Evolving Ideas

In “Yet Another Controversy”, Caitlin Huber talks about the controversial issue of abortion. Caitlin, a self-defined moderate leaned to the right, provides an opinion inconsistent opinion about abortion. She starts by stating her opinion “I believe abortion is wrong. It is something I will never consider in my lifetime. For me, there is no choice; it’s something I could never do. Also I would not feel comfortable being friends with someone who has had an abortion. Morally, I cannot justify it in my own head except in cases of rape” then, on the following passage she starts to say that is OK for women to have an abortion if they got pregnant by mistake. Honestly, I am confused. Can she justify this option in her own head?

I am a product of an accident. My mother had a two months old toddler when she got pregnant of myself. As soon as my father found out that another baby was on its way, left her without any means and one infant in the stomach and another in her arms. In face of a frighting situation, her first thought was to have an abortion. As she likes to say nowadays “god did let me kill you”, If she has had one I would not be here today. Caitlin does not know me, and I know she did not have this intention, but she put a thought in my head "if it is OK for women to abort an unwanted child, it was OK for my mother to kill myself as I would not suffer.” Something to think about it.

I am not a big fan of moderates, yet I am a huge believer in compromises – conflicting, I know. I believe that you should stand with what you believe no matter if you are a far right or left. I believe in debates as ways to persuade opponents and the public opinion. With Caitlin's piece, I do not feel persuade or against it. I feel dizzy. She has opinions all over the place, some of them contradictory. She needs to evolve her opinion that right now is more like an early stage idea. Like the fetus example she uses. However, different from her opinion of killing the fetus only if it is early stage, I say keep on growing this idea and let an opinion be born.