OUR VIEW: Abortion is not a black-and-white issue

For years, marketers have labored to condense the essence of the brands they represent to short slogans and eye-catching icons. One might think a similar approach wouldn’t apply as well to complex moral questions, but over time politicians and journalists boiled away discussion on the issue of abortion until two main descriptors remained: pro-life and pro-choice.

These two poles leave so much middle ground uncovered. Is someone who supports the option of abortion only when pregnancy resulted from rape or incest considered pro-choice? What about someone who says he or she is pro-choice but doesn’t support late-term abortions? Abortion seems simple when represented by catchphrases, but a number of factors beneath the surface make it much more complex. What if carrying the child to full term endangered the mother’s life?

The question, “Where do you stand on abortion?” shouldn’t be answered in two words. It often is, however, as people hide behind the pro-choice and pro-life labels.

Whether one believes the issue regards the death of an innocent being or the oppression of women through unjust regulation, it’s a topic that warrants serious thought.

Even the reply, “I haven’t decided yet,” is better than a pithy label, because at least it makes no pretense. The same advice applies to the labels Republican and Democrat — the organizations were never meant to embody a school of thought, but to help independent thinkers with a similarly bent coordinate of political action.

Instead of encouraging agreement within society on the topic of reproductive rights, the labels divide a diverse spectrum of thought into two camps, each seemingly homogeneous and venomously opposed to the other. The names themselves are veiled insults to anyone who thinks differently. If a person isn’t pro-life, he must be pro-death. If not pro-choice, one must be pro-force.