If there's one thing that we can all agree on about this election, it's that it has brought about a new wave of aggressive opinions surrounding something that we will never agree on: abortion.
Listen, I have an opinion. Oh yes, I have a massive, loud, fervent opinion. Everybody has something to say about it, as they very well should because it is in fact a massively important issue. The problem is that it seems so many only want to speak their part so they can speak it loud, not so that they can be heard. So yes, I have a real, fact-based, die hard opinion, but I don't want to talk to you about it anymore. I don't want anyone to ask me about what politician's stance on it I believe in, or if I genuinely care about _______'s rights. I do. I care so much it burns in my throat to try to hold my tongue on what I truly think, BUT I think. I think about it in a way that is observant and tired and heavy. I think about it from a side that is sad and confused and hopeful that one day it will change, hopeful that we will use our communal intelligence to seek to understand.
If you want to actually talk about it, not talk about it, be my guest. But let me tell you this: if you want to scream the word CHOICE or scream the word MURDER, let's not talk about abortion.
As a topic in whole, abortion cannot be properly addressed, and will never be dealt with in any reasonable way, until we first address education and health. Abortion should be talked about in sex education at school. We NEED sex education in schools. Young adults need to understand the honest details of what it is and the effects of its aftermath. We need to teach understanding of what the child in utero is capable of and share the facts that aren't easy but NEED to be shared. Ignorance will breed only ignorance. How can we form true opinions about things that we only understand under the bias of opinion?
We need health reform to create alternative choices: more access to birth control for both women and men, more access to emergency contraceptives like Plan B. We need equality in men and women of all kinds. We need the abolition of rape culture. There is a problem here that runs so much deeper than this issue we fight so loudly about. The problem is not inside the uterus of one human being, it is inside the core of us all. It is living and growing in our society.
Do not talk to me about the right to CHOICE or the concept of MURDER if it is so narrowly based that you can only see what you see.
Do not talk to me about the existence of a human being in the making until you can say you care about the human state of being. If you’re so concerned about murder then you must care about life. How on earth would that not stretch to the quality of life? How could it not make you stop to pity and care for those driven to this choice rather than casting condemnations; rather than putting that belief into the development of better choices?
Don't talk to me about YOUR rights and YOUR body, until you can explain to me why your fight isn't for better choices than this. Why on earth would abortion be something you defend? Why would this be something you would rather have the right to than the right to prevent its purpose at all? The invasion into your body, the collapse of another body before it has even yet to fully exist? If the body is so precious, DEMAND better for it! Protect each other!
I am so sick of a world and of a conversation that is all about "ME BEING RIGHT" rather than realizing the actual content of our issues.
So, yes, I have an opinion. I have a burning need to talk about this, to fight, to find a solution somehow. But I don’t want to talk about it anymore unless you’re ready to talk about it: Unless you’re ready to set aside your deepest convictions based in your own opinions for the sake of finally acknowledging that there is no definite solution in the current state of our nation. Abortion exists. The problems we face here exist. We cannot sum it up in these words which we so loudly claim: “Murder.” “Choice.” Right. Wrong. If you’re looking for a word it has got to be compassion above all else. Determination for something better for ourselves.
So if you want to talk to me about finding true ways to better our society, better our understanding, better our systems to create a new way, let’s talk about abortion.
