Editor, the Gauntlet:
Weekly, I continue to read about the ongoing pro-life/pro-choice debate, and I believe we are missing the point.
“The point” is not about being pro-life or pro-choice. It is not about whether women have the right to choose what happens to their bodies, nor is about protecting the sanctity of human life: the issue goes deeper than being right or rallying around a cause.
We are vindicated when we choose to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, including the unborn. However, we must consider that maybe being “pro-life” extends beyond birth and encompasses how we choose to act in our dealings with people. Are we pro-life in how we regard mothers faced with incredibly tough choices? When it comes to helping the student community? Is this something that is consistent throughout our lives?
What if “pro-life” was about a willingness to “do life” with people: to listen to them with our hearts, not our morals; to put ourselves aside, enter into their situation, and walk with them every step of the way; to do whatever is required of ourselves to provide a woman with the option of not aborting in her circumstance. If we spent half of the time trying to do right as we do on trying to be right, maybe we would no longer have difficulties deciding what “right” looks like–we would know it because we see it.