When Life Begins (TW: abortion, rape, incest)
By Delilah van Tol
The topic of abortion has always been a sensitive topic, which has been generating heated debate. Many questions arise while discussing this topic, especially with countries, or certain parts of countries, where abortion becomes illegal following a long era of legality.. Furthermore, it should be highlighted that there are countries where abortion remains in the sphere of legality but numerous procedural obstacles are added for women to complete this step. For example, in the state of Texas in the United States of America abortion is legal only during the first six weeks. There is only an exception when there is a medical issue, which means that there is no exception when a woman is a victim of rape and being impregnated, which also includes the cases of incest.[1] One of the crucial questions that arise in the context of the abortion saga is teh following one: When does life begin?
In Texas, it was decided that life begins when the first heartbeats occur, which would be around six weeks.[2] But, often in practice, women do not know they are pregnant before the sixth week, and besides that, 45-49% of pregnancies are not planned.[3] They do not expect to be pregnant and might not be tested on time. Nevertheless, even when a woman is tested on time, a pregnancy test works (generally) after five-to-six weeks. Making an appointment with the doctor can take up to a couple of weeks, and it would be too late to consider an abortion. Furthermore, periods are unpredictable, and lack of appropriate relevant education is often the cause of (young) women not understanding their bodies and their menstruation cycle.[4]
The United States Supreme Court sought to resolve the abortion debate by striking a balance between a state’s right to protect fetal life and the right of a woman to have legal access to abortion. The question is how to reach the sensitive equilibrium between two conflicting rights, the one supporter of the pro-life right on the one hand and the pro-choice right on the other hand,
In the USA we observe the use of mediation in this balancing exercise. In the first steps of the research conducted informal mediations were held. The rationale behind it was to establish an initial theory of why Americans disagree when it comes to the abortion debate.[5] Later on, group mediation was conducted.[6]
The results from the empirical surveys mentioned above show that pro-choice participants were more willing to compromise with the pro-life party than the other way around.[7]
Nevertheless, as we know by now, mediation is not binding and the Court ruled in Texas that life begins when the first heartbeat can be heard on the ultra-sound. It’s high time we reflected on how mediation could really promote a sensitive balancing between the rights at stake.
[1] Shannon Najmabadi ‘Gov Greg Abbott signs into law one of nation’s strictest abortion measures, banning procedure as early as six weeks into a pregnancy’ (Texas legislature 2021, May 19 2021) < https://www.texastribune.org/2021/05/18/texas-heartbeat-bill-abortions-law/> Accessed on 17-09-2021
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Jessica Ravitz, ‘Reasons a women may not know she’s pregnant at six weeks’ (CNN, May 9 2019) < https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/09/health/pregnancy-at-six-weeks/index.html> Accessed on 17-09-2021
[5] Robinson, R. J., Keltner, D., Ward, A., & Ross, L. (1995). Actual versus assumed differences in construal: “Naïve realism” in intergroup perception and conflict. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, Chapter 4.
[6] Robinson, R. J., Keltner, D., Ward, A., & Ross, L. (1995). Actual versus assumed differences in construal: “Naïve realism” in intergroup perception and conflict. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, Chapter 6.
[7] Nyhan, B. & Reifler, J. (2010). When Corrections Fail: The Persistence of Political Misperceptions. Political Behavior 32(2):303–330.