ANALYSIS OF "THE SOCIOLOGICALLY EXAMINED LIFE (part 10)

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Analyzing Moral Problems

by

Charles Lamson

The need to be sociologically mindful of interconnectedness increases when the problem at hand evokes strong feelings. Abortion is a good example. To see the point Michael Schwalbe tries to make in his book, The Sociologically Examined Life (2001), he assures the reader that, "It will help if you can set aside, for a time, your feelings about this issue. Try to shift into an analytic frame of mind."

Opponents of abortion believe that a fetus is an unborn child, and that abortion is akin to murder. Others believe that until a fetus can survive outside the womb, it is part of a woman's body. In this view, abortion is the exercise of a woman's right to dominion over her body and her life. A point that is often missed is that abortion is not just about the rights of individual women to control their bodies. If we are mindful of how society works, we can see that there is more at stake: Restricting abortion makes it unlikely that women will ever achieve equality with men

If women are forced to be mothers, they cannot compete as equals with men, who need never worry that pregnancy, or the obligation to care for a child, will impede their striving for success in work and politics. It is Schwalbe's contention that:

A lack of freedom to decide whether to give birth and care for children, puts women at a disadvantage. Forcing women to be mothers by restricting abortion, also reinforces the idea that being a mother is a woman's most important role, implying that it is best if women make babies and homes, rather than laws or economic policy

There is another connection to see here. If women cannot get safe and legal abortions, they will get them under unsafe conditions, risking injury and death. This has always been the case when abortion is restricted. What this means is that not only are women's wishes ignored, but also their safety, when abortion is restricted. Such a policy thus conveys messages about women's role and worth. It says, in effect, that women should not resist motherhood, and that women are less important to society than the fetuses they carry.

Denying women the opinion of ending a pregnancy is connected to inequality in anther way. A policy of restricting abortion implies that women are incapable of making wise choices in these personal matters of life and death that concern men, matters such as whether to wage wars and kill millions of fully grown people. Thus, restricting abortion not only impedes women's ability to compete with men, it also reinforces a the idea that women are not men's moral and intellectual equals when it comes to dealing with the vital affairs of society.

Perhaps this sounds like an argument for abortion. Not necessarily. It is an attempt to practice sociological mindfulness with regard to the abortion issue, so as to see more of what is at stake. This way of seeing does not inevitably lead to the conclusion that abortion is right. You might believe, for example, that abortion is an undesirable practice, because it reinforces a view of inconvenient life as disposable, and that such an attitude will have harmful consequences in the long run.

Differences in values may also lead to different conclusions. For example, you might believe that a zygote or a fetus deserves no less moral consideration than a fully grown woman, and that restricting women's freedom is a reasonable price to pay for protecting a fetus's right to life. If so, then you may think it is fine to restrict or outlaw abortion. But to arrive at any sound and responsible conclusions, either way, one must be mindful of the connections between abortion and women's freedom freedom and equality.

Sociological mindfulness can help us see more of what must be taken into account in seeking solutions to moral problems. This is mostly a matter of trying to see connections between our acts and their consequences in light of how the social world works. The example of abortion shows that being mindful in this way, requires a willingness to look with some detachment at how the social world works. This does not mean ignoring our hearts when making a moral judgement. It means also using our head.

*SOURCE: THE SOCIOLOGICALLY EXAMINED LIFE, 2ND EDITION, BY MICHAEL SCHWALBE, 2001, PGS. 31-33*

END