Middle ground on abortion, after Tiller murder?
I’ve struggled in the past week processing the events in the death of Kansas abortion doctor George Tiller. In every current event, my job is to stretch to find middle ground, but this one is quite the minefield. There’s even a language “eeny-meeny” minefield. Call him “an abortionist,” I’ve offended. Call him a “doctor…” I’ve offended the other “side.”
Frank Schaeffer, former member (current critic) of the religious right, writes:
But the reason this issue will never go away is that the Roe ruling was an over broad court decision that makes abortion legal even in the last weeks of pregnancy. Take away the pictures of all those dead late term fetuses and everything changes emotionally. Democracy and civil debate is messy but if abortion had been argued state-by-state abortion would be legal in almost all our states today and probably the laws would be written more like those of Europe, where late-term abortions (of the kind Dr. Tiller specialized in performing) are illegal and/or highly discouraged.
Angry speech has become the norm in American religion from both the right and the left. Words are spoken which — when taken seriously — lead directly to violence by the unhinged and/or the truly committed.
When evangelicals on the right call President Obama a socialist, a racist, anti-American, an abortionist, not a real American, and, echoing the former Vice President, someone who is weakening America’s defenses and making us less safe, the logical conclusion is violence. If you take these words literally you might pull the trigger to “make America safe” and/or free us from communism or to even protect us from — what some “Christian” leaders claim — Obama as the Antichrist.
I wonder how many of us can agree on two points:
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1. Late-term abortions should not be performed simply because the pregnancy isn’t wanted.
2. Our angry language has real consequences, even if it’s only to inflame someone who is probably mentally ill.
Add comment June 8th, 2009
