The Paradox of Abortion Politics
You may want to disconnect politics when forming views on abortion
Women, Children and Animals are considered property in many parts of the world. Their rights vary by country. Several progressive movements around the world strive to enhance these rights, and to seek to grant individual rights to animals.
With children, legal paternity exposes a rhetoric of ownership, possession, and exchange. That is, by law, children are like “owned” by their parents. However, the law obligates parents to respect children’s right to life and a decent upbringing.
This has not always been the case.
Even less than a century back, if a parent beats a child to death, the parent suffered no legal consequences. Prior to that, for several decades, adult and child slaves were “free game”. Even the Bible talks about Abraham willing to sacrifice his son, Issac, with no legal or even moral consequences. It took several progressive steps to recognize many of childrens’ right to life until they turn into an adult.
It would then seem natural for progressive movements that seek animal rights to raise voices for human children in a mother’s womb and for alternate movements to seek to conserve the absolute property rights of a woman over her body. Paradoxically, in the US…