if you are the type of person who avoids discussions about religion and politics at parties, you might want to avoid this post

Lately I've had this desire to write a really serious post - which is usually what I try to avoid in blogging - plus when you write something serious you risk exposing more of yourself than you meant to, or provoking negative emotions in people by mistake. In any case, I was debating between writing on abortion, the conservative government, or my fears about the future - and I've decided to go with the first (and most potentially explosive) one.

The piece I came across on Elizabeth May on the internet quoted her as saying, among other things, (paraphrasing) "You would have to be out of your mind to want an abortion" - and this prompted a number of responses from people who were concerned with this opinion, and what appeared to be the contradiction between May's political pro-choice stance and a personal pro-life stance. Okay, but here's the thing - Elizabeth May is right. Who in their right mind would want an abortion? No one wakes up one day and says "my goal in the next six months is to have an abortion" or "by the time I am 30 I hope to have had three abortions". Anyone who characterizes pro-choice people as thinking abortion is an intrinsic good are crazy and such a characterization is completely unfair.

However, there are many circumstances, which if found in, a person would not be crazy to want to have an abortion. Someone who felt they were not ready, too young, emotionally unstable, whatever, and chose to have an abortion, would not be out of their mind. They would be making a rational and reasonable decision. There are probably some people who do not take the protection that they should when having sex, and who do not take the decision to have an abortion as seriously as I might like; however, I do believe that most women who have an abortion do not take the decision lightly, and I also believe that most women do not regret the decision. I believe that abortion is something which should be accessible to all women in their first trimester (an arbitrary length of time, I realize). And I also believe that society should take every step possible to ensure that abortion is extremely rare. This can include advocating safe sex practices, using multiple forms of protection, abstinance, providing funding for day care and educational programs and any and all methods of family planning. Someone once said "abortion should be legal, but rare" and I completely agree.

Now there will be people reading this who say "oh no, I can never imagine having an abortion, or how anyone would be able to. A baby is a gift (from God or nature) and is always a cause for joy" and if that is what you believe, then I agree - such a person could not ever imagine ever having an abortion and would probably (regardless of circumstances) never have an abortion. However, I would not want to live in a world where one person's belief about abortion would affect the ability of another person to have one. And so while I am unsure of May's motives in making her statements, I think abortion is a subject that people tend to see in black and white and that's a mistake. Like anything, there needs to be a space for dialogue and respect, and that it what I have tried to present here.

I don't think posting gets much more serious then this. Next time: a return to my regular posting topics of coffee and television.