Anna Quindlen is smart, articulate, and very liberal. She writes on the back page of Newsweek Magazine. This week, she writes what she believes is a slam-dunk against those of us who are pro-life. She asks how much jail time a women should serve if she has an abortion.In her column, she states that pro-lifers haven’t thought of this. No pro-lifer wants to send a woman to jail for having an abortion. But if abortion is murder, the mother should do time. Since no one wants this, Anna argues, abortion should continue to be legal.
This shows how wrong the whole emphasis is of those who are pro-choice. They are only thinking about the rights and dignity of the woman. Pro-lifers are concerned with preserving the rights of innocent children. The woman may be innocent in some cases, but unborn babies are always innocent.
We do not have the right to take an innocent person’s life under any circumstance, no matter how awful. It doesn’t matter how inconvenient a life is, we do not have the right to end it.
Anna demonstrates how wrong her focus is when she says, “Apparently, no one has told Justice Kennedy about the severe depression and loss of esteem that can follow bearing and raising a baby you can’t afford and didn’t want.” We clearly see that she is only thinking of the convenience of the mother, not the sanctity of life.
In response I would say, “Hundreds of families are desperate for babies; why not allow one of them to adopt the baby instead of murdering it?”
So, do I want to send women to jail if they have an abortion? Murder is murder and should never be acceptable to society. If a mother kills one of her children, she faces punishment. The mother who has an abortion should face the justice system for the same reason. There should be no distinction between a born and unborn child. We should punish anyone who takes a life. Even if the pregnancy was unwanted, or forced upon her. We should not murder innocent people because they are an inconvenience or because their life came about under dubious circumstances.
I don’t want anyone to go to jail, but if I must choose, I choose to protect innocent children. If some women have to do time, then that’s a price I’m willing to pay to preserve the sanctity of life and protect the innocent.
Will some women be harmed because they have unsafe or at-home abortions if Roe V. Wade is overturned? Yes, and I hate that, but it is not a justification to legalize the murder of innocent people.
Sorry, Anna, but your argument is a straw man.
5 comments:
But an unborn child is not a person. Yet. Just as a blossom is not a fruit. That's the flaw in your logic.
(Obvious that you are a man.) It is up to the mother to undergo labor and bring that baby into the world. If she chooses not to do so, such a decision is never made lightly. God gave us women free will and he is forgiving.
I suppose that depends on your worldview. I have a worldview that is shaped by Biblical teaching and as a result I believe that Scripture teaches that life (personhood) begins in the womb. Scripture teaches that God knit us together in our mothers womb. We are wonderfully made by Him. Scriptures also give an account of Jesus and his cousin JOhn the Baptist "communicating" while both in utero.
I realize that we may not share a similar worldview, but that's where my position on this issue is rooted. It has nothing to do with my gender...it is a conviction born out of my worldview.
As a theological aside...God gives all of us free will, but not without consequence. He is forgiving, but He is also just.
Izzy, if an unborn child is not a person, what is it? Is it not human?
A blossom is a fruit - just earlier in development. An unborn child is a human - just earlier in development.
An unborn human is a person - just earlier in potential.
Since an unborn child (funny you should call it a "child")is human, then it should be protected. Otherwise, let's throw out any notion that life is sacred, valuable, or worthy of protection.
Are you really willing to do that? And do we take advantage of God's forgiveness by deliberately doing what is wrong?
Because a decision is not made lightly, does that mean it is the right decision? Of course not.
A human fetus is a person. He or she just has not reached all aspects of personhood yet. If you kill an unborn child, you're killing a human, thus, you're killing a person.
Kevin H
Put down the remote, turn off Oprah and write something.
I would ask why you would approve of 'jail time' for a murderer. Is it not written:
Numbers 35:31
Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death.
The only proper Biblical response to any murderer, whether mother, father, doctor, or anyone else, is the punishment God has commanded: They shall surely be put to death.
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