Over the years I’ve yammered on about pretty much every area of American politics at one time or another. Abortion, however, is something I don’t believe I’ve brought up much. Not because I’m afraid of the topic, but mostly because I haven’t really cared all that much. But there have been some news stories lately that have been somewhat… annoying.
First up… the Planned Parenthood videos that apparently show abortionists discussing getting monetary remuneration for intact bits of aborted fetuses. On the one hand… eww. On the other hand… talk to any medical professional who has been in their business for a number of years. They’ll talk shop about medical horrors with a nonchalance that’ll astound. Not because medical types are naturally uncaring, but because *anything* you deal with on a regular basis, you grow accustomed to.
And then there’s THIS STORY. Tell me this doesn’t give you an uncomfortableness…
In short… in Dallas in 2013 a 14-year-old girl was raped by a relative, got pregnant, and then, 8 months into the pregnancy, her family discovered that she was pregnant. So the family did what I guess families are supposed to do: they beat her for 6 hours until she had a miscarriage. The family then tried to disposed of the “evidence” by, among other things, trying to burn it up on the back yard grill.
Yeah.
OK, that’s bad. But here’s where it becomes relevant to the politics: The family members involved have been charged with a number of crimes including aggravated assault. But what they *haven’t* been charged with is murder.
Ummm.
Here’s the thing: I think I am like many, perhaps most, people: I’ve no problem with contraceptives of all kinds (I’ve previously, and probably repeatedly, mentioned that I believe implanted contraceptives should be a condition for receiving welfare). I’ve minimal problems with a “day after pill.” I’ve little enough trouble with abortion in the first little while. But I start getting twitchy about the notion of aborting fetuses that are developed enough to feel pain. And by the time the fetus is old enough to survive outside the womb, my patience for abortion – barring health of the mother – has just about wore out. So aborting an 8-month fetus? Nope. Just nope.
It’s understandable that people have wildly differing views on the subject. But what bugs the hell out of me is how the extremists on both ends just refuse to see any validity whatsoever to the other side. The pro-abortionists see the anti-abortionists as being opposed to womens rights, when as far as I can tell, the anti-abortionists simply see abortion as killing a baby. And the anti-abortionists… they are *right.* Who among us would see the intentional killing of a baby born six hours ago as murder, but *not* see the intentional killing of a fetus that is six hours from a scheduled C-section as murder? Does the change of venue from womb to atmosphere change the fetus from non-human to human? And if you see the just-about-born fetus as a human deserving of protection under the law, when *isn’t* it worth such protection? Six months? Four? Three? A few weeks?
The religious anti-abortionists are, in my view, often excessive in their absolute opposition. But you can’t deny that they at least have a good, clear and defensible position that human rights begin at conception.