Again today, we continue our discussion about the results revealed in the 2023 research report titled, “The Effects of Abortion Decision Rightness and Decision Type on Women’s Satisfaction and Mental Health.”
You can access the report at this link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37303450/
We concluded yesterday’s article saying that today we would discuss the research result that 33% of women in the survey said that their abortions were wanted, compared to 43% who said their abortions were inconsistent with their values and preferences, and 24% who said their abortions were unwanted or coerced.
So if we switch into business mode, we could say that 67% (43% + 24%) of women experience “buyer’s remorse” about their abortions, whereas the remaining 33% experience “buyer’s satisfaction.”
What are we to make of these 33% of women in the survey who looked back at their abortion experience, and say that they were satisfied with their decision?
Now, from the standard Right to Life position, there is much one could say about 33% of women saying they were satisfied with the decision they made.
We are not here to argue a Right to Life position.
Instead, again putting on our business hats, let’s ask if these 33% who claim “buyer’s satisfaction” with their abortion actually bought the product that is objectively best for them.
Before we can answer that, we have to determine if it’s even possible to create an objective measure rather than relying on the subjective measure of asking women the satisfaction they feel about the abortion they “bought.”
I think it is possible to determine an objective measure.
Here’s my thinking on this.
I have three core assumptions:
1) The first assumption is that all human beings want to flourish, using the dictionary.com definition of flourish as, “grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way, especially as a result of a particularly favorable environment.”
2) The second assumption is that all human beings have a right to be valued and respected for their own sake, what we call dignity.
3) The third assumption is that all human beings want to do things that accrue to the common good of all of the other fellow human beings.
Now I will be the first to admit, that not every human being, including myself, thinks deeply about these three issues and uses them as criteria for deciding what to do, and what not to do, in their daily lives.
But if we did, can you imagine how it would transform the world?
These are objective criteria, though I realize some would still assert that they have subjective elements to them.
Even so, they are much more objective than asking someone about their “satisfaction” with an action they took.
OK, back to the 33% of women who experienced “buyer’s satisfaction” with their abortions.
Using our three criteria of flourishing, dignity, and common good, my question would be the following.
How can a woman’s decision to terminate the pregnancy of another human being in her womb lead to her flourishing (“growing or developing in a healthy or vigorous way”), and uphold her dignity (“her right to be valued and respected”), and accrue to the common good of her fellow human beings, when the act of terminating her pregnancy objectively speaking does not uphold the dignity of the human being living in her womb?
In other words, can a woman uphold her own dignity by actively degrading the dignity of another human being?
If a woman actively degrades the dignity of another human being, how can that contribute to her growing or developing in a healthy way leading to her flourishing?
And how does degrading the dignity of another human being in any way accrue to the common good of all human beings, no matter where they are in their life cycle stage?
I think upholding the dignity of every human being is everyone’s duty, both mine and yours.
As such, I would never recommend to a woman that there is a path for her to uphold or increase her dignity by degrading the dignity of another human being.
In my view, the math of dignity can never have negative variables.
If a woman makes a decision that cannot open a path to the opportunity for flourishing for all the human beings impacted by that decision, then it’s the wrong decision.
Applying that logic to a woman’s decision to terminate her pregnancy, at a minimum, that decision does not open a path of opportunity for flourishing to the human being growing in her womb.
Therefore, even if the 33% of women are satisfied with their abortion, objectively speaking, from the viewpoint of upholding their own dignity, they chose the wrong product.
More to come…
Regards,
Brett Attebery