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Standing in Two Worlds-66-The Overturning of Roe V.Wade-Exposing Raw Nerves and Exploring the Unique Mindset of the Pregnant Woman
Season 1
R. Kivelevitz frames the discussion in dual directions: What is the mindset of a woman facing an unwanted pregnancy, and how has this issue become so firmly identified as one of right vs. wrong which is evoking anger and even violence on both sides?
Prof. Juni uses the contrast between the fallout of this issue in the United States vs. Israel to inform a major social-political underlying dynamic. The Israeli Haredi establishment are not crusading against abortion because they are not fervently concerned about the moral character of Israel outside of their narrow society. This contrasts with many Christians and Evangelicals who identify strongly as Americans and are willing to fight for American moral standards.
Both discussants agree that abortion is an issue which is much more salient to women than to men. At the same time, the concurrent hormonal features of pregnancy heighten the emotional components of the dilemma of the unwanted pregnancy and inject the quandary with subjectivity. Juni argues, however, that emotionality is a bone fide basis for decision making which is no less valid than rationality.
What is seen as confounding the debate and uproar here is the confluence of emotional subjectivity with the rational aspects of morality and legality. The “right to choose” is merely one facet of the debate, as it stands alongside a number of distinct moral, religious, and ethical issues. “Right for me” is seen as an oxymoron, since right is objective value and not a personal value. Politically, the right to choose has been drawn into the construct of Intersectionality, where so-called minority rights of various stripes have all been conflated into one general hodgepodge of political advocacy which bridges unrelated moral and social realities. Thus, we see here a demonization of the Supreme Court justices, even as individual activists on either side of the divide are vilified as deficient human beings with perverted values.
From a clinical perspective, Juni argues that any decision about abortion – whether pro or con – by a woman will always result in bouts of second thoughts, regrets, and guilt since decisions always feature ambivalence to some extent. He stresses that these dissonant feelings must be dealt with at the psychological level to avoid subsequent maladjustment and pathology.