If there were ever a liberal group that could eventually be swung to the pro-life side, it would be vegans and animal-rights activists. It's a very short leap in logic that if it's wrong to slaughter animals for our consumption, then it's wrong to slaughter unborn children in the womb.
This blog entry is coming out of a discussion with one of my vegan GFs, who's always trying to work me into adopting her dietary lifestyle. I have been countering with trying to get her to adopt my pro-life views. We are at an impasse, because I can eat a hamburger with no guilt and still believe that we must end our massive slaughter of unborn infants, while she can see the abortion issue as a "woman's decision" and not blink an eye to the end result of a life snuffed out before it takes its first breath, and yet she can be moved to tears with mere images of emaciated and caged animals.
She accuses me of an illogical inconsistency because of my views of the unborn and their inherent value of life, and yet not be moved as she is with the slaughterhouse imagery that are often part of the discussions we have. Not to sound flippant, but cows make damn fine hamburgers. Yes, it SOUNDS flippant, but I am actually making a point. My point is, we are a meat eating society - it's ingrained in our history and our culture - so her cause is an uphill battle. VERY uphill.
It's so uphill that when she embraces the logical inconsistency of being vegan and yet pro-choice, it undermines her credibility of just how much she values life. What her actions are saying that life is valuable and sacrosanct so long as it's animal life. Human life, meanwhile, is ours to use and dispose of as we see fit. While she may genuinely feel that responding with "I support a woman's desire to make decisions about her own body" is a perfectly legitimate response, it's actually a cop-out from an opportunity to demonstrate just how much she values life.
In other words, her arguments about the worth of animal life would be a LOT stronger if she also had the same burning desire of the worth of unborn human life. When I type that out, it seems kinda goofy that anyone couldn't see that logical flaw of viewing animal life as sacrosanct and not human life, but for her, she doesn't see it. Now don't get me wrong about her - she's a beautiful and wonderful person; otherwise, she wouldn't be one of my GFs!
But, so long as she is unable to see this contradiction, then she will be undermining her arguments with meat-eating prolifers like me. I think I have a pretty good idea on what you're thinking: Maybe if I become a vegan, then she'll become prolife. Trust me, it won't work. As embedded as being a carnivore is in my psyche, her pro-choice views are even more embedded. That is, I can give up meat much easier than she can give up her pro-choice views - so radically liberal is she.
No, if this is going to work and she is going to change the hearts of steak-lovers everywhere, then she'll need to make the shocking conversion of becoming a prolifer, and I mean full-bore, marching-at-Planned-Parenthood prolifer - and not a mere "I personally oppose abortion, but..." types, because "personally oppose" prolifers are in truth de facto pro-choicers.
The thing is, while she is in the process of adopting prolife views, she will find that she loses absolutely nothing in regards to her vegan views. In fact, in light of what she'll come to learn along the way, she'll find that being prolife and vegan is not only entirely consistent, but actually go hand-in-hand - it will actually complete what she believes about life and its worth. She will then see that if she is going to be changing hearts and minds, then she must be willing to view the lives of babies as beautiful and wonderful - just as much as the cuddly little forest critters or little lambs and baby chicks that are often stock imagery for vegan literature.
GF, you asked what it would take to win me over to your side. Well, here ya go. Do this, and you will win me over to your side. Now my question to you is this: Is your dedication to the animal rights cause deep and true and strong enough for you to venture exploring the pro-life side of the abortion debate? I promise you that it will be worth the struggle. :-)
And who knows - you might even change my mind one day on the vegan issue.
4 comments:
You get it completely wrong. Being for abortion doesn't mean you value animals over humans AT ALL. You make it sound as if she would deny a animal mother from getting an abortion because animals have so much value that they have to be born. Both people for and against abortion are concerned with the rights of humans, the disagreement is about what is RIGHT for humans. It has nothing to do with the other animals, it's about who should have more value, a grown up who do not want to bring a child to life and possibly see the rest of their life be ruined, or a undeveloped foster, who might one day grow up to be a nice pro-choice meat eater.
The abortion issue is about the already living life vs unborn life, which gets complicated. Veganism is about not harming others when it can be avoided, that simple. But abortion is not that simple, because the child is being developed in stages. Can you say that the second a sperm gets into a egg there is a life whose life is more important than that of the woman who would have to mother it? I think it's weirder when people say they're "pro-life" but supports using and killing animals.
Also, I don't care for the way you tell her that she can make you go vegan if she changes her mind. That puts her in the position where she can save lives by faking. Unfair
The question is, are you against all abortion?
You know the kind where women are raped and get pregnant and can not deal with it.
Yes there are women who can deal with it can raise the child, but what with the women who get depressive and angst attacks and are in danger of killing themselves off because a piece of their rapist is growing in their body.
What about the women who have pregnancies that grow in their tubes or somewhere else where it will lead to bleedings, rupture and death of mother and baby?
What if the pregnancy comes with complications that would most likely kill the mother because her body could not support the pregnancy.
What if the child has a severe conditions that makes it unable to live normally and most likely would lead to a short life full of suffering and early, painfull death?
For me ...well...abortions are not easy, the medias and the docs don´t tell women what the real risks may be..emotional and physical..big pet peeve of mine.
Especially late abortions are gruesome and I would be happy if abortions after the first three months would be forbidden ..except dire emergencys.
There can never be a ban on it because women in dire circumstances would die or try to get them illegally...and we all know how that would most likely end.
Better sex ed please, condoms and the pill..stop pregnancies from happening so no abortion is neccessary..the situation in the USA with "Don´t talk about it and it won´t happen" is really bad...
Guess that is what leads to most unwanted pregnancies...highwire hormones, no clue how to do it, getting at it and ...happens
And...so you care about children..than do you know that half of all grains feed to farm animals are taken from countries where children starve and die because they do not have enough food?
The industry makes more money to sell those grains to the USA and europe as farm animal feed instead of selling it for less to the population.
So in turn, your cow that makes a damn yummi burger makes some damn hungry, dying children.
It isn´t really pro life to be only pro life as long as the kid is in the womb, is it?
Children need something to eat..and everyone who buys a cheap burger, some KFC, some bacon from the big grocery is taking part in starving and killing children in third world countries.
Just to give you a measurement how much food is used up in comparsion.
The chicken raised each year in the USA for slaughter, eat so much food, that you could feed three times the USA population with it.
So how far goes your pro life..only for the babies in your country and in the womb, or all over the world and out of the womb?
Think about it...
Thank you both for your responses! :-D
Know that I will be using my long weekend to craft responses to both of you, and I will post my responses on a regular blog post. You both brought up points that others in real life also stated to me, so I'll go ahead and try to hit everyone's comments and observations in one post.
Yes, it is an apparent contradiction of people who value the life of a fish over that of an unborn child, but as the Irish Halfblood has said, there will always be cases where abortion is medically necessary; even though in many cases it now appears to be a lifestyle choice for those too lazy to use contraception, even though it is freely available.
However there are few if any cases where meat-eating is a necessity; because the land could be used more productively to grow crops which would feed a greater number of people. Ditto with eggs, dairy and other animal products which are "cheap" only because of the massive subsidies that farmers receive from governments. Look up the EU Common Agricultural Policy for such an obscene waste of taxpayers' money.
Post a Comment