I found an extremely interesting video on how Japan deals with abortion. I’m not endorsing nor dismissing this video, but found it highly fascinating.
Just watched it. These comments are directed at the video, and while it’s definitely a critique, that isn’t meant to be an insult to anyone here (as the person who linked it said, you don’t endorse the video and just found it interesting).
That sort of temple situation seems like a great (and very Buddhist—I spent 6 months in Eastern Asia studying Buddhism from an anthropology angle) way to process the abortion for the mom and/or family. The grief of abortion can be super real. And when women get abortions in the US it is often a really, really difficult experience for them—just as it is in Asia. Because yeah, it’s a growing human, a child which is currently in the womb growing as a fetus (let’s also accept that both the word fetus and child are accurate, and most accurate when used in combination, but each side prefers to use the one or the other term because it makes them sound more correct). I’m sure some of my friends have gotten abortions but literally noone ever talks about it, because it’s a really hard and sad thing to talk about.
The people protesting are doing so for the right to have abortions, not because they think we should be getting abortions left and right at the drop of a hat, just for fun, with no thought for the value of human life. They want the individual to have the freedom to make that decision, under the premise that they know what is best for them and for their unborn child.
I think though that this video also falls victim to the exact party-line BS that it discusses. The same BS comes with every single news segment in the US, from CBS to Fox News. This video, coming from a right leaning perspective, naturally paints the pro-life team as an underdog, up against all the universities, corporations, government, etc. who are all somehow in a vast co-conspiracy together against the equally-homogenous group of people who the video identifies as losing this culture war. Even as tribalism and the internal rift in the US is identified as the issue in this video, that tribalism is reinforced by that narrative of “everyone versus us” the video purports. In addition, the pictures that accompany the tribalism narrative are all of left wing protestors. If you want to have a conversation about tribalism, include pictures of both tribes (e.g. planned parenthood protestors, Westboro baptist church, etc).
I see this shit all the time in liberal circles too, no exception. It’s just how we reaffirm our tribal identities and connect with the people in the one of two over-generalized parties that our society forces us to adopt, or wind up without a tribe.
I’ll reiterate my earlier sentiment: there is no solution to abortion that doesn’t produce suffering, it’s just a question of what kind of suffering you want to create. Neither side is considering the whole issue, and if either wants to have the better argument (or even begin to address the counter narratives of the opposing party in a constructive way), they have to at least consider the opposition’s views while also confronting the innate biases that their own group brings to the table.