Into the Weeds

I've decided that I'm going to write up examples for the series of research papers I require my students to write. At first, I was going to do something straightforward. Or perhaps something random to show how nearly any topic can be pursued within academic parameters.

But I ended up choosing something truly complex--a topic we often discuss at a theoretical level with seemingly clear moral principles guiding us, but then our thinking starts to fall apart when we apply it to real life situations. And now I'm publicly committed to my topic because I've presented the first exploratory essay I wrote to my classes this week. I've got to see it through!

Generally, I'm writing about how we balance our societal value of the sanctity of life with our values of individual responsibility and the freedom to make choices about our own lives and families. Specifically, I'm writing about what can/should guide our decisions about health care on behalf of family members who can't speak for themselves and who are facing serious quality of life issues. And even more specifically, what role should the law play?

Today, independently of the research I'm doing for class, I came across this video of a couple telling their painful story to a reporter from the Des Moines Register. They faced a crisis in the wife's pregnancy after 20 weeks, the point at which abortion is no longer legal in Nebraska under any circumstances. As I watched the video, I realized that their story illustrates many of the issues I am exploring in my research.

So now I may draw on debates about abortion when the life of an unborn child is in jeopardy as well as debates about end-of-life care and the right to die.

What am I thinking?! I hope I can actually model a way to untangle the threads and frame the issues effectively in a relatively short paper. Here's to giving it the old college try!