The Devaluing of Human Life
Family, Life, and the Body June 14th, 2006A great piece by the pro-life Nat Hentoff (incidentally also atheist, liberal, and Jewish, demonstrating that respect for life can be diverse)
A friend of mine told me of a recent conversation at his family’s dinner
table that keeps reverberating in my mind. His wife, a physician, also
performs abortions. And their 9-year-old son — hearing the words and
curious about its meaning — looked up from his plate and asked, "What
is an abortion?" His mother tried carefully to describe it in simple
terms.
"But," said her son, "that means killing the baby." The mother
then explained that there are certain months during which an abortion
cannot be performed, with very few exceptions. The 9-year-old shook his
head. "But," he said, "it doesn’t matter what month. It still means
killing the babies." Hearing the story, I wished it could be repeated
to the justices of the Supreme Court, in the hope that at least five of
them might act on this 9-year-old’s clarity of thought and vision.
Read it all (Washington Times)
June 14th, 2006 at 10:56 pm
When I was a child, I spake as a child but have now put down childish things.
Let me make one very important point everyone seems to have lost lately.
The contention that a fetus should have the same rights as a born person stems from the religious theory that the soul enters the fetus at the moment of conception. Its not yours or anyone elses place to push their religious opinions off onto others. We all have the God given right to go to hell in our own way. And until someone can actually prove there is such a thing as a soul, your religious theory falls flat.
You don’t want an abortion? Fine….don’t have one but don’t try to make it illegal for me and mine.
June 15th, 2006 at 7:49 am
Robert,
There’s more to it than the soul entering into the fetus. As I pointed out, the author of the above piece is an atheist. The fetus is a human being, just a little one and deserves the protection afforded to bigger people. That’s one basic argument. However, your argument about the soul could mean that all laws based on the dignity of humanity (even the prohibition of murder) are up for revision.
June 15th, 2006 at 2:41 pm
About 3 weeks ago, we went to the doctors office to see an ultrasound. It showed a a beating heart, a being capable of motion, which I saw. I could make out little arms and legs.
I couldn’t see a soul, but I could see life. It was fragile to be sure, but life nonetheless.
The tears welled up when I realized what I was seeing. Of course, we could have seen that and then asked for an abortion, which could have been granted. I still can’t help but think that an action like that would have been ending a life.
I am not a Republican, nor am I a religious fundamentalist or one who thinks that the way to end abortion is to work through legal channels to reverse Roe v. Wade. I have never blocked a clinic entrance or stood on the sidewalk seeking to dehumanize those women who feel they must make take the path they have chosen. But I do want to see an end to abortion. And not for some religious reason like a soul entering at conception, but because I have seen what life looks like, and no amount of political rhetoric can change that.