Criminalizing abortion will not stop it but will increase the potential for fatalities

Although the sixth Commandment forbids us to kill or commit murder, we do it anyway. We shoot, stab, beat, asphyxiate, execute and starve people to death. We also end lives through abortion, under different personal and, usually, complex circumstances. It is the latter that has been politicized more than the others, which is discussed here.

Contrary to the rhetoric from pro-choice and pro-life people, having an abortion is not what one contemplates with exhilaration and pride, or does to exercise one’s right. Having an abortion, in many instances, is a very complex, difficult and painful decision that can have psychological repercussions like depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, flashbacks, regrets, substance abuse, lowered self-esteem, etc.; not to mention that it is potentially deadly.

Nonetheless, abortion has been turned into a vote-seeking rhetoric politicians like to exploit as they seek to retain or aspire to new political positions. Our country has been polarized, and we have been labeled pro-life and pro-choice by self-serving politicians to get us all charged up and emotionally confront each other. How do we know that the pro-choice or pro-life politicians are being sincere? Do we know what they do in the privacy of their privileged lives of opulence? Why do we let politicians with a knack for extreme views on most issues control our behaviors and frame of mind? Near election time charlatan and demagogue politicians become sanctimonious humbugs to prey on the unsuspecting voting public. Who made them the bible that voters can read?

We live in a patriarchy where social constructs such as gender roles are “invented” mostly by men. So it is that the most vociferous “actors” in the abortion issue are men. Is this some kind of façade to mask clandestine predilections? It is one’s right to preach against or for abortion, but no human being has the right to harm or kill anyone for doing or not doing what we don’t believe in, especially if the behavior is not illegal or criminal.

God who made us does not kill, and neither should we kill people we did not create either for their poor judgments or otherwise. A paraphrased Ezekiel 33:6 warns that if anyone were to go to hell because you failed to admonish them and folded your arms, you share in their guilt. Let them hear that have ears, but don’t harm or kill anyone for noncompliance. Speak up to discourage transgressions and be in the clear, but don’t harm or murder anyone for their transgressions. There is the final judgment day when we will all account for our actions on earth — each and every one of us. We Christians affirm the final judgment day in the Apostles’ Creed that Jesus “will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.” Just as there are people in prison and those who are not, so also are heaven and hell meant to be occupied at the end of our earthly life. Oh, by the way, in God’s case there is no appeal.

I can understand the moral indignation about abortion. However, isn’t it contradictory that those who would kill for aiding and abetting abortion not only make no bones about supporting capital punishment and starting wars based on falsehood, but also feel no compunction as innocent women and men get killed? I recall George Orwell’s remark that “All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.” Let’s quit beating about the bush; we will discourage and lower abortion rates by making health care accessible and affordable to all babies and to all Americans. We can also reduce incidents of abortion by dealing with predators in power, fancy suits, entertainment or elsewhere. Not only will criminalizing abortion not stop it but will increase the potential for fatalities.

Here in our country we are expected to be Democrats, Republicans or Independents to be eligible to vote. We also are expected to exhibit a herd instinct by embracing the political ideologies of the political parties to which we belong. No matter what political party I am forced to belong to, I will always vote my conscience; that is, I will always be myself. You, too, are independent-minded. Let’s get rid of gullibility or the willing suspension of disbelief come this mid-term elections.

― Anthony Akubue is a St. Cloud resident. Submit a Your Turn of your own for consideration by sending it to columns@stcloudtimes.com.

This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Criminalizing abortion will not stop it