Perspective About Abortion is Important
If Life Choices is about nothing else, it is about perspective, and perspective about abortion is important. Women are caught in the crossfire of the currently overheated abortion wars. An epidemic of distorted legislation is spreading across the country in the form of bills that would give “personhood” to the fertilized egg in pregnancy, and more proposals that violate women’s bodily integrity by requiring ultrasounds for anyone requesting an abortion. The patriarchy is alive and well and still living in America. Forced motherhood has been the way of of patriarchy and dogmatic patriarchal religion for the millennia. It is the main way women have been subordinated to men throughout history. Remember how it was not very long ago. Margaret Sanger and others who spent their lives ensuring the health and safety of women and children had to struggle hard. They were steadfast and courageous. Their work is not yet done. Feminism, too, is alive and well, and growing. If the women’s movement (around the world) stands for nothing else, it stands for the freedom of women to choose whether to have sex, whether to become pregnant, and whether to have a baby, or not. What I’m offering is a deep, earth-oriented perspective. Women have been the arbiters of human life on earth as long as there have been humans. Earth is where we live and what we are, and it is through our bodies, the body of Earth, that life renews itself. Renewal comes through life dying into and giving birth to itself, which includes women’s choices to turn back some pregnancies. Renewal and growth occur on all levels—physical, psychological, mental, and spiritual. Human consciousness is by its nature a consciousness of choice because it is a consciousness of awareness and responsibility. The intrinsic power of women to mediate between life and death is a defining aspect of Earth’s way of balancing life. Abortion helps us learn both individually and collectively how to care consciously for the Earth and All Life. Each of the above ideas is part of a holistic perspective about pregnancy choice making. I will share these concepts and more during the Life Choices west coast tour in March. I’ll be in San Francisco at Modern Times Bookstore, Ukiah for private meetings, Ashland at Bloomsbury Books, Portland at In Other Words, Seattle at Elliot Bay Book Company, and Bellingham at Village Books. Click here for more...
Read MoreLife Choices: The Teachings of Abortion-Talking About the Book
Life Choices is taking me on quite a journey. Ideas I’ve been living with for most of my life are now out there in the world making their way into the wider conversation. It’s exciting and gratifying to say the least. My talk and signing in Denver at the Tattered Cover bookstore went well. What an honor to have been invited to that famous place! I loved the conversation with the people who came. Someone asked me about the “pinching of the leaves to let the mother plant grow,” which is the defining statement of Life Choices and was the impetus for me to write the book in the first place. Someone else asked about how spiritual healing happens around abortion experiences. Another person asked me to discuss the connection between nature and consciousness, in other words, why it’s important to spend time in the woods! Finally, another big piece was a question about how to stop the meanest most violent attacks against women’s health services and needs. We talked about all these and more. Heady stuff I know, but it’s all good. I’ll start with the last one first. The main way I know to deal with the virulence of the movement against women’s health needs is to remain active, educated and strong ourselves and never forget how complicated and deep the issues are. Reproductive and sexual freedom goes against the power of patriarchy. The whole idea of women’s freedom is new from a historical point of view. The idea that a woman is an individual apart from her relationship with a man or men is still completely unacceptable in many parts of the world. Narrow religious views that limit the freedom of individuals are still dominant in certain circles. I think it’s best to cultivate compassion in relation to the ignorance and fear that drives the thinking of many anti-choice people. Because the politics is absurd and baffling as well as dangerous and infuriating, we have to remember what is true and real about women’s lives. In other words, stay true to real life. Lastly, each of us has to take good care of ourselves. Moving on to nature and consciousness. A huge subject. The person who asked the question was asking me to explain the value of spending time alone in wild nature; basically, what happens out there? I responded that when you set an intention to spend time in the company of more-than-human nature and to be outnumbered by non-human life forms—animals, plants, and other earth bodies—you will find as you open to their way of being and relax yours, that there is a flow of life force through everything and a natural communication that mirrors your essence and helps you to know yourself better and understand what you are doing here on the planet. There is much more I could say of course, but that’s it in a nutshell. If you are grappling with an unresolved issue in your life such as a crisis pregnancy, you will find a level of support there that you can’t find anywhere else. My approach to spiritual healing after an abortion depends on the person seeking the healing. If someone has a religious affiliation, I encourage her to go talk with someone in her group. If that is not possible, or even if it is, I proceed in counseling by asking a lot of questions to help the person explore her belief system and conflicts she might be experiencing about having decided to have an abortion. For anyone, whether she has a religious affiliation or is independent of religion, or someone who...
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