Comments on: “The Case For Both Pro-Life And Pro-Choice”

By: Nyakio

Nyakio — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 04:15:15 +0000

Nice article Njoki!

Grace that is the best argument I have ever heard!

By: benji

benji — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 00:53:35 +0000

if the state is unable to provide sufficient options for mothers that will enable them tolive comfortable lives once the bay is born (free health care, education etc) what right does such a state have to dictate the mothers decision wether or not to keep the baby……i say, shut up and let the mother choose!!

By: r2d2

r2d2 — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 11:18:00 +0000

I have to come to the defense of the church, even though I am not really the evangelical type.

The church isn’t being hypocritical in what they do. The church, is simply stating what they believe in. Preaching and telling the masses what is true (what they believe to be the truth – as Grace says) is infact their mandate.

@ City girl – It is very true that people in the church also have abortions. But that really isn’t the point of discussion is it? The church basically tells you what is true. It is up to you to choose. Those members of the church as themselves human beings, and they can decide to turn away from the truth. So I don’t think analyzing their actions will be very fruitful. Even popes will sin sometimes.

@ Angela Kabari – I am interested in knowing how the conversation with your classmate concluded. Did you help her? You realize the girl is probably on a really fast road to serious trouble, right?

Lastly, @ Njoki Ngumi – I think that in the end, we cannot really sit on the fence and say I am neither here nor there. In the end, we will all need to take responsibility. I imagine at that moment, the pro-choicers will need to give an account for the choices they made. Perhaps they will have a long line of little babies lined up behind them, asking why. I know, i know… this thought is a little sensational, but we never know who is reading this, and how our words could influence your formative minds reading this blog. I think you could be an amazing activist. I only wish you could be on the side of truth though.

By: Edel Kung'u

Edel Kung'u — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 07:53:43 +0000

I completely agree that every human being should have a right to decide what is right for them. I am a firm believer in pro-choice (whether abortion, contraceptives, etc).

By: sahara

sahara — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 22:16:43 +0000

Nice article Njoki.

Empower people with true and accurate information. (I am not referring to religion when I say TRUE)

What they decide to do thereafter is absolutely nobody’s business.

However, they need to be reminded that their actions are not inconsequential (no matter how informed or empowered they may be).

By: N O

N O — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 15:35:22 +0000

Njoki Ndungu says: “The fact that the pro-life squad only cares about the unborn – to me – is one of the deepest kinds of hypocrisy.”

That quote really says alot about this writer, what she thinks of pro-lifers, and her blanket statement that pro-lifers only care about the unborn?

Sad but typical – I am not surprised!

I will not say more!

By: Stevo

Stevo — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 12:32:47 +0000

Njoki, i must say you are indeed SOBER….the pro-life, pro-choice debate is too abstract if you ask me. The realities of life are not captured in these mindless debates, at the end of the day when a lady decides whether or not to undergo an abortion she will literally have had conversations with God and with the devil. And i believe no written law in the constitution will play into her decisions, it will all come down to the facts around her…can i feed this child, can i afford to bring a child into my misery, can i live with the reminder of being repeatedly raped by the person who fathered me…and other unspeakable facts, these are the things that will guide her decision. In the absence of support systems to help her deal with these realities, whether we call it illegal or not she will seek for and have an abortion.
Then there are those who do it coz they can and their dark conscience doesn’t hold them accountable, they too do not consider the law..and whether the law exist or not they will still do it. Countries like Brazil with a very strict abortion law, sees up to 300,000 abortions in a year…so as we stand on our podiums and shout pro-life or pro-choice we need to consider the facts.

And no matter how much we try to box in our laws at the end of the day the society is dynamic and 20 years down the line the constitution as we know it will have changed significantly. The proposed law on abortion is to me a very realistic stepping stone. It considers practical situation that do and have arisen, without negating the fact that life deserves respect. For those saying it cant be amended if it turns out to be the “horror” they have prophesied, i say 1million signatures is a drop in the ocean if you are serious about changing a law.

We need to focus our energies into re-educating our generation, making them more aware of the consequences of their actions and providing support systems to “mop up the leaks”. The church must be on the fore, advocating for this re-education and support systems. You can only set a man free by showing him the way not forcing him to walk the way. If he choose another way he still remains a free man, only a prisoner to his conscience.

By: Weslie

Weslie — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 11:15:54 +0000

I’m with Grace. It’s important that we respect human life right from the get go. It sucks that something as beautiful as life could come from such vile circumstances as rape But the harsh reality is that it happens. Deciding about the life of an unborn child is pretty much the same as deciding on the life of your neighbor. They could be the most evil, horrible excuses for human beings but if you didn’t put life in them and as such you really have no right to take it out. We definitely need to put in legislature and take care of those already born and living outside the womb, we definitely need to make sure that the child we are protecting in the womb will have a life worth living once they get out but like Jesus said to the pharisees once “these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” (Matthew 23:23) Let’s not lose our focus.

By: Grace Kihumba

Grace Kihumba — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 13:48:43 +0000

Hey Njoki,been a while!
I think that being both pro life and pro choice is a square circle. A choice necessarily means exclusivity, preferring one thing to another.It’s not a grey ambigous area, it’s a choice to keep a baby or kill a baby…hence the square circle.
So perhaps pro choice is a nicer way of say that I’ve made a choice, I’m just afraid of the baggage that comes with it.If that ‘baggage’ is worth your suffering, then you keep the baby.You’re pro life.If the ‘baggage’ is not worth your suffering, then you get rid of the ‘baggage’, you’re pro abortion.
Truth is a really simple thing, because it is one. If there were several truths, then necessarily all but one of them would have to be lies.There is no relativity about truth.Pro choice tries to make this a possibility,to say that abortion is right or wrong depending on me.
Firstly, truth doesn’t depend on me.I don’t create reality,I find it when I come into the world. I take it,or leave it,but I don’t change it. Reality is that I don’t have absolute rights over parts of my body..if I tried to commit suicide and failed, I’d get arrested. Reality is also that a baby is not a part of my body, it’s another body, with a different DNA from my leg.
There is no hypocrisy in stating the truth. Arguing that we should first take care of the born before the unborn is simply shifting the argument,not confronting it. I could give countless examples of those who take care of the born, the countless Children’s homes that noble people have set up.They don’t trumpet it aloud, so we judge that they do not exist.
My point? If we lose our sense of awe and wonder at a new life, then there’s no way we can retain our love and respect for existing lives.That’s the reason why many countries that are pro abortion are also pro-euthanasia. They didn’t respect it at the beginning. They can’t respect it at the end. How do you prove that they’ll respect it in the middle because of policies set up by a government?
The very term pro choice speaks of a decision.A choice to stand for the truth or to convince myself that there is no truth, because truth is what I want it to be. There are no multiple truths. It’s a square circle.

By: City Girl

City Girl — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:51:55 +0000

Lovely piece Njoki.

I am actually fully pro-choice, but i do understand the argument on pro-life. The one thing i really cannot stand is the pro-lifers lording over everyone with this holier than thou attitude yet behind the shadows they are some of the worst culprits effing sinning left right and center but to then your sin just seems a little more (or maybe a load more) grave than theirs….SAME DIFFERENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I actually agree that we need to be a people of more action and less talk…helping the ones who need us e.g. pregnant teenage girls rather than ostracizing them!!! This same society is the reasons those girls choose to go down those path of abortion.

Its amazing in some European countries where abortion is legal, very few women actually do it…why?? because they have the knowledge on contraceptives, about their bodies, their right to say no to sex…or simply use a condom… and thus are able to make informed decisions. Yet we here in Africa (narrow down to Kenya), walk around with veils on our eyes pretending like no body is having sex…but this is happening at younger and younger ages with the passing years.

Then comes the argument on the constitution….pro-life my **** the same constitution is allowing death sentence (currently also in the constitution but not enforced) and yet i hear no one making noise and yet here you are taking away a life of a living breathing (outside the womb) human being. And everyone is sssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh about it. Really!!!!!!!! Do i really need to say anything more!!

We do need to look at things quite like you have Njoki, from all angles and understand where each side is coming from before we pass judgment on anyone and various issues affecting our country.

Tully, we human beings always seem to see the mistakes in the form of specks in another persons eye yet we cannot realize we have a whole log in ours!!!!!!!! Enyewe KUWENI SERIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!