To the Editor:
I am writing in response to Ellen Wight '97's column titled "Being Pro-Choice and Anti-Abortion." [The Dartmouth, May 3]
Wight began her article with a statement common among students today, and which lacks any firm commitment to the convictions she claims to hold.
She writes, "A few weeks ago, I went to see the pro-life documentary, 'The Silent Scream.' As I expected, I left the film horrified at the brutality it presented. I even agreed with its message that abortion is evil. But, again as I expected, I walked out as unshakably pro-choice as ever. Does that make any sense?"
No. That doesn't make any sense.
She continues, "I'm certainly not alone in the ambiguity of my attitude about the issue. In fact, I fit right into the 'muddled majority' of Americans who seem to accept abortion as both legal and something they hope to avoid."
To fit into a muddled majority which compromises its conviction that abortion is "evil" for appeasement, for political agendas and sentimental rhetoric is nothing to be proud of. If one thinks "abortion is evil" then he/she must be prepared to take a stand, of any sort, for what their conscience tells them is right.
To rationalize away the magnitude of the crime as essential for the welfare of our society, for the welfare of the mother and the welfare of the child, which would be born into undesirable conditions, is weak at best.
To believe abortion is evil and then continue one's article with statements regarding abortion's "ethical complexity" is in fact nonsensical. We all agree that there are serious conditions which need our attention and which contribute to the desperate decisions being made every day by women across the country. However, the conditions should not, can not, hold weight over one's conviction that abortion is "evil."
Wight writes "A woman, I believe, has that right [to choose abortion], but she can't lie to herself about what she is doing. She needs to take responsibility for the decision." WHAT does that mean? What does responsibility for willingly taking an innocent life MEAN? The responsibility, necessitated by the claim that abortion is evil, cannot be argued away by conditional logic and compromise, as Wight and those who agree with her attempt to do.
