Animals and the Unborn Child

I recently moved to Southwest Florida. One of the things I first noticed was the number of people that walked dogs in my neighborhood each evening. I wondered if it had to do with the weather and how it draws more people outside than my experience in Oregon where it rained a lot. I also wondered if maybe it had to do with the number of elderly people that live here and how they are kept company by their pets, since many had lost spouses and their children maybe lived up north somewhere. I have always been very curious about the high value our culture will put on animals. Not that I am against having pets. I have had a couple of cats myself and valued them greatly. The question that perplexes me though is how can we as a culture get more up in arms about the protection of an owl or a fish, than an unborn child?

I spent 20 years in Oregon. Oregon is known for being progressive and is very concerned about the environment and protection of animals. There seemed to always be some debate about saving the salmon, the eagle, pets that were mistreated etc. As a therapist who works with men and women who have been traumatized by an abortion in their past, I would wonder what they felt. How did they feel when there was more news coverage about saving a salmon that a child in a mother’s womb? How did we get to this place in our society where this is very normal and accepted?
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I could bore you with Psychological theory and theorize how we could get so disconnected from the reality of what is happening before our eyes, but I won’t do that. If you would like to hear that, I suggest you attend one of my workshops in which I address this very issue. I am more concerned for our clients who each day are bombarded with news that so invalidates the pain that they may be experiencing compared to the death of a “salmon eaten by a sea lion”.

You don’t have to have a Master’s Degree in Counseling to know that our society survives the reality of abortion through the use of basic defense mechanisms such as denial, minimization, rationalization etc. I wonder if distraction is another that is used. Focusing on the rights of animals over the rights of unborn children seems like a big distraction from what we as a society should be focusing on. But wait, that would be too painful. So….”How cute is that dog. What is his name?”

That’s where we are. Sad but true. As therapists who treat men and women who have been traumatized by abortion, I encourage you to be aware of how this disconnect might be affecting them. Allow them to talk about it. Encourage them to find places of validation where human life is valued over a fish or dog, because remember they themselves may have bought into culture’s message also and may be confused with what they feel or should feel.