The Familial Divide and "Choice" vs "Life"

By: Liberate Zealot

As I've mentioned in the past one of my brothers is studying to be a priest and this has caused a certain divide and tensions between us.  However, this last Saturday we met up in DC and spent seven lovely hours together.  We visited the National Gallery and wandered through many exhibits before getting dinner and talking for hours about language, logic and philosophy, various countries, silly things on the internet, and our spring break plans.  It was very enjoyable, but still...

On Friday I was filling out another application to volunteer with Planned Parenthood and writing about Roe v Wade and how it hasn't done enough to guarantee body autonomy to people.

On Friday my brother attended a mass presided over by Cardinal Sean O'Malley and the March for Life a "pro-life"/anti-choice protest that happens yearly at approximately the same time as the passage of Roe v Wade.

The website for the March for Life discussed the apparently 55 million "people" (read fetus) who have died since the passage of Roe v Wade.  My own post on the subject discussed the women who have died from illegal abortions and the effects of not being able to access abortions has on an unwillingly pregnant person's life.

I could write about the meaning of choice, and trusting people to know what's right for their own bodies and lives.  I could write about how fetus are not people, and how even if they were in no other instance does right to life trump right to body autonomy.  I could write about the myriad issues and duplicity of the "pro-life" movement.  I could write about the recent hypocrisy of a Catholic hospital arguing it's way out of a wrongful death suit by stating that fetus aren't living humans.

But when it comes to my family and my brother the future priest most of my logic and argumentation fails me.  I'm only left with the (very logical) hurt of having a brother that values fetus over women (or anyone able to get pregnant).  Who would value the life of my potential unwanted fetus over myself.  A not yet living sack of growing membranes, nerves, and organs, over my physical and mental well being, over my human right to determine what happens to my own body and organs.

I have a brother who thinks women, pregnant people, potentially his own sister cannot be trusted to make the best decisions for their (my) life and body.  Who finds not a yet sentient fetus more valuable than them (me).

This removes the joy from any pleasurable get together or conversation.