Abortion is a collection of some of the most difficult issues related to human growth and development.
—Life Choices
How do you thread your way through the political and emotional minefield that is the current abortion conversation? Threats to women’s health and safety are uppermost in the minds of feminists and others worldwide, as the patriarchy in the form of male controlled governments and fundamentalist churches grinds on in its effort to limit and control women’s lives and turn back the clock of emerging feminine empowerment. It’s understandable that when the subject of abortion comes up one would want to go right to personal experience or right to the political fights. My experience as the author of a book about abortion is just that. Most people engage me in conversation about their unresolved feelings about their own abortion(s), or about their fear that abortion will become illegal again.
It’s easy to be pulled into the conversation on those levels, and while they are important, there is more, much more, to be understood about abortion. The impact of the issue is deep and global and deserving of attention for its role in forging a new consciousness about humanity’s relationship with the Earth.
Conscious caring is a phrase I use in Life Choices. It refers to the awareness of self and of life that comes when a woman comes to terms with her intrinsic power to decide whether a particular pregnancy will produce a new human or whether she needs to turn that pregnancy back to the Earth. It is her place in nature to decide this, and her spiritual responsibility to engage in this way.
Most women know this. They know it in their bones, and proceed with their pregnancy choices in spite of whatever barriers they may encounter in their personal predicaments or societal environments. The suffering they experience comes mostly from the opposition and disrespect they encounter along the way. The stigmatizing of the choice of abortion produces shame that although unnecessary given the truth of the matter, manages to wound many women during their lives. The normal grief some women feel about choosing to turn back a pregnancy is distorted by the need to hide from the shaming. The same is true when a woman feels no grief at all, or some combination of grief and relief.
Some professionals who think they are helping women with abortion frame the woman’s experience as one of victimization. This is incorrect. We are not victims of our own experience. Any experience. Even one where we might have actually been victimized! All experiences, including abortion, are with us to show us about life and about how to live freely and well. As our lives progress, we come upon exactly the right combination of circumstances and experiences to open us to what is true. Sometimes we learn the lessons right away. Sometimes it takes an entire lifetime to see clearly. Sometimes we are left baffled by the way our lives have unfolded, but that doesn’t change the basic dynamics.
Conscious Caring is also descriptive of the emerging consciousness moving to the center of understanding the relationship of humans to our mother, the Earth. This growing awareness, often seen in relationship to “climate change” and environmental degradation, is a spiritually organic part of the Truth (Greater Consciousness) of Being. The role of women is often overlooked because after all, we still live in a male controlled and male dominated world. Nothing against the male of the species mind you. Men suffer terribly in the patriarchy, but that is not the subject of this essay. My goal is to promote the recognition of the importance of women’s lives in order to help bring things into better balance. The recognition and subsequent understanding of the need for equality will shift the imbalances of human life on Earth. When we embrace conscious caring as the way to live on the planet, we will re-organize human life to be in sync with all other life on Earth. Empowering women is essential to this profoundly transformative historical process.
I’d love to know your thoughts about this. You can comment on this post by clicking on the title and scrolling to the bottom comments area. Or, you can contact me privately.
Be well and blessings!
I deeply welcome the clarity you bring to a woman’s conscious choice to turn a pregnancy “back to the Earth,” as you so tenderly put it. Thank you, for the “conscious caring” you so generously illuminate and share.
Thank you, Gail, for taking time out of your busy schedule to respond to my post.
Linda, Love what you say about patriarchy and the control/shaming in our society on choice. Women’s welfare and consciousness often are not in the conversation or minimized. Most women and mothers (and mothers-to-be) I know hold the miracle and privilege to carry a life sacred, hence, decision about choice is considered seriously. It is about responsibility, how we connect with ourselves, the Earth, our family, the Creator, and many other things. Thank you for doing the hard work of speaking up. I believe you are way ahead of the general thinking.
Thank you, Sue, for your eloquent response. The subjects are so big and don’t fit into sound bites and quick commentary. There is so much for our society and our people to learn about the depth and breadth of “women’s issues.”