Michael Jensen: Pro-life or choice, abortion nothing to celebrate

Can we not at least agree that abortion is tragic? The images of beaming and fist-pumping politicians and staffers in the Legislative Assembly recently seemed deeply at odds with what they had just achieved in passing the ­legalisation of abortion bill.

Can we not at least agree that abortion is tragic?

The images of beaming and fist-pumping politicians and staffers in the Legislative Assembly recently seemed deeply at odds with what they had just achieved in passing the ­legalisation of abortion bill. Because even those who are entirely pro-choice must recognise that abortion of a baby always ought to be the lesser of two evils. And “voice” in the instance of abortion ought to be governed by the reality that humanity is never ­simply disposable.

Which means that it is never a matter for applause, surely? The slogan “legal, safe, and rare” is an admission that fewer abortions is the goal — ­precisely because abortion is never anyone’s preference, all things being equal.

Supporters of legislation to decriminalise abortion in NSW cheer following it's successful passage through the NSW lower house. Picture: Supplied

I am (obviously) not a woman who has faced the choice of terminating a pregnancy, though as a pastor, I have listened to the stories of those who have.

But the tragedy of abortion has directly impacted my family. I discovered only a few years ago that I am the descendant of backyard abortionists, who were jailed in the 1900s for the manslaughter of a woman who came to them for help. My own grandmother was born in Long Bay Jail. Her grandmother was a woman known in 1890s Sydney as Nurse Sinclair. She operated out of a house in Paddington.

Michael Jensen.

This terrible story has brought home to me the real human cost of an unregulated abortion industry — and the way people like my own ancestors unscrupulously profiteered from it.

But what alarms me in the present debate is the failure — on both sides, I might add — to acknowledge how complex an issue abortion is, morally speaking. Those on the pro-life side must surely acknowledge that there may be circumstances in which an abortion is the best choice of the ­choices that are available.

But those on the pro-choice side, as far as my reading has shown, simply fail to engage in the debate about the ethics of abortion at all. They declare the debate over — and that’s that. ‘Choice’ is the concrete wall behind which any woman considering an abortion is placed.

“You choose,” we say. “It’s your choice.” But if this is one of the greatest ethical puzzles of all time, then how can we expect the ordinary individual to be equipped to choose? Especially if we recognise that the choice is one of harm or harm? How does one possibly adjust for future grief and regret? How can we ensure that undue ­pressure of a spouse or partner or a parent has not been brought to bear?

That’s why I think recognition of the tragic nature of moral deliberation in a fallen world is imperative. Which for Christians means not denying the tragedy, but recognising that in the gospel, tragedy is not absolute.

Much as the Christian church, with respect and humility, must say no to abortion, it must do so with the ­determination to be the kind of community into which children may be born with joy and acceptance, and their mothers supported and honoured, and not shamed.

I have to say, I think this happens far more than is acknowledged, but less than is necessary. We know that forgiveness is the path out of our ­tragedy — and so we need to be that healing, resurrectional power.

Michael Jensen is an author, lecturer, and rector of St Mark’s Church, Darling Point.