Abortion
Reproduction is a Choice
|
The Church of Reality recognizes the absolute right of a woman to choose if she will reproduce or not. Reproduction is one of the most important choices a woman has to make and she cannot be forced to have children that she doesn't want to have. The Church of Reality considers reproduction to be one of the most fundamental personal freedoms a person can have and it is just plain wrong to take that choice away and impose the will of other people upon the individual who is pregnant.
Realist women have an absolute right to contraception and abortion services.
A woman must be able to choose to get an abortion for any reason or for no reason at all other than she chooses not to reproduce. A woman must be able to have access to all forms of contraception in order to control her reproduction. Church of Reality women are entitled to emergency contraceptive services in hospitals to prevent pregnancy in cases of rape or any other condition where emergency contraception is required.
We're not going to solve the overpopulation problem by forcing women to reproduce against their will.
In order to have a well functioning society where reality can be fully explored we have to take control and manage when we choose to reproduce. We humans are biologically programmed through evolution with more sexual desire than is necessary to maintain a healthy population. In fact this planet is overpopulated. We humans need to drastically reduce our collective reproduction rate and lower the population of the planet to a sustainable level. The first and obvious step in that direction is to allow women to terminate unwanted pregnancies. That way women can reproduce when they choose to and are ready to raise children.
My life - my choice. Even if it's the wrong choice it is my choice to make.
But on a more fundamental level we Realists are a culture of Self Ownership where every individual is writing their own Life Story. It's our lives and our choice. Even if it is the wrong choice it is our wrong choice to make. It is our religious assertion that no government or other religion has the right to impose their religious standards upon us and infringe on our religious liberties to fully control our reproductive choices.
Medicine is about the rights and health of the patient, not the religious views of the doctor or the religious organization that owns the hospital.
If a doctor, for example has a problem providing contraceptive services or abortion services then that person should not be in a position to deny services to Realists who require them. Medicine is all about the patient, not the doctor, and the rights, choices, and needs of the patient trump those of the doctor. Just as it would be ridiculous for a doctor who can't work on the Sabbath staff an emergency room on the Sabbath; a doctor who is religiously against blood transfusions should not staff emergency rooms serving people who need blood; and a doctor who doesn't believe in contraception should not have the right to deny emergency contraception to women who have been raped and do not wish to become pregnant with the rapists baby.
|
The Church of Reality recognizes that a person's life begins at live birth. There are other religions that claim, "Life begins at Conception", but we are not one of those religions. It is clear to us, for example, that the two cells that create us are both alive before conception and therefore no new life is actually created at the moment of cellular fusion. After the cells fuse they have to implant onto the uterine wall. At that point the cells might split into two people creating identical twins, or just fail to grow due to some other flaw leading to miscarriage. Current technology allows fertilization to take place outside of a mother's body, so the idea that zygotes are human individuals is something we find ridiculous.
Technology creates fuzzy lines and we recognize that. But if you have to create some sort of hard line, that line would logically be live birth. There are circumstances however where the line can shift somewhat in some circumstances. There are sometimes reasons to consider the rights and needs of the pre born in order to help ensure their survival. There are times when a baby is born in a brain dead state and it is not really fully alive at the time of birth. These special circumstances are issues to be resolved by the medical community along with the mother and family that are involved. In spite of the fuzzy line however, in the Church of Reality a person becomes an individual officially when born alive.
|
|
Abortions should be performed as early in the pregnancy as possible with the burden to abort getting higher as the viability of the fetus develops. While the Church of Reality supports abortion for any reason in the early stages, as the time of birth approaches the fetus gets deep within the fuzzy line of live birth. The Church of Reality only supports late term abortion if it is medically necessary, and we leave it to medical experts to resolve what that constitutes.
|
|
Where a religious right can be asserted to override state law for religious reasons, the Church of Reality asserts the right to choose abortion as a fundamental practice of our religion. We reject the notion that society has the right to force women to bear children against their will. The choice of the individual to reproduce or not is a recognized religious right in the Church of Reality.
|
|
The Church of Reality does not in any way declare that abortion is wrong or immoral. We do not look at it as if it is a sin that we tolerate, or assign any negative connotation to. At worst, it might be a sign to try better birth control, but other than that, we do not even impose the burden of sin, shame, guilt, judgment, or acceptance as an immoral act. Abortion is not murder as other "fetus fetish" religions would have you believe. It is not how God punishes women for promiscuity.
|
|
If you're old enough to get pregnant you are old enough to make decisions about contraception and abortion.
Any woman who gets pregnant is considered to be old enough to choose to have an abortion if she so desires. Our position is that if you are old enough to get pregnant, you are old enough to decide to terminate the pregnancy. The decision to reproduce or not to reproduce has life altering consequences and even though it is a hard decision for anyone, especially a minor, to make, it is a matter of that the individual has to live with the consequences of that decision and it is therefore up to her to make that choice. If the choice is the wrong choice, it is still her wrong choice to make. If a girl is 10 years old and she's pregnant it's still her choice to make under Church of Reality doctrine.
|
|
Lifestyle of Realists 