Religion has been politically weaponized by a minority of Americans and used against the right of women — including those who are not religious — to control their own bodies. Most specifically, their reproductive rights.
In a recent letter, the author advocated making decisions based upon whether it is “God-pleasing.” Is it “God-pleasing” for women to die or be unable to bear children after being denied life saving or fertility saving medical care?
The answer is that assuming they exist, neither the Christian God nor the god(s) of any other religion has the right to make that decision. The sovereignty that free will confers on anindividual dictates that both the question and the answer exclusively belong to the person whose body and life is most directly affected.
The decision to become and/ or to remain pregnant has medically, morally, ethically and, until recently, legally been the exclusive domain of the woman up to certain science-based legally mandated points. The right to life of the mother, as a fully realized person, conferred to her the right to make the important decision to keep or terminate a pregnancy — typically made in concert with the women’s chosen medical provider.
Nor should the state be involved in making the decision except to the extent a law — based upon science, not religious or other personal beliefs — determines that two living people sharing one body are or may be involved. And even then, if a life-saving decision must be made to terminate one or the other, that decision must also be made by the one most invested in and capable of making it: the mother.
Despite the constitutionally mandated separation of church and state, the abortion rights of Roe v. Wade were overthrown by a politically partisan, radical majority Supreme Court on blatantly religious, not legal, personal grounds. Thus, as things currently stand, it is the state and not the mother who makes the determination. Medical opinion that supports the health of the mother is often ignored. As a result, women have not only lost core personal autonomy, but control over their reproductive rights and their physical bodies to the point of near death in some cases and, along with other serious medical issues, mental breakdown in others.
In the time since Roe was overturned, a modern-day religious- based “witch hunt” has ensued. Women have been made into criminals, increasingly hounded — almost to death, in some cases — by religious fanatics, including legislators and partisan law enforcement, even across state lines. Is this God-pleasing? The devil is in the details.
— Michael Boshears
Palmer
Have something on your mind? Send to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Letters under 200 words have the best chance of being published. Writers should disclose any personal or professional connections with the subjects of their letters. Letters are edited for accuracy, clarity and length.