Preface
Many people believe that a man does not have the capacity or qualifications to discuss certain subjects. This is one of them.
Is it murder?
It was a political event. Dinner preceded the program. You were seated between women friends of like mind, one your staunch friend, the other a dinner acquaintance. Brisk discussion landed on a polarizing issue that happens to be in hibernation, patiently waiting for the upcoming midterm elections. Abortion. It never fails to bring out a verbal brawl, with large helpings of indignation, hostility and intransigence. You freely admit that you fit right in with opinionated squabbles. But skip the prelude and get to the plaintiffs and their accusation. The like minded pair announced that abortion is murder — no exception for extenuating circumstances. Killing a fetus is murder. Life begins at conception. Factually, therefore, there can be no argument that ending life is murder. Before you stepped in it, your brain warned, “Don’t.” Almost like an onlooker, you heard yourself say, “So you want to indict and prosecute millions of people who are involved in abortion, including 15 year old’s and their parents? Another mistake. The question unquestionably was a counter accusation. Very quickly, “Look, I’m entirely against government sponsored abortion; but however true it may be, calling abortion murder can only lead to one place — a police state. Almost simultaneously: “You can’t deny it’s murder.” Eventually, the exchanges petered out when a voice introduced the evening program. Rescued from the warrior twins, you followed the proceedings but couldn’t shake thoughts of abortion. Hours later, it followed you home, and here you sit, unqualified, induced once again to put a stake in the ground.
When does life begin?
Essentially, the first step in saving human life is to accept the undeniable truth that a fetus heartbeat is detectable 4-5 weeks after fertilization. Those who disagree that life begins with conception cannot deny that a 5 week-old fetus is a human being. Civilized medical, educational and legal institutions must instruct the populous of this scientific fact to bury the assertion that a fetus is an “undifferentiated clump of cells.”
Who is responsible?
The female human has as many as ten ways to prevent pregnancy and at least one way to eliminate fertilization. Once and for all, abortion is the sole responsibility of individual females. Their decision to abort is their obligation alone — to seek and pay for medical mediation. Abortion is not the province of society and should not be the obligation of governments or cost to American taxpayers. BTW, fathers ( husbands, boyfriends or acquaintances) of the unborn have no legal rights whatsoever in the abortion decision.
Do the States have a solution?
The Supreme Court finally made a right decision in the right direction by putting the abortion question in the hands of States. Unfortunately, many State lawmakers play politics, scared stiff of restrictive policies that might lose the women’s vote. In any event, state policies run the gamut — surprisingly, 14 states ban nearly all abortions, basically at conception; two states impose a ban when the heartbeat is detected (5-6 weeks); nine states ban between 12-22 weeks. Most of the other states have restrictions based on fetus “viability,” meaning a provider’s judgment. Tom Jefferson’s state says you can kill a babe in the third term, meaning at full term. Virginia should be included in the six states (and D.C) that have no term restrictions. You are left with the belief that abortion has no universal solution. You are left only with a compromise that still doesn’t satisfy your belief that life begins at conception. But it does eliminate the tyranny of various special interest groups that want to inflict varying degrees of supremacy over individual freedom.
Who should decide?
Not the Federal Government. Take the Fed out of the issue altogether. Primarily, there can be zero federal, state or local funding for abortion, including any funding to abortion clinics, or subsidies to individual citizens. For the time being, leave the issue with the States, the lesser of two evils. You would charge the U.S. Senate to convene public hearings with the greater medical community to recommend a universal policy. At the very least, you would want to hear a national pronouncement that life begins with a beating heart; and thus suggest that no medical provider be free to abort a baby past six weeks. Accordingly, the greater medical industry becomes the proper authority to police itself by denying abortion beyond that limit. This assertion would not satisfy your critics, but the statistics show that the large majority of abortions already occur inside the 13-week window. Yes, you can hear the naysayers. A plan like this would take us back to underground abortions — to medical quacks, witchcraft and horror stories. As callous as it sounds or is, you prefer the individual casualty of a botched abortion to corporate baby factories, baby harvesting and the disdain for millions of human lives — nothing less than a modern day holocaust.
My body, my choice?
“My body, my choice” is a global slogan that represents the idea that a woman has bodily autonomy, freedom of choice and self ownership. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that a pregnant mother owns her pregnancy as well as her fetus at any stage of development. That ownership gives her the right to terminate the life of her unborn child at any time, considering that a fetus is totally helpless — without speech, thought, understanding, mobility and all the other attributes of a living person. If that summary of helplessness is true, you must ask: Isn’t it true of a week-old infant, a month-old infant, a year-old infant? Surely, a parent owns her totally helpless offspring during early development and even later. Yet, when a parent terminates the life of a helpless infant, she is indicted, prosecuted and imprisoned by the legal system. Evidently, human rights apply only to babies who can see the light of day. Unborn babies have no choice and no rights. Oh, you forgot, they’re not really babies.
Note: Obviously, there are considerations that may dictate abortion: rape, the life of the mother and fetus abnormality. Ed.
www.conventionofstates.com