A Study of Abortion and Problems in Decision-Making (original) (raw)

This paper is directed to people who, sufficiently disturbed by the complex realities of problem pregnancies, are prepared to think beyond the confines of ideology. It is a challenge to people who tend to reduce the problem of unwanted pregnancies either to "abortion on d e m a d or to 'Zight to life" ideologies, thereby igmring the relationship dynamics that impact, shape, and enable the process of decision-making with its implications for mutual caring and for long-term trust. Rebalancing the emphases on ideologies and individual rights, this article is multidirectional in approach. It surfaces a concern for the unborn fetus, for the woman and the man involved, and for future human relatedness in which the capacity for trust and accountability are actualized rather than forced to stagnate. I went back to my hospital room to rest. I tried to read.. . but I couldn't get into reading. There was a phone by my bed 90 I called friends, because I didn't want to think. I could hear other women phoning too. It struck me that nobody was talking about their men. I didn't see any men there all day-and there seemed to be a whole floor of abortions-except for one who tried to force his way in to be with his girlfriend. They wouldn't let him in. I found that offensive (Howard, 1974, p. 118).