The subject of abortion is complex, but many people will not sit down and discuss it. Logic is the best friend of civil discourse. My comments here are from a moral standpoint not religious. I am often perplexed by the way many people approach the subject of abortion. Those who say, “I am personally against abortion but who I am to tell a woman what she can do with her body?” ignore the central moral question: the unjust killing of a living being.
The invention of the ultrasound and advances in our knowledge of DNA literally changed the way we view first trimester fetuses. Clearly, the word “abortion” has lost almost all meaning in our culture today. Most Americans only imagine abortion as a benign procedure that does little more than extract a formless tissue mass from a woman’s uterus. Until people are willing to educate themselves, you might as well be talking about stock options. It reminds me of people who live on hog farms – they don’t notice the stench until they leave for awhile. Americans have walked away from the moral issues of abortion because they are so used to the smell.
We have become bogged down by the side issues in this debate. The pro-life movement shot itself in the foot by getting sidetracked over arguments about choice, privacy, teen pregnancy, rape and incest. The real issue is the status of the unborn. The unborn child is a living person with the same set of DNA in the womb as he or she will have as an adult. The complexity of this can be cleared up by thinking of this instance: A child comes up to behind his father and asks, “Daddy can I kill this?” The first thing any parent is going to ask is, “What is it you want to kill?”The following dialogue was taken from an essay by Scott Klusendorf on the question of the unborn:
Abortion advocate: Abortion is a private choice between a woman and her doctor.
Pro-Lifer: Do we allow parents to abuse their children if done in privacy?
Abortion advocate: That’s not fair. Those children are human beings.
Pro-Lifer: Then the issue isn’t really privacy, is it, but rather “Is the unborn a human being?”
Abortion advocate: But many poor women cannot afford to raise another child.
Pro-Lifer: When human beings get expensive, may we kill them?
Abortion advocate: Well, no, but aborting a fetus is not the same as killing a person.
Pro-Lifer: So, once again, the real question is, “What is the unborn? Is a fetus the same as a person?”
Abortion advocate: Why do you insist on being so simplistic? This is a very complex issue involving women who must make agonizing decisions.
Pro-Lifer: The decision may be psychologically agonizing for the mother, but morally it’s not complex at all. It’s wrong to kill innocent human beings simply because they’re in the way and can’t defend themselves.
Abortion advocate: Killing defenseless human beings is one thing; aborting a fetus is another.
Pro-Lifer: So we’re agreed: If abortion actually killed a defenseless human being, then the issue wouldn’t be complex at all. The question is, “What is the unborn?”
Abortion advocate: Enough with your abstract philosophy. Let’s talk about real life. Do you really think a woman should be forced to bring an unwanted child into the world?
Pro-Lifer: The homeless are unwanted. May we kill them?
Abortion advocate: But it’s not the same.
Pro-Lifer: That’s the issue, isn’t it: Are they the same? If the unborn are truly human like the homeless, then we can’t just kill them to get them out of the way. We’re back to my first question, “What is the unborn?”
Abortion advocate: But you still shouldn’t force your morality on women.
Pro-Lifer: You’d feel very comfortable “forcing your morality” on a mother who was physically abusing her two-year-old, wouldn’t you?
Abortion advocate: But the two cases are not the same.
Pro-Lifer: Why not?
Abortion advocate: Because you’re assuming the unborn are human, like a two-year-old.
Pro-Lifer: And you’re assuming they’re not. You see, this is not really about privacy, or economic hardship, or complexity, or unwantedness, or forcing morality. The real question is, “What is the unborn?” Answer that question and you’ve automatically answered the others.
Thus the fundamental argument is “what is the unborn?” That is the moral issue summed up. Science is on the side that the unborn are human beings with DNA. Until Americans become educated on abortion this national cataclysm will continue to eat away at the moral fiber of our country. I challenge advocates of abortion to see a live abortion. If that does not change your mind about the moral issue, then your heart has turned to stone.