Growing-up with Roe v. Wade

In the United States today, January 22, marks the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision of Roe versus Wade, which gave women in the United States the legal right to end their unborn child's life.  It sparked the abortion debate that has since ensued for decades.  

On one hand it seemed like the Women's Liberation movement in the US had made a huge victory.  Women could have abortions that allowed them to continue as members of the workforce; it allowed them to not be tied down to children, and as women were/often mistreated by men it allowed them to be free of the results of those unfortunate situations.  It was also a victory for the overall health of American women because backroom abortions were all too common, very often with women becoming severely ill and dying because of poor sanitation, untrained medical personnel, and complications.  Of women who have abortions, many are coerced into having them by boyfriends, husbands, or other family.  Still other women choose to have abortions of their own volition. 

Yesterday and today there mare many prayer vigils being held across the nation from Washington DC to San Francisco and Los Angeles.  Millions of people are gathered in prayer vigils against the disrespect of human life of those who cannot defend themselves.  They are people of different nationalities, races, walks of life, different religions, and differing experiences. Yet they have all come together to show they are a people of life: that they believe in human dignity; that every human life is sacred from conception to natural death.   

It begs the question, is abortion about a woman's right, or about upholding the dignity and sacredness of the human condition? 

My father is of the mindset that it is a woman's issue, that men should stay out of it.  Several of his female friends disagree.  Several friends have had abortions and regretted them for decades, especially when they have later had other children and worried what to tell their other children because once their other children were born, they realized how sacred those children were.  A friend's girlfriend aborted his child simply because she didn't want to have a baby with his nationality even though he loved her dearly and wanted to be a family.  Living across the street from me once was a doctor who performed abortions, her partner, and her partner's adult child who had Down syndrome.  Personally Roe v. Wade touched me when my spouse and I were expecting our first child.  Because we young adults, it was strongly suggested by the medical doctors that we have an abortion and that way we could both have our careers.  It would have been as easy as making an appointment.  We chose to give life. 

The point, abortion effects everybody.    Everyone knows someone, or has an experience, and that colored our relationships.   

In recent times there was a famous case of Gianna Molla of Italy who is usually brought-up with the abortion debate. She became a doctor, a gynecologist.  She married and had three children.  In 1961 she became pregnant with her fourth child.  During her pregnancy she developed a fibroma on her uterus. The doctors gave her three choices: an abortion, a complete hysterectomy, or removal of only the fibroma. As a Catholic she knew the Catholic Church forbids all direct abortion, but would have allowed her to undergo a hysterectomy, which might have caused her unborn child's death. As a gynecologist she understood the severity of her condition and all the implications.  Believing her child’s life more important than her own, Molla opted for the removal of the fibroma, telling doctors that she wanted to preserve her child’s life.  This was her personal choice.  On 21 April 1962, through Caesarean  section Gianna gave birth to a daughter, Gianna Emanuela. However, Gianna Molla continued to have severe pain, and died of infection seven days later. The daughter, Gianna Emanuela, is still alive today, following in her mother’s footsteps as a doctor. 

So, is abortion a woman's right, or is life a right of the human condition with its dignity, respect and sacredness encompassed in that?  What is we take away the circumstance of abortion and ask the question again in terms of eugenics? Or genocide?  What of the Holocaust?