Embrace the Gray

In light of the debate surrounding the whole Komen/Planned Parenthood thing, I was "inspired" to read the Donum Vitae, to get a better feel for the full extent of the pro-life argument.  According to this text, I violated the rights and physical integrity of my baby who is due in 8 weeks, by virtue of the fact that he exists.  The fact that he exists is something for which the law should provide legal sanctions against me.  The Donum Vitae further states that my state's civil legislature should ensure that the morally illicit act that was the creation of this baby is prohibited by law.  In other words, not only should abortion be illegal, but so should IVF.  And if IVF were illegal, I would not be almost 32 weeks pregnant.

The Donum Vitae is a text that was written by Pope Benedict XVI in 1987 when he was a Cardinal.  A more recent text, the Dignitas Personae, was written in 2008, and affirms the statements found within the Donum Vitae.  According to the Dignitas Personae, the medical procedure that is required for my husband and I to ever have a biological child of our own is "intrinsically illicit."

This is what I mean when I talk about gray area.  The world is not black and white.  It is gray.  Just because I have a huge issue with the Donum Vitae, doesn't mean that I hold it against my friends who are Catholic and who believe in the teachings of the current Pope.  He may think that I have done something morally illicit by becoming pregnant in this manner, but that doesn't mean I think he's a bad person or everything else that he says or does is wrong.  Nor do I think that everyone who supports the Catholic church is bad, solely because their moral code may be different than mine.  But, theoretically, every single person who has ever tithed to the Catholic church has supported the notion that I should not be pregnant right now.

If I followed the Komen Foundation's lead, I would have to ignore all of the good things that the Catholic church does, and only focus on the fact that the current Pope, and thereby the church itself, thinks that my soon-to-be child should not exist.  I would not be able to be friends with anyone who supports the Catholic church financially.

But I believe that life is gray.  I believe that the world is gray.  I am thankful that it is gray, because a black and white world would be a very uncomfortable world to live in.

Embrace the gray.

(For anyone interested in the Donum Vitae, you can find it here.  The Dignitas Personae can be found here.)