A Wiccan Speaks on Abortion and the Wiccan Rede
Find Out the View of One Wiccan on Abortion & What Stance the Rede Supports
However, "Live ye must, and let to live" has another meaning. It also means that we must not govern how others live. You cannot tell others what to do with their lives and their bodies. You can only make your own choices. You can only decide what is right or wrong for you. As a Wiccan, you must allow everyone else in the world to do the same. Wiccans do not usually believing in taking free will from others. I therefore feel that abortion must remain legal.
I would not have an abortion unless my life were in danger. If in such a situation, I did nothing and died as a result, would that not be suicide? I would do less harm by allowing one life, my child, to be taken than by allowing both lives to end. We cannot chose to never do harm, for we must take life to live. We can, however, chose to do as little harm as possible. I must also contemplate the effects of my actions on others, like my family. I must set a good example for and take as little as possible and from others.
Despite my respect for life, I do want abortion kept legal. I would never encourage a woman to have an abortion, unless her life were in danger. I would try to discourage her from it and urge her to consider other options. However, it is not my place to decide what is morally right for all of mankind--only myself. I could only give advice, not make the decision for her or take it away from her. The same would be true even of my own child. I have to show others the same courtesy I'd want by not dictating their actions.
In the first months of pregnancy, I consider a baby to be part of its mother. Without her life, the child cannot have life. Once it is removed from the womb, and its tie to her severed, the child will lose its life. The mother and child are two separate entities sharing the same life. I therefore feel that in those early months, when a woman chooses abortion, she is making a choice about her own body. During that time period I don't feel its right for me, as a Wiccan, to support legislation that would take her choice away.
However, it's a different story when the baby is past about 23 weeks gestation. At this point, the child has a chance at survival outside of the womb--though a small one. Now two separate lives are involved in the decision. While I don't believe in dictating what others do with their own lives and bodies, I do believe in preventing them from doing harm to another life force. Would I not be doing harm if I did permit it? A mother who aborts at this point is no longer assaulting only her own body.
Still, she needs to have a choice even then. It would be against my philosophy as a Wiccan to stop her from removing the child from her own body. She has the right to do as she wants with her body--but not with another child. She has no right to have the child killed on the way out or to allow it to die once born. The child cannot yet consent, but that does not mean the child should not still have a choice. I happen to think, given a choice, an infant would want to live--not be killed so the mother can feel good about her choice.
I therefore believe that partial-birth abortion should be banned, but there should be an alternative. If the mother really does not want to be pregnant once the fetus is viable outside of the womb, she should be allowed to deliver the child premature. This gives her a choice about her body while still respecting the separate and equal life of the baby. The choice about that other life is not hers to make, especially if she doesn't want the child anyway. While premature birth causes problems for infants and can result in their not surviving, it at least gives them a chance at life--rather than stealing their chance completely.
I believe this is a good compromise between choice and life. Let the mother have the choice not to be pregnant while still respecting the life of the child. Many infants can and will survive with NICU treatment, and premature birth is no more dangerous or time-consuming for the woman than partial-birth abortion. We'll save lives while still respecting choice, and that to me fits my interpretation of the Wiccan Rede. It is possible to strike a balance.
As a Pagan, I believe in harming none--or at least doing as little harm as possible. I also don't believe in governing the lives of others--until their rights are infringing on the rights or lives of others. I think abortion is morally wrong and would not get one, except if my life were in danger. Yet I believe it must stay legal, because everyone has the right to decide for themselves. I do, however, support legislation banning partial-birth abortion. I believe the mom has only the right to remove the child from her body--not harm the child.
My beliefs are rooted in the Wiccan Rede, but other Wiccans may feel differently. We all have our own interpretation of the Rede, which is more a set of guidelines than actual laws. This is the one that makes sense to me. I am a Wiccan/Pagan. I am morally pro-life, politically pro-choice. Moreover, I'm against partial birth abortion and for an alternative: premature birth. (It is after all what we do in situations where the mother does want the child but cannot continue the pregnancy.) At least that way the infant has a chance at life, while the mother has a choice.
There are ways to decrease the number of abortions performed without making it illegal. For example, we could educate our young men and women about sexual reproduction and contraception. We could make contraception more accessible to all people. We could educate people about fetal development, teaching them how soon a baby's heart starts beating and so on so that they would understand that fetuses really are babies. We could also make keeping the baby an option for more women by teaching people that life doesn't end when a child is born, even if you're young. By providing more support to young parents, from advice, parenting classes, to financial help and daycare, we could make them less likely to chose abortion. By educating them about adoption, dispelling the myths that it negatively affects children (when it does not!), and letting them know that it costs nothing for them but would mean so much to the adoptive family, we could make that option more appealing than abortion. By educating people, providing more resources, and making other options more doable, we could decrease the frequency of abortion. We could do this without taking away choice.
This, to me, goes along best with the Rede. As a Wiccan I should want to do as little harm as possible. I must respect life but also choice. You don't have to be pro-life or pro-choice. There is a place in between the two where one can peacefully dwell. As Wiccans, we strive to maintain balance in our lives. This is an issue where it is possible to find a balance. You don't have to favor choice over life or life over choice. You can respect both, and I believe that I do. My beliefs may change as time goes by. Life is fluid, and my mind is open.
Published by Heather B.
I'm young single mother of two boys, a liberal Democrat, and a born again Pagan witch for nearly 14 years. I write about natural family living, pregnancy, homebirth, attachment parenting, and religion or pol... View profile
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- My interpretation of the Wiccan Rede tells me that abortion is morally wrong.
- It also tells me that dictating others' actions is not a good idea either.
- I am morally pro-life, politically pro-choice.
43 Comments
Post a CommentI fully agree with the adoption option you suggested and have thought of that as an excellent option for many years. As for the premature birth option, true "Many infants can and will survive with NICU treatment...", the objection will be raised - not by myself - as to who pays for this? I am just stating what others will say, while I agree that this is a good option. Unfortunately governments and beurocracies seem at times to place the bottom line before common sense. This leads to the conundrum, or perhaps better the oxymoron, of so-called "medical ethics". I applaud you for your balanced stance, excellent arguments, respect for life and not allowing your personal religious/spiritual beliefs/rights to impinge upon the rights of others.
If you can't refrain from making arguments designed only to be graphic for shock value & to insinuate that people who are pro-choice are cruel, don't care about babies, etc., I will start deleting your posts. If you will make some logical arguments, free of insults (even insinuated ones) I'll be happy to continue debating this with you. You will not, however, succeed in convincing me that Wicca is not compatible with abortion. Wicca is not compatible with taking away the free will of others, with forcing a 12 year-old girl to endure a pregnancy, labor, and birth that may kill her, or with forcing a mother to carry to term a fetus who has no brain and will never, ever have any semblance of quality of life and may not even get the healthcare it needs to survive if its parents are poor (and don't rail on about adoption. It is incredibly difficult to find someone willing to adopt a handicapped child--something I intend to do later in life, when I have a larger home)
Respecting life doesn't mean allowing everything to live under any circumstances. You can interpret "Harm none" to mean whatever you like, but you are applying it only to the fetus & not to the mother or her family--which is hypocritical. I interpet it to mean: do as little harm as possible. I also follow "Live and let live" which indicates we should not take free will or choice away from others, and we certainly shouldn't force women to be human incubators because we have decided the baby's life is always more important than the mother's life, personal autonomy, & free will. I disagree entirely with using abortion as birth control, but I can't deprive women of the right to make that choice in early pregnancy. Fortunately, neither can you, as society so far doesn't agree with you enough to place a full ban on abortion.
Gabriel, you're talking about partial-birth abortion, which is illegal and which I express my disdain for in the article. Most abortions are performed in the first trimester and are nowhere near that brutal. Abortion has nothing to do with the cuteness of babies and everything to do with the circumstances of the pregnancy. Women have the right up until a certain point to terminate a pregnancy and is currently not illegal; therefore, comparing it to murder (which is and has always been illegal) is nonsensical. It is the woman's choice up until the point the fetus is viable outside of the womb. We respect life in all its forms and we respect the Earth, but we also respect the right of everyone to think and choose for themselves. Wicca is NEVER about forcing someone to do something against their will.
see, thats the problem with society, because we are willing to accept everyone's morals. thats why killing goes on everyday and people don't really care unless it affects them. you believe it is the woman's choice, correct? well what about the millions of women who were brutally murdered last year? had their arms and legs sucked out of a uterus while their head were removed with forceps? those were women who should have had a choice. and there is no canon in wiccan law. it is the fundamental principle that we respect life in all its forms and that we respect the earth. do you agree with the killing of animals at punds or shelters, because many wiccans believe that killing animals is evil but when the issue of abortion comes up, the babies arent cute yet, so its ok to kill them.
A simple Google search of "Wicca and abortion" yields the following results, which all claim that opinions on abortion vary amongst individual Wiccans: http://the-goddess.org/blog/2004/04/why-abortion-should-be-free.html ; http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/contemporaryissues/a/Abortion.htm ; http://www.angelfire.com/nv/scharff/wicca.html ; http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090725172329AAdnDuZ ; http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1399938 (You could learn something from that last one) Now those are just the top search results...maybe you could provide me with a link demonstrating your claim that most traditions of Wicca have some "cannon" about abortion that states it is always an evil. Because I've never seen such a thing. Abortion isn't even mentioned in the 13 Principles of Wiccan Belief which are generally accepted: http://www.controverscial.com/The%2013%20Principles%20of%20Wiccan%20Belief.htm I'd love to see some proof of your claims about how I'm disrespecting Wicca.
I find it disturbing that you would require a woman to go through pregnancy and childbirth to deliver a child who will not have a cerebellum or cerebrum. That should be HER choice, as to whether to endure the risks to bring a child into the world that she may have absolutely no way of caring for. It may even be against her own morals, which are just as important as yours. Everyone makes different choices, and you don't have the right to take them away...much less to judge others who are walking in shoes that are way too big for you, and will probably never slide onto your feet anyway.
--don't mean anything to me. Good for you in being so clear in your convictions; now learn to live your life without casting judgement on others, unless you're aiming NOT to live harmoniously with those with whom you must share this world. I have the right to whatever opinion I have on abortion, as do you. I don't consider a 12-week-old fetus, incapable of surviving outside of the womb, to be "alive" in the same capacity as a 10 year old or later-term fetus. And a woman surely is under no obligation to be a vessel for something simply because it cannot exist outside of her womb. Women aren't walking incubators.
Gabriel, don't presume to tell me what I would and wouldn't do; I never stated anything you claim, so don't put words in my mouth. I exude feminism because I'm a feminist; if you had studied feminism at all, rather than listen only to the way the media paints it, you'd understand that it is still quite relevant to life in our world and that women are STILL not equal. We disagree on abortion, but the Rede says: live and let live. This means everyone gets to make their own choice, even if it does mean you consider them close-minded or whatever else. That your parents are high priest/priestesses doesn't mean that your words (or theirs) have more value than anyone elses, and it is absolutely untrue that each tradition of Wicca completely goes against what I'm saying. Most traditions of Wicca do not have official viewpoints on topics such as gay marriage or abortion. I'm an eclectic solitaire who has been practicing about as long as you've been alive...so your "Gardnerian ancestral relation
i am a wiccan, and not one of the teen witches that dabble. my mom is a high priestess and my father is a high priest and i have ancestral relations to original members of the gardnerian tradition and have current family members who practice eclectically. each tradition of wicca commpletely goes against what you are saying and you disrespect the very title you attempt to utilize.