Abortion VS. Animal Rights

Okay, so I've been wanting to talk about this for a long time, but finally felt that today was the day...Many times when AR activists are out leafletting, protesting an animal abuser, or talking to people about veganism/animal rights, we invariably get the one idiot (or sometimes two or three), who tries to shut us up by saying, "But I bet you're pro-choice, aren't you?" Of course, this is merely a tactic that they use to, as I said before, shut us up. But I finally felt like it was time to talk about why the two really have very little (if anything) to do with one another, and why just because one exists (abortion), doesn't mean that is an excuse for the other to exist (animal abuse/exploitation).
It all started because last night (LATE), I posted a comment to an article that someone sent me about a disgusting "sport" (I use that term VERY loosely) in which people use hounds to chase fox or coyotes sometimes to their deaths (and sometimes not to their deaths). Oftentimes, the fox or coyotes are ripped apart, literally. Now in fairness, yes the properties are usually quite large, but they are also fenced, leaving an ultimate limit upon how far the fox can run. These types of places are really quite similar to canned hunting "ranches"(If you don't know what canned hunting is, look it up. If it doesn't sicken you, get psychiatric help). And yes, there are so-called "hiding spots," but when you're one fox or coyote being chased by numerous dogs, the chances are more than likely that you're going to be caught.
Now in my mind, any rational, feeling person with a normal set of emotional responses to the world around them, as well as a normal brain chemistry, would think such an event distasteful at the absolute best and downright disgusting at worst. In my opinion, it's simply barbaric and savage. But, I digress...onto the abortion issue....
Of course there was someone who defended their love of these disgusting displays of savagery by pointing out that we shameful animal rights people usually support abortion, and how could we? Well of course I would be lying if I said that there aren't animal rights people who support abortion...However I personally know some that do not. Abortion is a very complicated, emotionally-driven, hot-button issue in this country (and in most others, I imagine), and in my mind it is not always as cut-and-dried as activists (on either side) would like it to be.
However, AR and abortion are mutually exclusive in my mind, and have nothing, really, to do with one another. Here's why, in my opinion: 1) Animal Rights (at least as far as I understand it) concerns the well-being of someone who is already here (the animal/animals in question). Abortion concerns the well-being of something that is not even here yet. Why do I use "something" for the abortion statement? Simple....A fetus is a something, not a someone (up until a certain point, that is, in my opinion, which I will go into in a moment). 2)A living, breathing animal (or a living, breathing human, whether baby, toddler, juvenile, or adult) cannot be frozen for use at a later date. Embryos most certainly can be frozen or used at a later date. Try this with a baby, which clearly is a life, and I think you'll see how horrific the results will be. 3)An animal that has already been born can survive out of its mother's womb, as can a baby. Of course I make this statement with the understanding that the afore-mentioned animal or baby has no underlying health issues that would prevent him/her from surviving and living in a normal manner. An embryo or fetus cannot, at least not before a certain stage of development. 4)Whether you agree with abortion or not (and as I said, I know people who are both vegan and AR activists who do and do not support abortion), that does not make animal abuse excuseable. In fact, if you value life so much that you are anti-abortion, it seems that you would also value an innocent animals' life as well. 5)Whether some of us in the world like to admit it or not, animals do, in fact, suffer. They scream, wail, squeal, struggle, moan, and try their damndest to escape whatever torture is being inflicted upon them. They want to live as much as you or I do, and you can see in them as well as in a child that if you hurt them, they do suffer. I know lots of people out there want to make themselves feel better by saying this isn't true, but you and I both know you're lying to yourself in order to make your animal-abusing ways okay in your own mind.
I am sure I could go on and on, but I think you are all seeing where I'm going with this. A few further things I want to say as far as my own personal opinion (call them my own personal "caveats" or "qualifiers" if you wish).....I do personally believe that once a baby is capable of surviving outside the womb, that yes it is a life. I also personally believe that abortion under that circumstance (what I understand to be called "late term" abortion) should be severely restricted. I think that if the mother's life is in danger or if the child would be born so developmentally disabled that it would cause a severe hardship on the child, then abortion would be a viable option. I always believe that the life of the mother is the first concern. And I could certainly see why no parent would choose to have a child that would be extremely deformed or disabled. Some parents still choose to do so, however, and I think they should be allowed this decision. Some people call us hypocrites if we support abortion yet fight for the rights of animals. What I find fascinating about this is that they are also hypocrites, because many of these same people have never even set foot in an adoption agency, much less thought of adopting/fostering an unwanted child. But yet they preach about being so concerned for the lives of babies/children. They are also many of the same people who preach about not wanting to take care of other people's children & familes (I.E. welfare, etc.), but yet they want to force people who probably wouldn't be great parents to begin with to have a child they probably don't want and may very well be unable of taking care of. And you have churches who are so socially irresponsible that they go to countries where people can barely afford to feed themselves and tell them that birth control is a sin, but while they are watching their children starve to death they should pray and God will take care of it...all the while, their kids are still starving to death. How many of them, when they are sitting in their churches listening to their pastors talk about the evil sin of abortion, hear that same pastor also talk about their responsibility to help the children who are unwanted and unloved in our foster-care system? I wager a guess that there are very few of them. Having gone to evangelical churches as a child and as a young adult, I never remember once hearing any anti-abortion pastors encouraging adoption. They're all concerned with the fetuses lives before they get here, but once they're born that seems to be secondary. Also, many of these pro-lifers (although I know not all of them) feel that abortion should be illegal under ANY circumstance. What does that mean? Simple: If a woman is raped, she should be forced to have the baby. If a woman is the victim of incest, and gets pregnant, she should still be forced to have the baby (I know this sounds extreme, but folks, there are many pro-lifers who believe this..although again I say I know not all of them do). Do you want YOUR mother or sister being raped by a family member and then being forced to have that baby? Do you think that is right? Seriously? There are those who even believe that if a woman's life is in danger, she should still have the child and take her chances and that "God will take care of it." I know all of us can probably remember seeing news stories about women who forego cancer treatments so that their babies can be born, and then these mothers die of cancer. So sure, they had the baby, but now the baby has to grow up without a mother! BUT these same people will tell you how wrong it is not to have a "mother and father" household, b/c they are against single parents and (God forbid) gays raising kids. So, they'll let the many thousands of kids languish in foster care while they encourage more to be born to people who don't want them, all the while telling gay men and lesbians and single men/women that they shouldn't be adopting kids and giving them love. After all the only kind of love that is real and valid is the love of two evangelical opposite-sex Christian parents (of course I say this with complete sarcasm, as I believe love is a good thing all the way around).
I guess where I'm going with this is as follows.....If you are a vegan, have adopted children who would have otherwise languished in the foster care system unwanted for years, and have at least some basic concern for the rights of women to make their own choices regarding their OWN bodies and health (and this includes my very own mother, thank you very much), then you have a right to question me on abortion. But don't you dare preach to me about the sanctity of life when you condemn innocent animals to the most horrible, unimaginable lives possible each and every day through the choices you make at the supermarket. Don't you dare.