Item 1: A week ago Dr. George Tiller, who performed the controversial "late-term" abortions, was murdered in Wichita, Kansas. The arrested suspect, Scott Roeder, now claims that more murders are planned.
Item 2: "My Choice" is a thoughtful essay published in the Washington Post Outlook section June 8. The author, Rozalyn Farmer Love, a third-year medical student, bravely states her intention of providing abortions when she becomes a physician, and convincingly outlines her reasoning for making that choice.
Item 1, reprehensible. Item 2, recommendable.
Ms. Love's article is worth a read. Before I read it, I was struck first by the "lead-in" headline the Post used: "I grew up believing that abortions are wrong. Now, I expect to perform them someday" because it seems to encapsulate one of the problems that plagues not just the abortion debate, but some others as well.
How, I thought, would it be possible for anyone in their growing-up years to form a valid opinion regarding a complex issue like abortion, so fraught with emotional, religious, medical, and social implications? The answer of course is that she grew up being taught that abortions are wrong.
To her credit, Ms. Love seems to have thought through the issue on her own terms, and has been able to form her own opinion. Too few others ever bother to challenge beliefs or doctrines that they were taught as innocent childhood victims of handed-down wisdom. Other "taught" wisdom from the past might include "blacks are naturally inferior to whites," "the world is flat," or "women shouldn't vote," all of which have been reexamined in the light of scientific or social evidence to the contrary, to create a different appreciation of reality.
I'm sure Mr. Roeder was also taught at some point that abortion is wrong; perhaps he was also taught that if you disagree with someone you should just assassinate him. His case demonstrates the special problems that arise when the conventional wisdom is a matter of faith. Religious beliefs are often taught in a vacuum, as if no one believed anything different, so they may be held especially tenaciously. Too seldom does any organized religion acknowledge the existence of other faiths, let alone encourage its adherents to examine them. (The church my wife attended as a child was an exception. Part of kids' religious instruction was a review of the basic tenets of several different belief systems. Maybe Dr. Tiller attended a similar church when he was young.)
Many anti-abortion and religious groups have rushed to distance themselves from Mr. Roeder. "We don't condone murder," they say, or "Two wrongs don't make a right." And I believe them. Yet we have to acknowledge that the rigid, absolutist, self-centered approach of many organized religions may be a factor that could predispose a few of their flock to extreme acts.
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