The abortion question

Not too long ago, I suggested that an argument in favor of abortions was that the number of future felons and sociopaths would be greatly decreased. I would think that common sense, not to mention every study ever done about those people behind bars and on death row, would be enough to convince any reasonable person that babies who are not wanted do not often grow up to be model citizens. That is not to say there aren't any exceptions, but when I hear that upwards of 50 million abortions have taken place in the wake of Roe v. Wade, I frankly don't like the odds.

And please don't mention adoption as an antidote. Even those who were angriest with me admitted that they, personally, had not adopted any of those kids who had not been aborted. And if the number of abortions is as huge as they claim, I don't think even Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are prepared to pick up the slack.

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Naturally, I heard from a great many pro-lifers and, naturally, they took great delight in quoting Bible passages that proved to their satisfaction that I would spend eternity, like those Christmas chestnuts, roasting over an open fire. Needless to say, I hope they're wrong.

For the record, I don't happen to be a fan of the Supreme Court decision that made abortions lawful throughout the nation. I always regarded abortion as a state issue. Let New York decide one way; let Texas decide another.

It was only by stretching the Constitution beyond its breaking point that the nine clowns in black were able to stick their noses in this business. I think that some of the justices decided it was a federal matter because they didn't want to deprive anyone of the pursuit of happiness, and they somehow confused abortion with a warm puppy; while others regarded it as a privacy issue. Neither argument holds water. For one thing, it was the Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution, that mentioned happiness, and neither document mentions privacy. Any criminal can claim that robbing banks is just his way of pursuing happiness. And, considering that a fetus isn't self-generated by a female, it can hardly be argued that a fetus is simply an unsightly blemish that a woman can opt to remove, like a nose ring or an out-dated tattoo.

Those who contend that the human being exists at the very instant of conception lose me. So far as I'm concerned, that makes as much sense as suggesting that an acorn planted in the earth is the same as an oak tree. At conception, there is certainly the potential of a human being, a seedling if you like, but hardly a human being.

It's not just I who thinks this way, either. As I wrote to those angry zealots who wanted me to know exactly what was in store for my eternal soul, if they really believed what they said, they wouldn't be wasting their time taking me to task; instead, they'd be out shooting abortionists and blowing up their clinics. Fortunately, in spite of their red-hot rhetoric, only a tiny handful of cuckoos take the words to heart.

A few people to whom I wrote back let me know that they're content to let God dole out the appropriate punishment. With all due respect, that's a load of hooey. The fact is neither they nor I honestly believe that the abortion of a fetus in the first trimester is the same as murdering a baby. In the same way, nobody on the other side of the issue, aside from a few totally depraved feminists, actually believes that aborting a baby five minutes before it's ready to be delivered is the same as aborting it eight months earlier.

My proof that pro-lifers don't really believe their own rhetoric lies in the fact that, except on a couple of well-publicized occasions when doctors have been shot, the worst thing that an abortionist has to contend with are people picketing his workplace, even though he might be performing dozens of operations a week. Now consider a crazy man with a gun shooting kids in a park or some nut threatening to blow up a nursery school or, better yet, a maternity ward. I am willing to bet that if any member of the right-to-life crowd had the means to blow the monster out of his shoes, he or she wouldn't hesitate for a second.

That, for me, is proof that even those most concerned with the plight of the unborn see a world of difference between a fetus and a child.

As for their contention that they're content to leave it to God to dole out the appropriate punishment, how is it that it's only abortionists they say that about? When it comes to murderers, rapists, pedophiles or even, for that matter, drunk drivers, they certainly expect the legal system to throw the book at them. And I don't mean the Good Book!

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