Came across a thought-provoking (and sad) entry on the Get Religion blog , which is the place to go when you want to find out / discuss why newspeople can’t seem to report religion issues accurately…if they even report them.
In this post, Elizabeth Eisenstadt Evans ponders the questions being raised in a series of New York Times articles:
Anyone concerned about America’s fertility industry should ponder “21st Century Babies” being posted in installlments on the the New York Times website. Writer Stephanie Saul is doing an excellent job of revealing the moral dilemmas and, frankly, distress and suffering that may occur when potential parents decide to try in-vitro and intrauterine insemination.
As it turns out, the second NYT article in the series has to do with (*ahem*)… ’selective reduction’:
Generally speaking, Saul doesn’t mince words in delineating the awful choices that patients and doctors may have in balancing one life against others. Yet in that context is it is very odd that she places a few religious ideas so deep in her story that they almost seem to play lesser roles. And yet it is likely that they are actually quite important.
Sauls carefully notes that causing the death of some fetuses (any word choice can’t capture this) is “known as” selective reduction. But the pro-life movement, as Sauls comments later in the story, call the same procedure elective abortion. The words “selective reduction” dance in and out of quotes in a way that seems to signal either ambivalance or poor editing. And the fact that this procedure has ethical and religious implications should have been closer to the top.
Read E.E.Evans post–she raises important points regarding the issues vis à vis the ‘reporting job’, and then read the NYT series linked there. I was actually rather impressed with the NYTimes article–having a rather low opinion of the Grey Lady. But oh…did that article make my heart ache.
In our grief and inability to deny ourselves anything, to accept our individual suffering — in this case, fertility problems — we are climbing the Tower of Babylon. What happens when we try to take on God-like decision-making are these horrendous outcomes. For instance–trying at all costs to ‘bring life into this world’ leads to the death of four innocents. And no, this isn’t the same as any miscarriage. Woman was not built to carry 6 children in womb. She is a human, not a cat.
I am continually ashamed at the arrogant ideas of my youth (when I thought the Church wrong on its teachings of birth control, fertility issues, etc.) and equally amazed at the wisdom of the continuous teaching of the Magisterium. Thank you, Christ Jesus for giving us the Mother Church. Holy Spirit, continue to guide and protect her teachings.
God, have mercy on us….for we really don’t seem to know what we are doing.
Three in a casket.
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