Motherhood & Abortion: Can women have it all?

By Rachel Stevens

Cardinals for Life, a pro-life club on campus, hosted two speakers for its event titled “Motherhood & Abortion.” The event, taking place last Saturday, focused on the biological ties between mother and child as well as balancing work life with parenting.

The event had approximately ten students in attendance. The atmosphere in the Happel room was relaxed, with coffee and donuts beforehand.

The speakers, Dr. Moschella and Dr. Knobel, are both professors at Catholic University.  Moschella teaches bioethics, while Knobel teaches philosophy.

The first presentation was a powerpoint from Moschella about the biological ties between mother and child and how mothers are bonded to and have innate responsibilities to care for their child, no matter the circumstances. The relation to abortion was the question of whether or not a mother has a duty from conception to carry that child and nurture it through pregnancy because of this biological relationship.

With regard to the question of abortion, Moschella compared it to a hypothetical and famous philosophical analogy called “The Violinist”: if you were to one day wake up hooked into someone else, a famous and important violinist, and were giving them the necessary chemicals from your kidney to support theirs, you wouldn’t immediately disconnect because that life is depending on you now. While you might be uncomfortable, she pointed out, you now have the ethical responsibility to keep their life going.

While this is different than a biological relationship, it mimics the way a mother does not yet know their child in the womb. Like the stranger violinist, the mother is a stranger to her child but still needs to support them.

Knobel presented next on her personal experience with motherhood and whether or not women can balance work and family. Right off the bat, she clearly stated that the question, “Can women have it all?” is a bad question. It assumes that anyone can have everything they ever want from life, which she said simply cannot happen. She made the point that you will always have to make sacrifices in your life no matter if you’re a mother or not.  She shared some personal stories of mothers she knows and how they balance their work and family life. “I got married and had my daughter fairly late in life,” said Knobel. but she continued that she believes the work she does as a philosopher makes her a better mother and that she wouldn’t have it any other way.

After both professors presented their views, there was an opportunity to engage each other with questions about each other’s presentations. Knobel questioned how Moschella felt about adoption given the responsibility of biological ties she had pointed out. Moschella’s response is that she is completely fine with adoption if the circumstances are right, for example, if the mother can truly not care for the child’s basic needs. However, if the mother is only insecure about lacking material things and not basic/emotional support, she should keep her child, Moschella stated. After the engaging of comments between each other, the discussion was open for questions. A majority of the questions surrounded homeschooling and whether or not it is a good idea. “For some mothers it works, and some it does not. It works for some children, and it is a disaster for others. It is a very individual choice.” said Knobel.

At the end of the question and answer session, the event was over and both Moschella and Knobel stayed around to answer individual questions. This was the last speaker event for Cardinals for Life for this academic year, but the club hopes to host more speakers in a similar manner next semester.