Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Socrates Against Abortion

An initiative to pass an anti-abortion law this past week in Mississippi was shot by pro-life and pro-choice voters. The law would have prevented abortions state-wide including those of rape victims; this particular ramification of the new law even had pro-life advocates rethinking their vote. So I began to examine my views on the subject. Rape is a horrible thing. If the woman happened to conceive and give birth, that child would be a constant reminder of the event.

It occurred to me as I was watching the 180 movie that Socrates would be against abortion under any circumstance, even that of rape. Socrates recognized that he was responsible for the condition of his own soul, and no one else's. Likewise, whoever rapes a woman is responsible for his sin but if the woman conceives she is responsible for how she deals with it. If she aborts the baby then she has maimed her soul.

In Socrates' day, when people were sentenced to death they were strapped down and forced to drink hemlock (poison). Socrates was sentenced to death by the state but instead of resisting and having to be strapped down, Socrates voluntarily took the cup from the guard and drank it. He did this so that the guard would not have a stain on his moral soul.

Your soul is the most important part of you and you are it's guardian. Regardless of what anyone else does to you that person cannot hurt your soul... Only you can. As I was listening to NPR they featured a veteran who wrote a book about the horrors of war. He said something to the effect of this: "There is no denying that there is a deeper part to a person. You can deny it but there is soul. Because when you kill it hurts your soul".

If you are struggling with this issue please watch the 180 movie

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3 comments:

  1. I love that cartoon. I will look into the 180 movie. I like this statement: Your soul is the most important part of you and you are it's guardian. I want to ponder that more deeply. Just this week I was preparing a few words on this topic (life/abortion) but from a different perspective for an upcoming post. I also like the quote from the Vet on NPR- I would like to know the book name. Much to ponder, Ben.

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  2. Well said. I used to be pro-choice but I now believe that to be the wrong choice. The quote from the veteran is very thought provoking... It would be interesting to see if other ex-soldiers share the same sentiment. Worthy of some research methinks..

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  3. Mark and Dawn; Thank you for sharing your thoughts and dropping by to read

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