Abortion-Why I am Against

Margaret Sanger would be pleased

(I thought long and hard about uploading this picture. I decided it was necessary.)


During last night's so-called Compassion Forum, held at Messiah College in Pennsylvania, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton expounded on their religious beliefs. They were both asked about their views on abortion-specifically when they believed life began (Did life begin at conception?)

Clinton answered as follows,

"I believe the potential for life begins at conception. For me, it is also not only about a potential life. It is about the other lives involved."

..."I have concluded after, great, you know, concern and searching my own mind and heart over many years...that individuals must be entrusted to make this profound decision because the alternative would be such an intrusion of government authority that it would be very difficult to sustain in our kind of open society". She added that abortion should remain safe,legal and rare.

Obama, in his answer, Obama stated that he did not know (if life began at conception). "This is something that I have not, I think, come to a firm resolution on. I think that it's very hard to know what that means, when life begins. Is it when a cell separates? Is it when the soul stirs?...What I know, as I've said before, is that there is something extraordinarily powerful about potential life and that that has a moral weight to it that we take into consideration when we're having these debates."

Translation? Both candidates support abortion. I found it interesting that both used the term "potential" for life. Is that the new pro-choice buzzword? If so, it sounds to me like, if I have the potential to live another 50 years (which would make me 113), does someone have the right to terminate that "potential"?

I have also wrestled with this issue for most of my adult life. I have in the past searched for a middle ground because I have believed that the whole abortion debate has been dominated by the extremes of both sides-for lack of a better description. But is there a middle ground? Isn't it life or death? I have asked myself whether it would be morally acceptable to terminate a pregnancy when we are dealing with "just a clump of cells". I should also state that I can agree with the right to an immediate abortion in the case of rape,incest or to save the life of the mother. Do I support violence against abortion clinics and doctors? No way. Yet, ultimately, I can only say that I am against abortion-especially when it is used as a method of birth control. As for partial-birth abortion, I consider that an atrocity. Interestingly, Ron Paul, a former OB-GYN, stated in a debate last November that he had never seen an abortion conducted due to medical emergency. Of course, that comment not only didn't draw a follow-up question from the moderator, but was quickly buried by the mainstream media.

It is clear that there are folks out there who have a firm pro-abortion agenda. It is a feminist issue since their main argument is that a woman should have the right to control her own body. A strong argument but not impregnable. Yes, only women can bear children, but rightfully or wrongfully, that is the way God created us-or Mother Nature if you prefer. I would argue that once a new life is created, that human being has a right to life.

Speaking of the feminist pro-abortion folks, it has been charged for years that Planned Parenthood actively counsels women who come to them to have an abortion. One thing a lot of people might not know is that the founder of Planned Parenthood's predecessor agency, Margaret Sanger, was motivated by racism. Sanger, who founded the American Birth Control League in 1921, was an enthusiast of eugenics, racial hygiene, and euthanasia as a way to limit the population of "undesirables" (like non-whites). Sanger, more specifically, was an advocate of "negative eugenics", which was a way to reduce the fertility of "dysgenic groups", such as Australian Aborigines, whom she described as the lowest form of human life.

I also see a connection between abortion and euthanasia, both of which can be terribly abused once a life is deemed "inconvenient". If a woman becomes pregnant and doesn't want the child-get an abortion. If a parent becomes aged and unable to care for him/herself-terminate the life. The Nazis practiced this on both ends even before they began the Holocaust. Mentally and physically impaired people were euthanized, which was a dress rehearsal for the Holocaust. During the war, Russian and Polish women who were brought to Germany to work as slave-laborers, were given forced abortion if they became pregnant.

Today, in Holland, euthanasia is being carried out on terminally ill patients if they request it. It has also been reported that many patients not in a position to give informed consent are also euthanized. It is a slippery slope.

Yes, it may be argued that there are many practical reasons to have abortion legal in the US. If made illegal, there will be back-alley abortions, civil unrest, unwanted children and children who will grow up with no chance. That is all true. It is also true that the demand for adoptive parents is greater than the number of willing couples. Many couples who adopt choose to go to poor countries to find a child.

Will Roe v Wade eventually be overturned? It is possible, which would restore the decision to the states, according to those who hope to see Roe overturned. Yet, I ask-if the Supreme Court can declare abortion to be a constitutional right-that cannot be taken away by the states-could it not declare abortion illegal nationally based on right to life?

As a practical matter, it would seem that the outlawing of abortion would have to be coupled with a change in public attitudes against the procedure. Obviously, most politicians think in those terms.

To sum it up, I think that our attitudes toward human life define us as a people. I don't think there is an inconsistency between opposing abortion and supporting capital punishment. The key difference is "innocent" life.

There are, admittedly, several practical reasons for supporting abortion. When it comes to moral reasons, that is a different story.