Taking it Whole

I am not a choosy person. I am not particular about food or company. I am not choosy either about clothes, shoes, hair etc. as long as they are not mismatched. And when it comes to belief in God, I am absolutely convinced that you MAY NOT EVER choose and pick what you want to believe. You don't get to choose, you need to take everything whole. I do sometimes have different views than of the Catholic church's on certain matters. But I feel that I need to reconcile my own views to the catholic church stand. One matter that is utterly important is abortion. Before I was converted, I believed that the decision to abort an unborn child should be solely the woman's. It is her body, her life and therefore her decision and hers alone to make.

Generally, I do understand totally the need to protect life, both born and unborn. Therefore, the stance taken by Pro-Life is prohibition of:

• Abortion
• Euthanasia and assisted suicide
• The death penalty
• War, with very few exceptions

At the same time, I also understand the position of Pro-Choice which affirms that all of the following must remain legal:

• Celibacy and abstinence
• Contraception use
• Emergency contraception use
• Abortion, for the first two trimesters of pregnancy
• Childbirth.

 (source: http://civilliberty.about.com/od/abortion/tp/Pro-Life-vs-Pro-Choice.htm)

I stand by Pro-Life, not only because I need to take Catholicism 'whole' and I am complied to take the same stand as the Catholic Church, but it really makes a lot of sense to me. What ever gave us the right to take away life from someone, born or unborn? Particularly on the issue of abortion,yes, a unborn child in a woman's womb is imposing on the woman's body but it is also a life that God has allowed to be formed. By aborting, you are killing the unborn child without even giving it a chance to live life. Is that fair to this child? These are solely my own opinion and interpretation only as a lay catholic.
 
Pregnancy is a consequence of sex, so be responsible for your actions. Even in the unfortunate incidents of pregnancies because of rapes, although I totally abhor the rape act and symphatise with the rape victims but the unborn children are also victims, killing them is unjustified. For unwed mothers or mothers who are incapable of taking up the responsibilities of raising children for any reasons, there is avenue of adoptions.
 
I cannot deny that religion has played the main role in my stand on the matter but all the readings I have done have convinced me even more that the position of the Church on this is correct. You may be interested to hear what a Catholic father has to say about this: