‘I'm opposed to abortion…
But how can I impose my morality on someone else?’
In that statement, replace the word "abortion" with anything else you're opposed to. Like "I'm opposed to racism, but how can I impose my morality on someone else?" or "I'm opposed to rape, but how can I impose my morality on someone else?"
Sounds pretty ridiculous, doesn't it? Why can we impose our "morality" on someone when it comes to racism or rape? Because there's someone else involved. Raping isn't a "choice" a rapist makes in a vacuum - it involves a victim whose life will be altered forever because of that rape. Racism isn't a "choice" made in a vacuum, either. The actions of a racist storekeeper defending his "choice" to do what he wants with his store involve blacks who are unjustly kept from shopping there. The issue here is not "private morality" but civil rights - keeping innocent people from becoming victims.
What about abortion? Is it a matter of private morality, like deciding which church you're going to attend, or is it a matter of public morality - a matter of civil rights? If there's a victim involved, it's a civil rights issue.
Is there a victim involved in abortion? There are many who say that there is not...that the preborn child is just a mass of tissue, a part of the woman's body.
If this were the case, then no one would have any reason to oppose abortion any more than they would oppose tonsillectomies or appendectomies. But is that the case?
Developments in the science of fetology have given us greater opportunities than ever to learn about the preborn. We know that the baby has a completely different circulatory system than the mother, and often a different blood type. He or she has a completely different genetic code. We know that by the 21st day after conception the baby's heart has begun to beat [1]. Brain waves are detectable by day 40 [2], and movement also begins around this time [3]. By eight weeks, when a woman generally discovers she's pregnant, all body systems are present [4]. One doctor, operating on an ectopic pregnancy at eight weeks, discovered an "extremely alive," perfectly developed little person, vigorously swimming in his environment with a "natural swimmer's stroke."[5] The preborn child is unmistakably human, unmistakably alive, and unmistakably distinct from the mother.
Does the baby feel pain in an abortion? The pain mechanism has been found to be functioning in the preborn child as early as 45 days after conception. Abortion does cause pain.[6] In the film, "The Silent Scream," an actual first-trimester abortion is seen via ultrasound. The baby can be seen repeatedly moving to dodge the abortionist's suction instrument, and her heart rate doubles. As she is dismembered, her mouth opens in a silent scream. Abortion is violence - against preborn children, and against the women in whose bodies the violence takes place.
What about a woman's right to chose? It is not "choosing" that is ever an issue, but rather what is chosen. Women, like men, have the right to choose many things. We can choose our careers, where we wish to live, whether or not to engage in sexual activity, etc. However, like the racist or the rapist, we have no right to make choices that infringe upon the basic rights of others. An abortion is an act of violence which victimizes another human being, and thus is not a valid "choice."
So what would be wrong with being "personally opposed' to abortion? Well, why are you opposed to abortion? It must be because abortion takes the life of a preborn child...otherwise, there would be no reason to oppose it So how can you say "I'm opposed to taking the life of an innocent child, and I wouldn't do it myself, but I can't stop you from taking that life"? When we oppose something because it hurts someone else, we don't want anyone to do it."Personally opposed" is a cop-out.
So what's the answer to the abortion problem? Solving our problems with violence against innocent women and their children is no solution. We need to work for laws that protect the lives of all human persons, including the preborn.
But that alone isn't enough. We need to work for non-violent solutions for women with problem pregnancies. Thousands of Birthright offices, Crisis Pregnancy Centers and other pro-life help centers across the United States are providing women with the resources, support and friendship that they need to get their lives back on track. Thanks to these centers, hundreds of thousands of women each year find solutions to their pregnancies that they and their babies can live with.
