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ABORTION: Fetus worthy of protection

| March 10, 2010 5:39 AM

There have been a number of letters recently — pro-life vs. pro-choice.  

The favorite pro-choice argument is, “A woman should be able to control her own body”.  I couldn’t agree more, and she might start by refraining from having relations.  

The developing fetus is not “her body”. It is in her body. Is it alive? Yes, from the moment of conception. Is it human? Check the DNA. So there is no argument as to whether it is a human life.  The only question then is, “Is it worthy of protection?”

How can one reconcile the following? A doctor and a woman decide to abort (kill) a developing fetus, which is found to be acceptable — no protection of the fetus. On the other hand, a drunk driver hits a car driven by a pregnant woman. The woman survives, but the unborn child is killed. The driver is charged with manslaughter. This is consistent? Is the fetus worthy of protection or not? Is its demise manslaughter or not? One cannot have it both ways. 

DEAN HAAGENSON

Coeur d’Alene

ABORTION: Just

look up ‘life’

Alec Ferguson, I have to respond to your letter published on March 3.

Webster’s dictionary defines LIFE as: “That property of plants and animals (ending at death and distinguishing them from inorganic matter) which makes it possible to take in food, get energy from, grow, etc.”

Our granddaughter and her husband are eight weeks pregnant. Their first child is about the size of a raspberry, is taking in nutrients through an umbilical cord via the placenta, has a working brain, a beating heart, arms and legs, and is already moving. We will be able to hear our great grandbaby’s heartbeat very shortly. In less than four weeks an ultrasound can tell us whether this child is a boy or a girl.

These facts are easily available in any biology textbook and on all Internet pregnancy websites.

Alec, as soon as a sperm and egg unite they start to grow, to multiply. (Webster’s definition of LIFE.) By the eighth week of gestation a baby has grown beyond the “zygote” stage becoming a “fetus”. This child has been alive for eight weeks, the stage of pregnancy when abortions (causing death) are common by your own admission. Your denial of scientific fact is astonishing.

Sorry, Alec, your very defensive rationalization for aborting (killing) a fetus just doesn’t make sense. Enduring a few months of inconvenience in order to grow a baby, and deliver that child into a loving family is a logical choice. A woman who believes that mothering her child beyond its first nine months of life is not valid for her, has to make a life altering decision for both herself and the baby’s father. May it be an informed one.

DON and BERNADETTE HADDLETON

Post Falls

ABORTION: Fetus

is real person too

Alec, Mr. Holliday was not attacking women but was making a case for the most defenseless ones among us: pre-born human beings. He does not assume “that fetuses are babies....” He KNOWS they are! A womb is an exquisitely designed home, snug, warm and usually safe for a baby to grow to term. All the genetic components are contained within that fetus-baby to form a living, breathing human being.

Babies have personality, suffer pain and react to outside stimulus from early fetal formation. Look at the videos of in utero babies reacting to saline abortions or any other form of removal of  “the products of conception”. Abortion is not a victimless, painless decision.

You make the argument that every woman, and only that woman, has the right to decide if she will “endure a pregnancy”. What about father’s rights? Have you ever talked to a dad whose heart was broken over a baby who was aborted without his consent? Doesn’t he have some say in whether his child lives or not? Some women have an “painless” abortion based on the lies which you believe. Only after the fact do they come face-to-face with post traumatic stress disorder and the realization that they killed their own baby, not just some impersonal fetus.The emotional aftermath of an abortion is almost as horrifying as the abortion itself.

We adopted our two children. Their birthmothers are feisty, courageous, and strong women.  They chose not to sweep the “fun of having sex” under the rug by aborting fetuses. They “endured” pregnancies with fear and shame, joy and hope, including us in that experience. Our daughter has her birthmother’s spock-like ears and loves horses just like her birthfather.  Our son hates tomatoes and loves motorcycles, just like his birthmother. He’s a farmer at heart just like his birthfather.

We have children and grandchildren today as a result of two women who believed that their babies were not inanimate fetuses. They had enough self-respect and selflessness to “endure the pregnancies” for the sake of the life within them.

Alec, I am sorry that you are so defensive about this issue. Your sarcasm and bitterness simply hide a hurting, wounded heart. Honoring life produces life and healing. May you learn how to honor life and receive the healing that you need.

LINDA LEMIEUX

Post Falls