One of the things I've never understood about the abortion debate is why some of the strongest opponents make these exceptions:
US President George W. Bush signalled his opposition to a South Dakota abortion ban that forbids the procedure even in cases of rape or incest, saying he favors such exceptions.
But Bush declined to predict the outcome of any legal challenges to the legislation, which would make it illegal to terminate a pregnancy except in rare cases when it may be necessary to save the life of the mother
Either a fetus is an innocent, unborn baby, or it is a clump of cells of no more importance than any other clump of cells. If it is an innocent life, it deserves the same chance to be born as any other fetus, however it was conceived. If it is a clump of cells, giving it rights of any kind is pointless.
I find this position as incomprensible as the Kennedy Catholic "I personally believe abortion is murder but support your right to do it" stance. Can someone clarify it for me?
Comments
I agree with your logic. I think abortion should be illegal in the same way that I think infanticide should be illegal. How that child came about may in fact be very tragic, even violent. But that child is a child from conception. The only exception I advocate is in order to save the life of the mother. Aborting a baby doesn't make the rape go away.
Why would Bush or others advocate an exception in the case of rape or incest? I can only imagine that it is because they don't really believe the child is a person. They wouldn't advocate the murder of a 1 month old baby that came about by rape. So then it makes me wonder why they are agaisnt other abortions. Do they simply want those who concieved babies by promiscuity to "pay?" I don't know. But it seems suspicious.
Of course, there is also something soft in us that wants to deny the reality of rape and incest, that wants it to go away, so aborting the babies that sometimes result from it is convenient, as is also the abortion of babies who aren't perfectly healthy. But does abortion lessen rape and incest or simply help to keep it hidden?
Rev. David Petersen
Redeemer Lutheran Church
Ft. Wayne, In
I'm glad that I have been instructed not to judge others. There are some issues so complicated that it takes more than a blog to work through them - and even if we work through them, there are many shades of gray. Abortion has proved to be the issue that politicians drag out when they want to divert our attention from something else. It is personal, complicated, and a little overwhelming. When I was 17, I thought it was fine- now that I'm older and wiser, I don't think it's so fine. But, that's just my opinion.