War and Abortion

Twelve years ago, now, when Dick Cheney and George W. Bush decided to invade Afghanistan on the basis that it was a haven for the terrorists that had attacked the World Trade Center, killing at least 3,000 civilians, not all Americans, they ignored completely the fact that the terrorists had actually come from Saudi Arabia!  This was well known long before the invasion of Afghanistan occurred.  According to Yahoo News, in the past five years civilian deaths and wounded in Afghanistan totaled 14,064.

During the terrible years of the Bush II presidency, when almost all of the media became virtually the PR firm for that presidency, it became apparent to those of us who are basically cynical and paranoid that young men and women were being led into believing that if they joined the armed forces they would be meting out justice to those who had caused the World Trade Center attack, and keeping other countries such as Iraq from being the training grounds for the terrorist organization, Al-Qaida.  These young men and women must be lauded for their selfless dedication to their country regardless of whether we believe that the leaders of our country then were using them for their own aggrandizement. 

During this year’s State of the Union address by President Barack Obama when he introduced Master Sergeant Cory Remsburg, then told the heart-rending story of this young man who was on his 10^th deployment in Afghanistan when he was so horribly wounded, and of the long and hard work Remsburg has put into his own rehabilitation.  Cory Remsburg is to be commended for his dedication to his country, his unit and to his family in the hard work of his rehabilitation. 

But in watching that young man my mind began one of its really weird journeys that it tends to take.  Not one word was said then, before or after the speech about how gravely wrong it had been to take this and thousands of others like him from their mothers and fathers and either kill them or tear their bodies to pieces for “American interests abroad”.  Mainly oil.  I remember a roadside sign before the invasion of Afghanistan that read, “How many males to the gallon”.

Cory Remsburg’s father who apparently is Cory’s main caregiver was beside him during this speech.  His pride in his son was almost palpable, as it should have been.  But I began thinking of all of the parents whose sons and daughters will not be coming back with their hearts beating, and wondering why no one is in an uproar about the mainly men who had sent those young people to their deaths – torn them away from their mothers who had given them life, nurtured, educated and led them into adulthood.  And then refused to greet the coffins returning to these shores of those who had died from their decisions.

Why was it alright for men in power, as they have done for millennia, to kill our children, on either side of any conflict by their decisions.  Which then brought me to why are men allowed to make decisions directly impacting the very lives of our children, but women are not?  Why is it gravely wrong for a woman whose life is threatened by something wrong with her pregnancy not be allowed to take the life of the fetus within her, but if, by some insane reason she survives the pregnancy, her child may be taken from her because of decisions made elsewhere by a bunch of men drunk with power.  In short, why are men allowed to make these decisions regarding the lives of our children, but mothers are not.  Cardinal Bernadin and his Seamless Garment of Life proposal was absolutely correct.  We cannot make decisions to take lives in war, capital punishment, decisions to deprive children and adults of an adequate quantity of food and water, and also abortion.  To pick out abortion and blame it on women indicates a certain lack of understanding on what causes pregnancy.  If men are going to outlaw abortion in every instance, then the man who got the woman pregnant should have to undergo a vasectomy to insure that his future actions will not negatively impact her. 

We need to have more women in decision making bodies, both secular and religious, in order to bring women’s perspectives into our governing bodies, everywhere.