news:30d6c60b-a3f6-44e9...@v15g2000yqi.googlegroups.com...
+ It is murder. People do NOT have the right to murder their children.
Abortion is Murder
Pro-choicers make a triple distinction among a human life, a human being and
a human person. Each cell in our bodies has human life, and a single cell
kept alive in a laboratory could be called "a human life" but certainly not
"a human being" or "a human person." "A human being" is a biologically whole
individual of the species. Even a human being born with no brain is a human
being, not an ape; but it is not a person because it has no brain and cannot
do anything distinctively human: think, know, choose, love, feel, desire,
commit, relate, aspire, know itself, know God, know its past, know its
future, know its environment, or communicate - all of which have, in various
combinations, been offered as the marks of a person. The pro-life position
seems to confuse the sanctity of the person with the sanctity of life, which
is two steps removed from it.
Pro-choicers say the very young product of conception, the zygote, has no
ability to perform any of the distinctive activities that anyone associates
with personhood (reasoning, choosing, loving, communicating, etc.) - not
even feeling pain, for the zygote has no brain or nervous system. At first
it is only a single cell. How could anyone call a single cell a person?
Pro-choicers claim that personhood begins not at at conception, but develops
gradually, as a matter of degree. Every one of the characteristics we use to
identify personhood arises and grows gradually rather than suddenly. The
fetus is potentially a person, but it must grow into an actual person.
Pro-choicers will say that personhood is not a clear concept. There is not
universal agreement on it. Different philosophers, scientists, religionists,
moralists, mothers, and observers define it differently. It is a matter of
opinion where the dividing line between persons and non-persons should be
located. But what is a matter of opinion should not be decided or enforced
by law. Law should express social consensus, and there is no consensus in
our society about personhood's beginning or, consequently, about abortion.
One opinion should not be forced on all. Pro-choice is not pro-abortion but,
precisely, pro-choice.
Thus there are four and only four possibilities: that it is not a person and
we know that, that it is a person and we know that, that it is a person but
we do not know that, and that it is not a person and we do not know that.
Now what is abortion in each of these four cases? In case (1), abortion is
perfectly permissible. We do no wrong if we kill what is not a person and we
know it is not a person-e.g., if we fry a fish. But no one has ever proved
with certainty that a fetus is not a person. If there exists anywhere such a
proof, please show it to me and I shall convert to pro-choice on the spot if
I cannot refute it.
Is abortion murder?
Not all killing is murder, of course. Murder is actually a small subset of
all killing, which includes accidental homicide, killing in self-defense,
suicide, euthanasia, etc. When pro-life activists call abortion "murder,"
they are suggesting that abortion fits the definition of murder, namely,
"illegal killing with malice aforethought." However, abortion fails this
definition for two reasons. First, abortion is not illegal, and second,
mothers hardly feel malice towards their own unborn children.
Some might object the first point is overly legalistic. Just because killing
is legal doesn't make it right. Exterminating Jews in Nazi Germany was
certainly legal, but few doubt that it was murder.
But why do we still consider the Holocaust murder? The answer is that we
hold the Nazis to a higher law. When the Nazis were tried in Nuremberg for
their war crimes, they were not accused of "crimes against Germans" or even
"crimes against Jews." Instead, they were charged with "crimes against
humanity." The reason is because there was no legal basis to charge them
otherwise. The massacre of Jews was legal under German law. So in order to
punish the German leaders for clearly wrong behavior, the Allies had to
evoke a higher law, a law of humanity. (1) The Holocaust was condemned as
illegal, and therefore murder, because it violated this law.
Many pro-life advocates claim that the same reasoning applies to abortion.
Although abortion is legal under current U.S. law, it is not legal when it
is held up to a higher law, namely, the law of God.
About 4,000 babies are killed everyday. No, this is not due to disease,
SIDS, or even mal-nutrition. 4,000 living beings are killed everyday due to
abortion. This is one of the most controversial topics in America. Many
people even chose their president based on their view. But what I wonder is,
how can the murder of a living being possibly be so controversial? Abortion
should be considered murder, immoral, and illegal.Abortion is defined as the
termination of pregnancy and expulsion of an embryo or of a fetus. Abortions
are most commonly performed between the sixth and twelfth week of pregnancy,
where conception occurs at week two and birth occurs at week forty.
Abortions are also performed routinely up to sixteen weeks and then less
often into the later months of pregnancy. And what is the definition of
murder? Murder is the unlawful killing of one human by another, especially
with premeditated malice. How is this any different then abortion? Sure,
abortion involves the killing of a fetus or an embryo, but in reality a
fetus and embryo are forms of life and should be considered human beings.
Many people will argue that the fetus and embryo are not considered human
beings, since they have only begun to form into a human being
President Lincoln repeatedly discussed the matter with his cabinet. During
one difficult discussion, he asked: "Gentlemen, how many legs does a sheep
have?" Each man answered correctly, "Four, Mr. President." He proceeded,
"Let's call his tail a leg. Now how many legs?" Each man replied, "Five, Mr.
President." Mr. Lincoln retorted, "Nope, still only four. Just because we
call it a leg doesn't make it one."
Mr. Lincoln's wit and wisdom speak to our present day confusion about
abortion. Let me explain.
Abortion is murder. Each abortion snuffs out an innocent human life.
Tragically, doctors have deceived the American public. Referring to unborn
babies as "fetus," "embryo," or "zygote," may be scientifically correct, but
does not change the fact: These little ones are little human beings. Though
called "parasite," "blob," or "tissue," give each wee creature about 266
days after conception and see what emerges from his mother's womb. It will
be a human baby, not a zebra, a trout, frog or an orangutan.
Remember Mr. Lincoln. Don't be deceived by folks (even doctors) who call a
tail a leg - or humans anything but humans. When a human egg and a human
sperm unite, the resulting individual is simply human. Given time, nutrition
and protection, he or she will grow to maturity. Calling abortion a
"termination" or "evacuating the uterus" doesn't change its reality as
murder-slaughtering a human being with premeditated malice.
Some Comments Comical
Were it not tragic, some abortion comments could be comical. A previous
guest writer on this page, Dr. Harrison, said the unborn baby is "a parasite
without feeling, thought, or experience... the fetus simply does not have
the things required to feel pain..."
But nerves are in place by six to eight weeks after conception. The
chemicals necessary to send messages over nerve pathways to the brain are
present by 12 weeks. Ask yourself - if you were stuck, pinched, grabbed, cut
or crushed, how would you react? You likely would squirm, thrash, try to
escape or fight. Your blood pressure would go up; your pulse would speed up.
That's how pre-born babies respond. Before being cut to pieces, sucked
apart, chemically killed, or otherwise abused (to death), these little
humans struggle, seeking to escape the destruction. In my opinion,
abortionists have forfeited the privilege to be called "physicians", for
they have abandoned the responsibility of acting like physicians.
What about rape? What about incest? These horrors defy descriptive
condemnation. They represent the least human and most selfish acts
imaginable - along with murder - and they deserve swift and severe
punishment. A woman or girl abused by rape or incest should be seen
promptly, evaluated with compassion and treated appropriately to prevent
conception. Should pregnancy occur, the tragedy should not be compounded by
another crime: Murdering the baby.
Rape and incest deserve one further note: They (thank God) represent a
relatively uncommon cause of pregnancy - and figure in less than 2 percent
of abortions. The other 98 percent are done for the sake of convenience (not
that of the baby). Abortion represents the most common surgical procedure
performed in America today. Enough human lives are snuffed out each day to
populate Mena, De Queen, or Fordyce. Each week, abortionists slaughter a
group of babies equal in number to the population of Springdale or El
Dorado.
One more tragedy - often delayed and overlooked - concerns the mother of the
aborted baby. I have cared for and counseled such women - women who find it
difficult to live with an awakened conscience. Though duped, squelched or
ignored, a conscience awakened to reality may produce guilt, grief and pain.
Even with the reality of forgiveness, the scars may produce long-standing
consequences.
One last 'leg-tail' deserves comment. Can you remember folks saying, "Don't
push your morality on me!" when foes of abortion challenge its practise?
Most folk appreciate our society's restrictions on rape, robbery, assault
and murder - and those restrictions are based on morality, as is every
aspect of our lives, whether collectively or individually.
As a believer in Jesus Christ, I'm convinced that moral absolutes exist. My
convictions as a Christian and as a physician include the sanctity of human
life. If each individual human (including unborn babies) does not have
worth, if we do not acknowledge our responsibility to care for the unwanted
and the defenseless, we will find our collective path ending at the ovens of
Auschwitz, the Gulags of Siberia, or the Abortion Chambers of America.