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Is Having Sex Also Consent to Having a Baby?
I wanted to revisit a conversation I once witnessed between @juliewashere, a Twitter user and founder the Golden Coat Hanger, a blog on feminist and abortion issues, and @KatyPundit (who is male and named David; so much for my uncanny ability to guess gender using forum aliases). It was almost two years ago and before I knew about WordPress’s supercool feature to reprint tweets in graphical format, so I have only text copies of the tweets involved.
I wanted to revisit the conversation because this is a line of argument that has always bugged me in regard to pro-choice folks. They don’t think that sex necessarily must equal a baby. While that is true, the fact is that a baby is a potential result of sex, and murder is not an appropriate method to deal with said consequence.
Julie asked when she gave consent to pregnancy, and David told Julie, “You gave consent when you spread em open.” Julie responded:
that’s consent to sex, and ONLY sex.
David replied, “LOL, Sex makes babies. At least that’s how MY kids got here… U came by Stork?” And Julie responds with a disconnect between sex and pregnancy:
no, pregnancy makes babies, and it takes several months.
What does Julie think causes pregnancy? I’m not sure. But I want to take a moment to ponder her position that consent to sex is consent to the physical act, and thus not tacit consent to pregnancy. Since there was no consent to pregnancy, this entitles the pregnant woman to terminate the unwanted pregnancy.
Let’s apply this to another situation.
If I needed a ride home from work, and one of my employees was kind enough to offer a ride, does that means I consent only to the ride home? Well, actually, it means I give tacit approval to whatever happens on the ride home — whether I like it or not. In other words, I can’t roll a d20 against my intelligence and disbelieve something I don’t like away.
For example, if the employee ran a red light and another car crashed into my side of the car, paralyzing me from the waist down. A grim outcome to be sure, and I can seek monetary damages against the employee for medical expenses and rehab. But I can’t wish the paralysis away.
In a way, abortion is the magic disbelieve roll. “I’m not ready,” or “I don’t want to be a parent yet,” or any of the other excuses (and they are excuses) one manufactures. The fact of the matter of is sex is tacit consent to pregnancy, since pregnancy is a possible result of sex. We are taught in grade school that that is the case, so there isn’t an excuse for not knowing.
Sex ==> Pregnancy ==> Baby
Divorcing pregnancy and parenthood from sex is a myth of our modern age, and abortion reinforces that myth. That is a very serious issue, and it comes to the forefront each year on this dark anniversary.
What a Glorious Choice!
It is January 22, the anniversary of the worst Supreme Court decision ever — the decision granting a woman the right to kill her unborn baby in the womb as a matter convenience. This day is used by NARAL to celebrate this grotesque choice, and they encourage bloggers and tweeters to talk about the woman’s right to “choose.”
But what are these women really getting to “choose?”
Abortion advocates say that this “choice” advances the cause of womankind and empowers the woman with freedom over her own body. She is no longer a slave, she doesn’t have to be forced to surrender her vital organs to sustain something she may not have wanted in the first place.
So, those who hold the unopposed power of life and death over another human being are justified in using that power to kill someone who is a mere inconvenience?
Let’s get real. As much as the pro-abortion crowd likes to belly-ache about situations like rape, incest, or saving the life of the mother, few abortions are actually performed for those reasons. Most abortions are performed for convenience. An unexpected pregnancy might be detrimental to the plans of the woman and/or man who would be the parents of the resulting child, so they kill the child. It’s as simple as that.
Or the child is the wrong sex.
Or the child has a deformity or has the markers for a mental handicap.
This means that most women who have abortions are doing so out of selfish reasons.
An old episode of He-man and the Masters of the Universe illustrated this exact situation, with fantasy elements (of course). In this episode, Skeletor (the villain) has learned the location of the Starseed. This artifact is a piece of the singularity that resulted in the Big Bang — and whoever possesses it has the power of God. Total omniscience along with omnipotence.
Let’s see what happens when He-man and Skeletor battle to possess it:
Do you agree that He-man made the correct decision?
Holding the power of life and death over another person in your hand and not using it is far more powerful than using it. In the cartoon here, as well as in real life, holding someone’s life in your hands and ending it is always an evil act.
Reality check for my fellow pro-lifers: Our side makes a big deal about electing only pro-life officials to Congress or the Presidency, over getting the right mix of Justices in the Supreme Court to overthrow Roe v. Wade. The government isn’t where we are going to win the battle, nor where we are going to make the greatest impact. It is with this power of choice.
The powerful testament to He-man’s character in that clip comes from the fact that he has the power to obliterate Skeletor, but he chooses not to. For all his evil scheming, Skeletor surely deserves nothing less than annihilation. However, He-man chooses to preserve Skeletor’s life — and when faced with the chance to kill his greatest enemy he reacts with mercy and forgiveness.
As Zodac points out, He-man’s refusal to use the power of the universe for selfish gain demonstrated his goodness.
Pregnancy is a responsibility handed to the pregnant woman by God, and abortion is the coward’s way to duck that responsibility. How much of a testament to a woman’s character would it be if she were in dire straits, became pregnant, had the option of aborting the child, yet still chose life for her unborn child?
The battle for abortion won’t be won in sweeping, preventative legislation. It will be won in the trenches with individual women, one choice by life-affirming choice at a time.