roe v wade and the Hikmah (wisdom) of Islam
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With the overturning of Roe v Wade on June 24th, the Supreme Court ruled that abortion bans are not constitutional. Individual states would now have the power to ban or limit abortions. Abortions will become illegal in about half of the states in the U.S. Healthcare professionals can be criminally charged for performing an abortion. Previously, in the 1973 ruling by the Supreme Court, abortions were declared a constitutional right. This overturning of the 1973 ruling, commonly known as Roe v Wade, by the Supreme Court, has since sparked a strong clash between both the opposing sides of the political spectrum and has been a matter of great debate and controversy. This article will shed light on the significance of this ruling, its impact, whether both sides on the political spectrum realize the root problem, and whether their proposed solutions are helpful to the masses. From this analysis, it will be shown how both the left and right are lacking in their identification of the root problem and subsequently their proposed solutions. This will elucidate for us a Hikmah (wisdom) of Islam that Muslims ought to be grateful for and non-Muslims should perhaps consider.
Norma McCorvey, under the pseudonym “Jane Roe”, was the original
plaintiff in the Roe v Wade case that went to the Supreme Court in 1973. McCorvey
became a mother at sixteen, giving away her first child to her mother and placing
her second child up for adoption. During her third pregnancy, she wanted an
abortion but was prohibited by Texas law. In the 1970s in Texas, people could
only receive an abortion if the pregnant person’s life was at risk. A ruling
similar to that of Islam, depending on the period of pregnancy. Together with
her lawyers, McCorvey took her case to the Supreme Court in a class-action
lawsuit against the district attorney of Dallas County, Henry Wade. On February
26, 1973, Roe won the case, and the Supreme Court ruled that abortions were a
constitutional right. The ruling would allow people to get abortions
during the first trimester "free of interference by the State."
But now, the 1973 ruling having been overturned, what does it entail?
Now that abortion laws are no longer regulated by the federal government, it's
up to individual states to determine if abortion is legal or not. Without
federal protection, some states will ban abortion immediately, or a law that
goes into effect automatically. Each state will define what constitutes a
viable pregnancy and when a pregnancy can be terminated. States like Texas and
South Carolina have a heartbeat bill, which says a woman cannot receive an
abortion after a heartbeat is detected, or six weeks gestation.
If we look at the statistics of the rates of abortion in the U.S
for the past fifty years, it is evidenced through the following graph.
American women have abortions with similar frequency to women
living in other developed nations. The bulk of abortion patients is in
their 20s.
Within the age group of the 20s, it is not surprising that most of
the abortions were performed because it was unwanted or because of the unaffordability
of the baby.
All of these statics perhaps show why there is such a huge outcry
over the overturning of Roe v Wade. The Guttmacher Institute estimates almost
930,160 abortions in 2020.
For the people on the left end of the political spectrum, these
statistics show a dire need for abortion and the “burden” that this new ruling
has placed on women. According to people on the left, if a state rules out
abortion partially or entirely, it would not stop the reality of women needing an
abortion. It would only open up the pathway to more unsafe and illegal abortions.
Perhaps people on the left argue in support of this claim by presenting the
statistics on abortion before the 1973 ruling making abortion a constitutional
right. According to the Guttmacher Institute, in the 1930s, 1 in 5 maternal
deaths was due to unsafe abortion. Illegal abortions were the cause of 17% of
maternal deaths in 1965.
Contrary to this, the same statistics are interpreted by those on
the right end of the political spectrum, also referred to as pro-lifers, in a
way that, for them, shows the horrendous situation of the non-sanctity of life
in the U.S. Taking their values from Judaea-Christian texts, the people on the
right argue for the right to life for every human being and assert that a fetus
is a distinct life from the mother and deserves its right to life irrespective
of the bodily autonomy of the mother. For many of these people, abortion becomes
impermissible from the time of conception. Most also argue against abortion due
to incest or even rape. A stark difference with Islam’s ruling on abortions. Against
the arguments presented by those on the left, the people on this side stand
unmoved even for women wanting an abortion who are in universities and
dependent on financial loans.
Due to these staunch stances on both ends of the political
spectrum, hardly anyone is willing to sit together and bridge the gap between themselves.
The solutions presented by both sides seem to miss out on the real root cause
of the problem and hence polarize the political situation in the west even
further. They end up being unable to address the real implications of their
presented solutions. For those on the right, their solutions seem to be inconsiderate
of the situation of many of these young women who are still dependent on financial
loans and can barely be independent themselves let alone bring into the world a
life dependent on them. It is the reason why often those on the left argue against
those who have an anti-abortion stance by calling them financially “privileged”
to hold such a stance. For the left, the sanctity of life seems to have no
meaning. They’d demand an abortion even just hours before delivery let alone
throughout the months. Just because abortion was made lawful through constitutional
protection, it did not mean that murder suddenly became “morally acceptable”,
even if it was acceptable in law. Unprotected sex and the prevalence of sex
outside marriage after the sexual revolution in the 60-70s led to the killing of
babies. And this is precisely where the beautiful Hikmah (wisdom) of our
religion is made manifest.
What both ends of the political spectrum fail to see is the root
cause of the problem and hence the solutions they provide are devoid of
addressing it. The main reason why this issue is as polarized as much as it is
today is for one reason primarily. Which are: sexual promiscuity and Zina
(sex outside marriage). For those on the left, they want to have the full bodily
autonomy to engage in sexual acts whenever they wish, unmoved by the
consequences of it, the worst of which is pregnancy but which they can abort. Instead
of addressing the prevalence of Zina and sexual deviancy, the left indulges
and advocates for abortion. Zina has led them to the murder of babies. The
right on the other hand, also instead of addressing the prevalence of Zina
recourses to a stance of abortion, inherited from biblical texts, that
prohibits abortion absolutely in every case regardless of the period of
abortion. The left’s concern of young women not being able to afford babies is valid
and a genuine concern but the right brushes it off by emphasizing the right to
life and not instead speaking against Zina that brought them to this
situation in the first place.
Islam, being the one true religion, for this very reason prohibited
sexual deviancy and Zina. The God of Islam knew why the prevalence of
Zina, and the resulting abortions, would not just be an individual sin and
evil, but sin and evil for the collective life of any society. This hidden yet
manifest Hikmah of Islam is made apparent from the consequences that are
brought about from the very things it has prohibited i.e., Zina. It is,
hence, apparent that there is goodness in the restrictions placed by God.
Restrictions that, if broken, manifest themselves in the form of social evils.
May Allah make us grateful for not just His innumerable blessings
but also the restrictions He has put in place for us. May He guide people to
see the hidden pearls of wisdom behind His divine injunctions. May the turner
of hearts turn the hearts of the non-Muslims towards Islam and the life-giving
solutions it presents in its commands and prohibitions. Ameen.
References
Bauer, P. (2022, June 24). Norma
McCorvey American activist. Retrieved from Britannica:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Norma-McCorvey
GUTTMACHER INSTITUTE. (2003, March 1). Lessons
from Before Roe: Will Past be Prologue? Retrieved from GUTTMACHER
INSTITUTE:
https://www.guttmacher.org/gpr/2003/03/lessons-roe-will-past-be-prologue
GUTTMACHER INSTITUTE. (2005, September). Reasons
U.S. Women Have Abortions: Quantitative and Qualitative Perspectives.
Retrieved from GUTTMACHER INSTITUTE:
https://www.guttmacher.org/journals/psrh/2005/reasons-us-women-have-abortions-quantitative-and-qualitative-perspectives
GUTTMACHER INSTITUTE. (2017). Induced
Abortion in the United States. Retrieved from GUTTMACHER INSTITUTE:
https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/induced-abortion-united-states#
Jean, J. Y. (2021, October 13). Nurses
Respond to Texas Abortion Law SB8. Retrieved from NurseJournal:
https://nursejournal.org/articles/nurses-respond-to-texas-abortion-law/
Students for Life. (2019, October). "You're
Privileged As Hell" l Kristan Hawkins - Make Abortion Illegal Again
Campus Tour. Retrieved from Students for Life:
https://youtu.be/54pVK8tkRlE
Wikipedia. (2022). Abortion statistics
in the United States. Retrieved from Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_statistics_in_the_United_States#cite_note-Guttmacher_2020-5
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