This whole saga as presented here is one more illustration of the dilemma of imperfect solutions to imperfect humanity; to complex and essentially man-made problems;
In a society tied to patriachal hegemony for whatever reasons, abortion finds itself a tool.
And as a tool, each side seeks to use it to address its own brand of the problem; the problem that matters to it most, regardless what is in the interest of the larger society or even the long term.
and so to some, it is a tool for selective sex cultivation that puts them in the best parts of the market that they can see and favour, hardly different from the horticulturist or crop farmer who splices and dices on his farm to tailor products to self interest.
to others, abortion remains a tool to favour fancies and make up for ill-thought out pregnancies and amorous misadventures.
yet for others, real clinical exigencies (relating to foetus and or mother) compel resorting to use of the tool.
but in each case 'abortion' anyway.
the problem seems to be how to recruit and train 'abortion police' that will be able to 'pace the beats' without goose stepping into turfs considered by other interest/pressure groups as their legitimate holy grail.
But is it too much to ask if in the 'Religion' of Abortion, there is really a Holy grail where anyone can proudly afford to be sanctimonious;
or
there is guilt enough to go round all such as seek to use the tool for man made artefactual purposes; the result, a pot calling the kettle black.
we should spare abortion the bullying, continue to restrict its use to the narrowest predicaments, stripped of a cafetarial 'pick and choose' logic.
Instead, as the author of this piece suggests, the world should help to blackmail opportunistic patriachalism out of existence no matter where in one form or another, it rears its ugly head; be this in the church or the politburos or the families or board rooms, or provinces.
To want to condemn abortion used in one circumstance (unsuited to our taste) and then defend it in another (reconcilable to our philosophy) will always lead to the type of confusion india is now patently besieged with; a catch 22 cos no such 'abortion police' can be trained comprehensively enough to know how or when to step into all of the muddy waters of the issues without itself getting muddied; no matter the skills of the legislators behind them.
very few human problems of this nature can be legislated out of existence; it is the thinking that needs pruning.
Rapid Response:
Re: Sex selection and abortion in India
This whole saga as presented here is one more illustration of the dilemma of imperfect solutions to imperfect humanity; to complex and essentially man-made problems;
In a society tied to patriachal hegemony for whatever reasons, abortion finds itself a tool.
And as a tool, each side seeks to use it to address its own brand of the problem; the problem that matters to it most, regardless what is in the interest of the larger society or even the long term.
and so to some, it is a tool for selective sex cultivation that puts them in the best parts of the market that they can see and favour, hardly different from the horticulturist or crop farmer who splices and dices on his farm to tailor products to self interest.
to others, abortion remains a tool to favour fancies and make up for ill-thought out pregnancies and amorous misadventures.
yet for others, real clinical exigencies (relating to foetus and or mother) compel resorting to use of the tool.
but in each case 'abortion' anyway.
the problem seems to be how to recruit and train 'abortion police' that will be able to 'pace the beats' without goose stepping into turfs considered by other interest/pressure groups as their legitimate holy grail.
But is it too much to ask if in the 'Religion' of Abortion, there is really a Holy grail where anyone can proudly afford to be sanctimonious;
or
there is guilt enough to go round all such as seek to use the tool for man made artefactual purposes; the result, a pot calling the kettle black.
we should spare abortion the bullying, continue to restrict its use to the narrowest predicaments, stripped of a cafetarial 'pick and choose' logic.
Instead, as the author of this piece suggests, the world should help to blackmail opportunistic patriachalism out of existence no matter where in one form or another, it rears its ugly head; be this in the church or the politburos or the families or board rooms, or provinces.
To want to condemn abortion used in one circumstance (unsuited to our taste) and then defend it in another (reconcilable to our philosophy) will always lead to the type of confusion india is now patently besieged with; a catch 22 cos no such 'abortion police' can be trained comprehensively enough to know how or when to step into all of the muddy waters of the issues without itself getting muddied; no matter the skills of the legislators behind them.
very few human problems of this nature can be legislated out of existence; it is the thinking that needs pruning.
Competing interests: No competing interests