However, they are both products of growing up in the sixties and seventies, which was a time notorious for liberalism. To my surprise I found out my mom was loosely pro-choice. She told me her main concern was for the safety of young pregnant girls who feel the need to resort to desperate measures. She was the first to tell me of the infamous coat hanger abortion. I was appalled at such a gruesome act and thought that no one should have to be subjected to such torture. On the other hand, my mom told me stories of women she knew who had an abortion and greatly regretted it years later. She said it was a huge psychological blow to these women. This created a dilemma in my mind, because
I still thought abortion was wrong but I also thought it was wrong to leave young desperate women to such horrific circumstances. It was clear my mom believed abortion was terrible and had many repercussions. However, her stance was that abortion should be an option for desperate women so they don’t resort to self-mutilation. Essentially what she was trying to get across was that outlawing abortion wouldn’t stop it from happening, it would only create dangerous situations. This really got the wheels turning in my head because I never considered this side of the argument before. I was never told about coat hanger abortions in my religious education classes. My religious education class didn’t take into account the safety of the pregnant women. After this conversation with my mom I didn’t really consider myself pro-life or pro-choice. In fact, I tried to remain neutral on the issue. Thus my mom contributed to my opinion on abortion, in some ways, more so than my religious education class.
Another significant influence on forming my opinion on abortion was my dad. He was the one that tipped me in favor of being pro-choice, which is surprising because in almost every respect my dad is conservative. However, what put me over the edge was the issue of rape and incest. His stance was that victims of rape or incest should have the option of not having the child. It was his belief that society didn’t have the right to tell an individual that they must have a child if they were raped. I completely agreed with my dad. I began to think of the abortion controversy more of an issue of providing a safe opportunity to have a medical procedure than the morality of the situation. Obviously I still thought abortion was a terrible thing, but I thought it should be legal for the reasons my dad explained to me. Through my own reason and judgment, I decided society didn’t have the right to force a woman to have a child if she was raped. Then I thought to myself, if abortion were made illegal what would be the punishment for women who had an abortion? Would they be sent to prison? I decided it would be ludicrous for society to have that power. Therefore, my dad was the one who tipped my internal pro-life pro-choice scale in favor of pro-choice.
It’s strange how people’s opinions can change throughout their lives. One moment they can feel one way about something and the next moment they feel the exact opposite. This is what happened to my own opinion on abortion. My original stance of pro-life was formed at young age by the guidance of my religious education teacher. Quite simply I was taught that abortion was bad, which I still believe it is. However, as I grew older and was exposed to different sides of the issue I came to have a new opinion of pro-choice. I decided upon this after various conversations with my mom and my dad. Both my parents agree with the teachings of the Church that abortion is bad, yet they still side with pro-choice. Neither of them believe abortion should be a form of birth control, such as using condoms or the pill, but they believe it should be an option for a few desperate situations. Being as it is that parents have a remarkable influence on their children, I to have adopted this stance on abortion. My opinion solidified when I heard Bill Clinton’s famous quote, “Abortion should not only be safe and legal, it should be rare”. Thus, my stance on abortion was formed by taking into account many sides of the argument and using my best judgment to form an opinion.