Law is too blunt an instrument for the complex realities of abortion
People’s lives elude sharply drawn lines.
After decades of debate over abortion, few minds have been changed. Most Americans occupy a muddy middle ground: they are uneasy with abortion being legal in all cases, yet unwilling to see it entirely prohibited. Whether people lean more toward legalization or prohibition is often difficult to determine, since their position varies according to how pollsters phrase their questions.
Judging from official denominational statements, mainline Protestants also generally occupy that muddy middle. Their position might be stated this way: human life is a gift from God which calls for respect and gratitude; nevertheless, the tragic contingencies of life may render the gift such a burden that in some cases it may be refused. That formulation captures people’s moral ambivalence on the issue but hardly translates into a clear public policy, much less into the language of law. What cases are we talking about? And who decides? That’s where things get complicated.
A cursory foray into the practicalities of restricting abortion reveals even more difficulties. Consider a question frequently asked in polling: Should abortion be allowed in cases of rape? Some 70 percent agree that it should. The question is newly pertinent, since Alabama recently passed a law disallowing that exception—a move that provoked unease even on the antiabortion side.
