ABortion 2

When does life begin? Is it at conception? Birth? At six weeks of gestation? The debate rolls on with each viewpoint having its vociferous advocates. Beliefs are so extreme in some that they are willing to take life to preserve life. Others are so vehement in support of a woman’s reproductive rights that an entire nation’s legal system has been changed to support the view. Advocates of either side would agree, though, that at some point, life begins and should not arbitrarily be disrupted without due process of law. The unborn or newborn comes into her or his own rights which take precedence over those of the mother. I have argued previously that the rights issue should be settled on the side of erring in favor of the weakest and most voiceless of two opponents, so my bias is already in favor of the fetus from conception onward. There is a perspective which neither side has argued as far as I know, a perspective that might make for a more civilized debate. What if the question, “When does life begin?” is the wrong question? Perhaps we should look at conception not as a beginning point, but as a point in a continuation. We all agree that both parents of a child have life; dead people cannot procreate. The cells of their bodies are alive as long as they remain connected to the rest of the body. This is just as true for the egg and sperm generated by each parent. Independent of the parent, the cells will die. But, when combined in conception, two halves become a whole; two dependent cells become one independent cell and the life of each parent flows into a new being which didn’t exist prior to that instant. A new life has not just begun, it is a continuation of the lives of the parents. Whether one believes from an original amoeba or from the breath of God, there was a starting point for life; for human life. Each successive generation is but an extension of that original life-the mythical or real Adam and Eve. Abortion then, is a killing of a part of ourselves; a chopping off of a limb, a strangulation of a future part of ourselves; a premature dead end. Even in cases in which pregnancy is unsought and unwanted—rape and incest, for example-a part of the mother is terminated. Not being a woman, I cannot know the emotional issues connected with even a desired pregnancy. But perhaps, considering one more rational argument against abortion may encourage one more mother to place her infant for adoption rather than opting for an abortion and one less child will be sucked into the sewer system Being a male of the species, I cannot demand, should not rule, will not force women to be and do what I deem best, most moral, most beneficial. I cannot live in her shoes for even a moment, knowing the life-changing issues around pregnancy. I can, though, speak from a position as interested and involved bystander. It is potentially my progeny being aborted as well as hers. What effects one, effects us all. As we treated our weakest, so we sometime will be treated. May we find, with divine wisdom, a solution which recognizes all rights, which seeks to meet all needs, which finds a way for life to grow and thrive. Should we not succeed, we doom ourselves to moral lassitude and eventual extinction. 1.11.12