English Class, Part II

*NOTE: This post is on a very sensitive subject, same as the previous post, and also brings in more of a religious aspect. I do not wish or mean to offend any with what I may say. But if you feel up to reading, I would really appreciate your thoughts.

Alright. I would not be writing another post on this same topic if it weren't for my teacher bringing up another point in class that really left me thinking. It was strong enough to uproot my previous standing. Not throw it out, but uproot it and take a look at the reasons why I believe the way I do. 

In the beginning of class, the discussion topic hadn't changed. We were still arguing the same idea: People shouldn't call abortion murder. There were a few people in my class getting upset and rather heated about the debate. I sat quietly and observed. That's just what I do. Unless I have a solid, strong opinion that I know will never be swayed and I am confident that I have backing to prove my point, then I sit quietly, absorb what's being said, and think it all through. 

When it came down to the last twenty minutes of class, my professor put his hands up and said, "Now class, I am going to make my very last point. And of course, I save my strongest point for last." This perked my interest, because thus far in the class I had not been convinced to not call abortion murder. My professor continued to give us this hypothetical situation:

"There are two women in their late 40's that are living together in California. They are good friends who were both single and decided to rent a house together solely for economic reasons. A pair of LDS missionaries knocks their door, and the women open themselves up to the message and take the discussions. Not too much time passes and they are presented with the challenge to be baptized. They both accepted.
"In their baptism interviews, they both were asked about any serious issues or grievances that were bothering them, that made them feel like maybe they weren't ready to be baptized. Woman #1 said, 'Yes. I was married once. I got married at the young age of 19. I was in love. Not too long after we were married I got pregnant. My husband and I were both in college, we were poor, we were scraping to get by, and so we sat down and decided to abort the baby. I cannot express to you the difficult time I have had over that decision. I feel so incredibly horrible about what I did, and I wish I could go back and undo my decision. It wasn't long after that my husband and I got a divorce. I hate the decision we made to abort our baby.'
"Woman #2, when asked about serious issues responded with this, 'You know, I got married really young. My husband and I were happy, but we were devastatingly poor. Barely making it by financially, no food on the shelves, and a dump of an apartment. So I got this idea that if I killed my husband and got the money from the insurance policy then life would be grand. So, I killed him. But I got caught and received a 60 year sentence. I was 20 years old. I served 25 years of it, and have been out on parole for four years now."

My professor stopped his story there, and the classroom was silent. He looked at us all and asked us this question: "Now, who do you think will be able to be baptized?"  

There was no hesitation in the room as people quietly said, "The first woman." My professor then asked us to consider why she would be able to be baptized but not the second woman, when they had both committed "murder" at the same time in their lives? The second woman would have to wait until her parole was over to even be able to think about the possibility of being baptized. But the first woman would be able to be baptized very soon. 

That hypothetical situation shook me. In the Church we treat the two things differently. Abortion and murder are both sinful, extremely sinful. But the woman who had aborted her baby would not undergo such rigorous obstacles on her path to baptism. So why are they treated differently? Is it because abortion is not considered as serious of a sin as murder? That's what my professor thinks. He believes that there are varying degrees of severity with abortion. An earlier one is not as severely punished as a later one, just as there are different degrees of murder. But, he made it clear that he does not think abortion should be called murder because the punishments and the repercussions of the two things are different.

I don't know what to think. I know that in my personal beliefs abortion is something that I will never consider unless put into a very rare and tragic situation. But whether or not I will continue to call it murder? ...I'm not sure. 

At the end of class, my professor asked those of us who could agree with him on the idea that abortion should not be called murder to raise our hands. My hand stayed on my desk. Simply because I don't know yet. I still have to think everything through. It will probably be a little bit longer before I can choose for sure whether to raise my hand or not.