Fabienne Fleurantin / Contributing Writer
Three people were killed and nine wounded in a shootout at a Planned Parenthood Center in Colorado on Friday. The motive of the gunmen, Robert Dear, remains unknown until further evidence has been gathered, according to CNN. Yet, there is reason to suspect that the attack occurred due to his opposition on abortion after uttering “no more baby parts” to a senior law enforcement officer.
The defunding of Planned Parenthood has been a heated topic of debate among Republican presidential candidates.
It has fractured Congress and according to the NY Times, Planned Parenthood “was expected to be prominent in the debate for legislation to finance federal operations, which the Republican-controlled Congress must pass before Dec.11 to keep the government open.
Anti-abortion conservatives want Republican leaders to let the government shut down unless President Obama agrees to end reimbursements to Planned Parenthood for health services to low-income patients.”
Planned Parenthood has been investigated by an anti-abortion group called the Center for Medical Progress for “trafficking in ‘baby parts.’” They have denied these allegations.
Planned Parenthood has dealt with their fair share of controversy ever since abortion became legal nationally in 1973. Incidents have occurred where “many abortion clinics and staff members across the country have been subjected to harassment including death and bomb threats,” according to the NY Times. The Colorado Spring Center has been exposed to many anti-abortion protests after videos surfaced of Planned Parenthood officials speaking about using fetal organs for research and profit.
Abortion is a polemic issue that continues to cause great dissent and unrest in America. The ethics of human life are contested and scrutinized in the hopes of determining who has the right to set a value on someone’s existence. However, as a woman, I believe that right to have an abortion should be reserved to the women who are struggling with that decision.
These examinations of the morality of abortions paint a viewpoint of only having two options, which places an enormous amount of pressure on women. This issue is not black and white. Wanting an abortion could be attributed to a number of factors. It is a complex matter with many layers underlining it, undergoing critical assessment before it is deemed as final.
Victims of rape and incest should be given the option of abortion.
We must set aside our preconceived notions of what we hold true in order to look through an objective lens. We must ask ourselves how it is like to live in their circumstances; experiencing all of the suffering they have endured. Every individual has a different predicament and who are we to admonish their freedom of choice?
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