The Human Condition: Abortion

By Daniel Schnee on June 29, 2022.

As a cultural anthropologist it is my job to analyze humanity. This includes what rules they follow when they express their thoughts, form bonds and so on.

So in light of human behaviour and law, it is rather conflicting to see how the Supreme Court of the United States recently ruled that abortion is not a constitutionally protected right, meaning the individual states can decide the legality of abortion, based on various circumstances.

The reason it is conflicting is that, technically, a Supreme Court is tasked with legal interpretation, not feelings. Their entire job has to be about pure law beyond feelings and opinions; how federal laws could be reasonably interpreted and applied in Medicine Hat, across the entire province of Ontario, or both. So when we are shocked by such a ruling, we must remember that the Supreme Court are high powered judges (i.e. high ranking lawyers) exclusively tasked with legal interpretation, not rectitude.

But this also means their efforts to clarify the law can be unintentionally cruel, “by necessity.” Often, no matter what they do, someone is going to get hurt by their interpretation. This is the case with abortion.

Conservatives are mostly pro-life when it comes to the unborn. This may seem like an easy case for morality, or protecting the unborn, until the issue of women in medical danger, or cases of incest and sexual assault are considered.

This to me is the litmus test for the quality of my own religiosity. What ruling properly addresses forceful impregnation and/or women medically endangered by pregnancy?

Canada protects the right to abortion as part of health care, and though I don’t like the idea of people randomly getting abortions to negate the effects of promiscuity, I am pro-choice, especially for medically endangered women, and victims of incest or sexual assault.

Women have not been legislating away our male bodily autonomy like we have theirs for millennia. We must return the favour; abortion-as-health care must be measured into our legal systems, case closed.

Abortion must exist, as it is evil to deny such a procedure to the sick, to the victims of crime and of sin. If there is a Hell, we mark ourselves as its future citizens if we think it is righteous to deny the option of such a procedure to those who were impregnated against their will.

This is not about promiscuity or when life begins. A speck of goo in a woman’s body cannot do your taxes, or prefer blueberry pie. It is evil to kill women through fatal pregnancies … because I prefer a particular god. What if fans of other gods I don’t prefer did the same thing to my wife or daughter? It is about protecting the sick and the innocent, case closed.

I find it highly ironic that abortion in America now is not constitutionally protected, but the Third Amendment prohibits the federal government from forcing individuals to provide lodging to soldiers in their homes without their consent. So you can’t force a resident to stay in American homes, but you can force a “resident” to stay in American women. That is not a victory for anyone.

Dr. Daniel Schnee is an anthropologist and jazz/rock drummer

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