The Times: 'Motherhood' means being allowed to kill

[...] I believe something very elemental and, in the most academic sense, non-Christian. One of Miranda Sawyer’s biggest post-motherhood dilemmas over abortion was trying to work out where “life” begins in a foetus, and concluding that if abortion could occur before “life” begins, then that would, after all, be a “right” kind of abortion. However, given that both science and philosophy continue to struggle to define what the beginning of “life” is, wouldn’t it be better to come at the debate from a different angle entirely? For if a pregnant woman has dominion over life, why should she not also have dominion over not-life? This is a concept many other cultures understand. The Hindu goddess Kali is both Mother of the Whole Universe, and the Devourer of All Things. She is both life and death. If women are, by biology, commanded to host, shelter, nurture and protect life, why should they not also be empowered to end life, too? Read more