An essay from my Alternate Dispute Resolution class.
Trigger warning: Sensitive topic. Open for sensible debate.
Issues
The Views
Abortion is one of the topics, other than Migrants, which would attract a good deal of folks to debate. These participants would fill the entire spectrum of tolerance in varying concentration. The tolerance on this spectrum can begin with “I don’t care” to all the way “I’ll f*%n kill you”[1]. The militia on either ends of the spectrum can have some very radical thoughts about Abortion – emphasizing the fact “my way or the highway.” One wonders, what do these folks need, and what are their views? The ideologies carried by these extremes depends/entrenched based on their gullibility, read-up, knowledge, culture, and their social circle. Thus, the views tend to be “liberty of body,” “equal rights,” “ridiculous and punishable,” “right to life”, and “unborn over women”. While that, the extremes tend to argue to the ultimate question: Is that legal or illegal? That is where the militias share a space together – either this or that; and nothing in-between. But those that fill in-between (the spectrum) can always be chipped away, depending on the nudge one gets. This albeit the background of their foundation of ideologies. These humpty-dumpties, with varying degrees of knowledge can be influenced and persuaded to fall on to either side of spectrum.
Who are these people?
The stakeholders in our spectrum are mostly patriarchal men occupying one end of illegality, and the women folks because of their men. On the other end of the spectrum – the legality side – are the women folks who demand a bodily autonomy. Apart from the gender-based ideology, there are two other important stakeholders: the government and the judiciary. The government’s role is that of a populist policy-making process and that of the judiciary is to keep of the law involved. Then there are Doctors, Scientists, and Field Experts who have a say from the perspective of the foetus. To a smaller extent, there are groups of community that take part in the spectrum, but they are either a summation of existing stakeholders or a difference. Thus, it is at everyone’s doorstep.
What is the contention?
Varying schools of thought, morals, ideologies, cultures, and philosophies have shaped the contention in to a one big messy hair ball. While there is the morality to keep an unborn child alive – that is taking a foetus from the time of conception to a live, breathing child; there are others in the spectrum purely for personal benefits: Financial, Power, Authority and Control. One could only coin a new term for this issue: An onion hairball. It is so layered and abstract with countless cross connection, that the underlying basis of this contention is a forgotten concept. As the general formula in issue resolution goes, one must start at grass-roots level to bring in a every stakeholder to the table. The resolution may not be convenient and may re-emphasize the prevailing norms based on the parties on the table – which only kicks the can down the road, thereby ignoring the underlying nature of the issue. So, what would the ways in which the issues and the underlying root-cause can be resolved (or at least begin) in an amicable manner? Is there one solution or are we looking at a multi-pronged approached? What techniques can be used to take us down the path of resolution? Well, let us look at them!
Path to Resolution
Generally
Since we are dealing with a lot of grown-up humans who have their own independent thought process because of a functioning brain, we will not be able to resolve the issue in a speedy manner. Also, legally speaking – the western legal system was founded on religious principles of that that time and has evolved with many of the strings still attached to archaic thoughts.
What is the goal?
One of the important parts of the path to resolution is to determine what type of outcome will yield a community of peace rather than a broken humankind. To do that one must listen to all the voices in the community and weigh all the factors before forming a resolution. Thus, the goal in this issue is not about addressing if the Abortion process is legal or illegal, but more about how all the parties can come together and live in a peaceful, coexisting society that caters to the needs of all the inhabitants of the community.
Specific approaches
Looking at the goal, well, the issue deals with a community – an exceptionally large community. The result is a well-knitted integrated community rather than small, fractured, and disintegrated communities that does not bode well when taken as a whole. A power-based or a role-based approach to resole the issue may not be that comfortable to begin with; rather, one should begin with an interest-based, integrated approach with the outcome in the mind. This does not mean that other approaches should not be used – but should be used less. This is not a zero-sum game, but a win-win approach that aids the community rather than making it handicapped.
Specific pathways
Community education
As always, everything begins with education. Identifying the gaps in the community and bringing in thought leaders in various fields: Doctors (gynecologists, pediatricians), Scientists, Biologists, Zoologists, and religious heads to talk and debate with the community about the perceptions and confusions related to reproduction and childbirth. For instance, the leaders along with the community should engage in topics such as the below:
- Why should any women have a child?
- Can a foetus be compared to a parasite that drains the resources of the birthing mother?
- Should the foetus have life on its own that it can live outside the mother’s womb?
- When is a foetus considered to be showing vital that it must be considered to have life?
- When does life begin? Can a micro-cellular organism considered to be alive?
- What does the carrying mother lose? Health and individually in her autonomy.
- What are ordeals must the mother endure and why?
- What is meant by killing and what is meant by aborting?
- Do morals play a role in a meat-eater who consumes young ones of hen, goat, cow or for that matter any living thing? For that matter, for even an herbivore who consumes living plants?
One of the ideas of integrative approach is first baselining everyone (on a common denominator) involved in the contention, which is after knowing the gaps in their knowledge, understanding and their stance on the subject. This will be a long-drawn effort in educating a community. Well, this underlying foundation is necessary in order to bring about an effective conversation and well-placed arguments as everyone will be on the same page with the empowered knowledge.
Community’s responsibilities vs birth mother’s responsibilities
If we are taking the recent US Supreme Court’s decision[2] into account – one of the spoken points for the majority was Nation’s history and tradition – and when one goes by it, we all know that it takes a village to raise a child. There is an implicit social contract in a community wherein everyone pitches for the wellness of the others, thus in the case of raising a child, if the community can promise to the mother that they will do all the necessities to raise the child then the birthing mother can provide a return contract saying that she is willing to carry the foetus to term. The responsibility in a community is that of a mutual one, and not that of one single person. An explicit contract between the community and the birthing mother on a mutual sharing of responsibilities will ensure that the mothers’ hardships are agreed and carried together.
One’s own will vs imposition of others
Even in a community, it is the individuals that make up a community. Thus, the individual’s liberty to see fit cannot be forced and imposed by others unless it brings about a physical and grievous mental harm rather than a discomfort to the community. In that manner, if the birth mother does not seem [for several reasons] to want to carry through to term of the foetus, the community must understand that the liberty of the individual is paramount at that situation. Unless the community knows for sure that the foetus is another Jesus/Krishna/Allah [oops! Look! Still men! heavy pun intended] coming to save them.
Conclusion
[1] https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2022/05/06/americas-abortion-quandary/pf_05-06-22_abortion-views_0_0/
[2] Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Org., 142 S. Ct. 2228 (2022)
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