by Bob Sullivan
The slogan, “My Body My Choice” was adopted (pun intended) by abortion advocates many years ago. When an abortion advocate says “my body my choice,” they mean that the mother should be allowed to make the decision whether or not to have an abortion, and no one else in the world should be allowed to interfere with her decision. They are saying that a person gets to make their own decisions about what happens with or to their own body.
As with all propaganda, there is a lot of truth to this statement, but there is also untruth. This is because when we are talking about abortion, we are talking about two bodies (at least).
“My body my choice” works fine when you are deciding whether or not to get a haircut, but it is illogical when you are deciding to drive your carload of friends recklessly. Nor would it work if you decided to blow yourself up with a bomb while in a room with at least one other person.
A funny thing has happened lately. Now we have a new group of people who are also using the slogan in order to explain why they are not willing to receive a COVID-19 vaccination. More than a few people have wrestled with the fact that people are using this slogan. Does it give credibility to the abortion advocates who have been using the slogan for years? Some might see it that way.
Rest assured, the abortion advocates are still wrong, but those who now use the slogan to push back against vaccine mandates and pressure to be vaccinated against COVID-19 are also wrong. Here’s why: Because of the way the vaccines appear to be working, your decision to receive the vaccine or not is more like the decision to blow yourself up with a bomb while others are in the room than it is a decision whether or not to have your hair cut. It’s not all about you.
Evidence shows that the vaccine may reduce a person’s likelihood of contracting and spreading the coronavirus. This means that, all things being equal, those who are vaccinated may be offering some amount of protection to others they encounter. They may also be somewhat less likely to need hospitalization. That would mean that healthcare providers would have at least one less patient to take up a bed, an oxygen mixer, a doctor’s immediate attention, etc., which would free space up for someone else.
Therefore, “my body my choice” is a flawed and illogical slogan for someone who does not want a COVID-19 vaccine, and it remains misleading propaganda (and illogical) for abortion advocates.
If you decline the COVID-19 vaccines, there are a number of very sound reasons you can give for doing so instead of falling back on a slogan used by abortion advocates. You might explain that you cannot, in good conscience, potentially benefit from the vaccines because all of them were researched, developed, and/or tested using abortion-derived fetal cell lines.
While many in the Church have assured us that the vaccines’ connection to abortion are so remote that there is no sin in receiving the vaccine, the Church also teaches that Christians should not violate their own consciences. If after prayer, discernment, and study, you cannot in good conscience say that the vaccine is morally acceptable for you, no one can legitimately question that decision.
Alternatively, you might explain that you are concerned about the long-term side effects from the vaccines because they have not gone through the rigorous and time-tested trials that all or most previous vaccines have had to complete before approval or you may have a health condition which makes this and possibly other vaccines potentially harmful to you.
Finally, maybe you have already had COVID-19 and therefore have the antibodies to help fight off future infection from COVID-19 and its variants.
We know so little about COVID-19 and its variants right now, no one can irrefutably state that a vaccine is superior to natural immunity. For some reason, many people in positions of authority do not seem to want to discuss natural immunity, nor do they seem open to the possibility that it is as good or better than the vaccines. Most agree that natural immunity exists for several months after you have been infected with the virus. Some say it lasts for six months, a year, or many years. Regardless, natural immunity has been scientifically proven and trusted long before COVID-19 came along.
I’m sure I have left out several good arguments a person could make if they wanted to explain why they were not interested in receiving the vaccine. Hopefully, I have included the most compelling.
However, as Christians, we should always be charitable toward others. This means that it is better to remain humble and make it known that we might be wrong. Maybe the vaccines are moral, safe, and effective. In such a case, we can grant someone the courtesy of making their own choice. We can respect those who have received the vaccine just as we hope they can respect those of us who have not. This would be a great victory in this time of division, distrust, and chaos, wouldn’t it?
For a Christian, the real line in the sand is the line at which someone is being pressured, coerced, or forced to take the vaccine. It is at this line where every Christian and every just person should stand and defend the person’s right to decline the vaccination without consequence. I suppose the same goes for someone who is being pressured, coerced, or forced to decline the vaccine. The solution is not a “one size fits all,” nor is it a “one slogan fits all.”
