In his 1988 book, Do Justly and Love Mercy, Lowell L. Bennion wrote the following about abortion, a topic that again is making news in the USA:
Abortion
The question of abortion, though
never a simple one, has become tangled with larger political questions in
recent decades to the point that it takes a great deal of patience to follow
one thread of argument though, then pick up another and follow it through.
A minimum of three people are
involved in a pregnancy: the father, the mother, and the potential child. In
evaluating the ethics of abortion, the rights of all three must be taken into
account, especially those of the mother and the potential child.
While I am sympathetic with the
appealing suffering inflicted on women who have resorted to desperate measures
to rid themselves of an unwanted pregnancy, I cannot agree that a pregnant
woman has only herself to consider. I acknowledge that the pregnant woman
herself gives herself to consider. I acknowledge that the pregnant woman
herself gives over her life, whether willingly or unwillingly, to an absorbing
and demanding physical process that is emotionally intense and potentially
dangerous. It is this circumstance that makes wanted motherhood a hell.
Even with such acknowledgments, I
walk a middle ground with regard to abortion. If we apply the touchstone of
reverence for life, it makes some situations easier to deal with. For instance,
it seems clear to me that several medical situations justify abortion: to
preserve the mother's life or health, when the fetus is dead, or when the
unborn child has such severe mental and/or physical handicaps that no
meaningful life he or she will experience is possible. Furthermore, no woman
who is pregnant as the result of rape or incest should be required to deal with
the psychological trauma of the pregnancy and birth in addition to the trauma
of the rape or incest itself.
However, to abort a fetus because
the child is unwanted, a burden, an embarrassment, or a "mistake" is
wholly unjustifiable in my view. It is wrong to take the life of a potential
human being because it makes both individuals and society callous toward the
sanctity of life itself. I would not argue that casual attitudes towards
abortion also lead to casual attitudes towards infanticide. But I would argue
that any social system or philosophy that cooperates with underlying human
selfishness in allowing people to avoid the consequences of their actions
erodes the individual integrity which lies at the foundation of all moral
order. It is my regret that the consequences in this case, fall with
disproportionate weight upon the woman, rather than equally upon both the woman
and the man; but this iniquity does not shake my profound conviction that
casual abortion is a serious wrong.
The creation of a longed-for human
life is one of the great experiences of our existence. I still recall the awe,
the expanding tenderness, and the connections with the past and future I felt
as my wife and I awaited the birth of each of our children. I would be a lesser
human being without those experiences. To interrupt that creative process or to
minimize our full involvement, both as fathers and as mothers, in that process,
is to diminish our regard for human life and for our own selves. I have no
qualms about recommending abstinence or contraception to young couples who do
not want a baby. I have only the utmost abhorrence for destroying a life in the
making for capricious and selfish reasons. (Lowell L. Bennion, Do Justly and
Love Mercy: Moral Issues for Mormons [Centerville, Utah: Canon Press, 1988],
62-64)
Compare and contrast this with the attitude of Sam Brunson who wishes
for more black women to avail of abortion (read: he wants fewer black people in
the USA):
And of course, an author of pisspoor "poetry" is crying about this. "Tell me you hate your children without saying that you hate your children"
