| Abortion Choice is Everyone’s business? |
Knoxville
News-Sentinel Letters,
Monday,
September 24, 2007:
A recent writer
to your paper expressed the view that,
until
pro-lifers
are prepared to do more to
assist women1
who face great hardship
due to pregnancy, they should
mind their own business
when it comes to the
question of
allowing
abortion choice.
As tempting as it may be
to go along with allowing choice
as a way to resolve the controversy over abortion,
the issue is more complex
than that.
If there were
no question that an
innocent2
human3 life
is not being taken as a consequence of abortion,
then no one would have an issue
with allowing abortion choice.
It is this
critical question about
the life4
of the pre-born5
that has to be weighed against all claims
that abortion choice should remain
a
legal option for women
in our society.
When it comes to
the question of dealing with issues
relating to our nation’s historic commitment to the
sanctity6 of life,
there can be no conditions set on
whether or when to speak against
any and all practices
that fail to honor this most
fundamental
of human rights.7
As long as
the case for abortion choice
is being made for reasons other than
a compelling argument that
the act
is harmless,8
the current debate
over whether to permit
such choice is unquestionably
the business of every citizen of this nation.
Ken Gerstenmaier
Morristown, Tenn.
Alternatives
to Resolve the controversy over abortion:
1
“Until pro-lifers”
provide assistance
to (pregnant) women
(and the child which is born),
Mind (your)
own business,
and allow abortion choice.
This view implies the legal option to:
“assist women”1 and
prohibit
abortion choice.
The Individual Woman
can be conscripted
to protect
“the life4
of the pre-born”5
and bear the
Sacred
Child.5
This proposal nullifies the
Individual Rights
of a Pregnant woman.
The “pre-born”
offspring in the womb is alleged to be:
Human,
Living,
Sacred,
and have Rights.
“This most
fundamental
of human rights”7
is Contradictory to
legally Enforced
Pregnancy assistance.
Nazi breeding camps were
built to
assist
women1
to reproduce
the master race.
Consider
Assertions and claims
by a process of Reason.
Identify each entity
affected by
abortion choice.
The alternative is to accept
an incessant fusillade of contradictory
emotional exhortations,
and Revelation by Faith.
Statements and Claims to be considered:
2
Innocence or Guilt
of the offspring in the womb.
The
“pre-born”
is not Accused, and is not on Trial.
Relevance is not established for this Controversy.
3
Human life —
Define
the
HUMAN category—
Identify the
“pre-born”
in the context of Choice
and Rights.
4
Life —
Beginning of Life,
and
Right to Life.
5
“Pre-born”
affected entity — the offspring in the womb.
6
“Sanctity of life”—
Religion, or Reason interpret this phrase.
Is “life” Sacred— to offer for
Divine sacrifice?
Is “life” Sacred—
for purposes Chosen:
by Right
of each (Individual) Person?
Human
offspring: the
“pre-born” entity,
develops from conception, through the growth
of gestation, until Birth.
Life is continuous.
Life does not begin at conception—
from inert fragments.
By analogy: the Oak Tree develops from the
Living potential
of the Oak Seed.
The Seed is not the Tree.
Houses are not built of seeds.
The Mature Tree is the entity which is
defined by the name: “Oak Tree.”
The Oak Seed is a category of Potential —
to develop into the Oak Tree
(instead of poison ivy).
Human Potential
develops from Living Seed,
to the
Mature Human.
Summary of Elucidation:
a. The “pre-born”
entity has Potential
to develop into
a Human.
b. Birth is the transition
from “pre-born” entity, to a
Separate,
Individual Person:
a Child.
c. The Child
has the Potential to mature and develop
the Human faculty:
Volition.
Legally This is expressed in terms
of Nonage,
contrasted with the Age of Majority.
Eighteen years of age has been “our nation's historic
commitment” to a legal boundary
which defines the category of Beings -
Legal Adult Human Persons.
Adults (Persons) possess the Legal Option to choose and:
Agree to Contracts, Marry, Vote,
and Control the Activities of one's Individual Person
(Body— medical care, smoking, tattoos, etc.).
Legal distinction between the Age of Majority,
and Nonage is based on the time-span
to develop the potential of Choosing.
The Option to choose is not
Legally Recognized for a “Minor.”
Adult Parents (or Legal Guardians)
exercise Legal Control of Minors,
and the “pre-born” entity.
d. “Human” Identity
is defined by the activity: Volition.
The Mature (Individual) Person
has developed the capability
to Choose—
Volition; and is defined to be
“Human.”
Does a “Minor” or the
“pre-born” entity have Rights?
e. The Child is an Individual Human
and has Rights.
f. The “pre-born”
entity is Not
an Individual.
7
The “pre-born”
entity does Not
have Rights.
Question
of allowing abortion choice?
8
“The case for abortion choice”
is made—
to harm
the “pre-born”
“Life.”
“It is this critical
question”
“about the life of the
pre-born”
“that has to be weighed”
to resolve the controversy over the
legal option to allow
Choice
of abortion.
Choice is the Context
of the claims asserted about Rights
and the “pre-born” life.
Government exercises
a Legal Monopoly of Enforcement.
It is noteworthy that Suicide remains in dispute. Dr. Kervorkian
was convicted for assisting those who chose to extinguish their
own Life— the life in their own Body— which they have the Right,
and Legal Option to control in every other respect.
The American Declaration of Independence
and United States Constitution stated: The Right —
of Individuals to mind their own business.
Only Individual Human Beings have Rights.
Is the “pre-born” entity
Individual
Human Life?
The French Revolution:
for Liberty, Equality, and
(collective) Human Rights
was a bloody slaughter —
similar to the American Civil War.
The American War for Independence —
established “this most fundamental of ”
Individual Rights: the Right to Life.
The French Revolution
was fought for “human rights”—
(Each) “choice is unquestionably the business
of every citizen of this nation.”
Resolution of this controversy:
Stated claims —
Contradict other stated claims;
are Not Relevant; and are
made with InValid Premises.
Certiorori Denied.
The only
Individual
Human Being in this controversy,
the only Person: is the
Woman.
She is the pregnant Human Being.
The “pre-born” entity
is a living part of
her body.
The Woman did not swallow a separate
“pre-born” entity
(as the whale swallowed Jonah).
The Woman has the
Individual Right
to control her own body.
The Woman has an exclusive Right to
Choose Abortion.
Q.E.D.
|