Jeanette Gouws of Mossel Bay writes:
While abortion is presented as a solution to any unwanted pregnancy, it is a highly emotive and divisive subject. We should all care about pregnant women facing trauma, fear, poverty or violence. The pain behind some pregnancies is real and should be met with support.
While pro-abortion arguments are heartfelt, they lean on emotion rather than addressing the objective facts. Abortion is not a private medical decision, because it is the intentional ending of a developing human life.
When we speak about justice, compassion and protection of the vulnerable, we cannot exclude the unborn child, who is, by every biological measure, a distinct and living human being.
To say that abortion "only affects the woman" overlooks this truth. There are two lives involved, and we should extend compassion to both.
Caring about women compels us to address the physical and psychological effects they experience after abortion. Most speak of grief, regret, depression and a lasting sense of loss. These experiences are ignored in public discourse, creating a one-sided narrative that does not serve women's or societies' well-being.
Rather than presenting abortion as a solution, we should address the conditions that make women feel trapped: poverty, lack of support, fear, abuse and isolation.
True empowerment does not mean offering a woman the ability to end a life; it means ensuring she never feels that doing so is her only way out.
There are life-affirming alternatives that walk alongside women in crisis pregnancies, and these should be strengthened, promoted and made more accessible, so that no woman feels alone or abandoned in her moment of need.
In cases of rape, where pregnancy results are rare due to severe trauma, the value of the child does not change. Both mother and child deserve protection and support. We also need to recognise that sometimes abuse and rape are hidden by easy abortion access.
In pregnancies where a mother's life is genuinely at risk, medical intervention is aimed at saving it, and this is different from abortion chosen for other reasons.
Ultimately, a society is measured by how it treats its most vulnerable. That includes women in crisis and it includes unborn children.
