An inconsistent ethic of death
So goes one of the arguments on the left against capital punishment. And truly, it's not that bad of an argument, even if I disagree with it. The purpose of this post isn't to argue for or against the death penalty; rather, it's to point out that the left refuses to apply its own standard to other situations of equal moral weight.
The left is quick to use even the smallest possibility of innocence to oppose the death penalty--"What if we're wrong?" they cry hysterically. Yet they refuse to even consider restricting abortion on the grounds of the smallest (and increasingly bigger) possibility that the fetus is human, and therefore deserving the full protection of constitutional rights.
And the humanity of the fetus is all the left is hanging on; once that blob of tissue is established as an individual human life, the left's cover will be blown and they will be forced to change or admit that, to them, convenience and the vague "right to privacy" actually trumps the explicit constitutional right to life.
When it comes to abortion, the left likes anecdotes, especially emotional ones that really get your tear glands working overtime; ones that almost make you think, "Man, her situation was so bad, she just had to get an abortion!" Well, I've got an anectdote for you lefties, and this one is an example of how good came come out of even rape:
Raped and pregnant at 17, a senior in high school in a small northwestern Minnesota town, Staci Jenson had some big decisions to make.Tags: abortion, death penalty, rape, pregnancy, democrats, liberal hypocricyThe summer before her senior year, she was hanging out at the local fair and was given a nonalcoholic drink by someone. "I don't know what happened after that," she said. When she woke up she realized she had been sexually assaulted...
But even many opponents of abortion say they make an exception for a woman who is raped. Jenson doesn't. "I was given the gift of pregnancy," Jenson said.
Despite the fact that she was pregnant by a man she didn't know who raped her, Jenson said she never considered abortion. She grew up in a family that attended a nondenominational church, and her Christian upbringing reinforced in her the idea that abortion was wrong, Jenson said.
She herself almost shouldn't be here, Jenson said. With two older children and a marriage that was not going well nearly 30 years ago, Jenson's mother, pregnant again, thought it was too much."My mom went to get me aborted, but she stopped."
She did think about adoption. Her father even found a family in Thief River Falls who was looking to adopt privately.
"I chose not to terminate my baby," Jenson said. "I chose to keep my baby. That was my heart."
Her son will be 10 years old in March. When talking about him, Jenson has to pause to regain her composure.
"I couldn't imagine terminating him," she said in a quavering voice.
She has begun speaking publicly about her experience and counsels other women facing difficult pregnancy decisions, Jenson said.
"I tell them it's not just about her," Jenson said. "There's so much more involved...I had a living baby growing inside of me. What is more precious than that?"
posted by Seth at 11:07 PM
8 Comments:
Read Freakonomics, dude. More abortions, less violent crime, less need for the death penalty.
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That had better be some sort of a joke Victor--not that I laughed. Obviously if abortion is wrong, we need to prevent it from happening, even if we get some alleged good our of it later. Allowing evil to triumph to prevent a "greater good" is shaky moral ground.
Seth, have you ever read "The Atonement Child"? It's a fictional story the comes eerily close to the one you presented. I'd suggest checking it out, or better yet, recommending it to people.
Interesting you should bring that up, Wiser. I haven't read it, but I've heard a lot about it from my girlfriend and her friends. Apparently it's a very powerful book. I think the same author wrote another book, a modern love story re-telling the book of Hosea.
As far as I know the "lefties" aren't against people making the decision to remain pregnant. Whether it's a rapist's baby, your dad's, or your husband's, if you wanna keep it, go right ahead. Some people's lives are improved by children. These people tend to not have terribly lofty goals for themselves, or have had a hard time getting love from other people so they actually enjoy making a person who will have no choice but to love them unconditionally.
All that the "lefties" want is the right to choose whether you want that to happen to you or not. I for one am not even arguing whether or not a fetus is life. I am arguing that a 14+ year old life, is worth more than a two month old life. If there were a forked train track and the 2 month old fetus was on one track, and the 14 year old girl were on the other and you had to throw the switch, which would you chose? Personally I go with the one that's had the most experiences, the one that has the most friends, and the one that would experience the greatest suffering. Say that we were chosing between a 2 year old child, and a 14 year old... that's a difficult. But a fetus doesn't have the brain complexity of a cat, and you wouldn't think twice about flipping the switch to kill the cat.
All human life is intrinsically valuable, regardless of what state of development it is in. This view is based on natural law and Biblical revelation. Without such an affirmation of intrinsic human worth, there is no moral justification for prohibiting any murder, including abortion.
As a conservative, I am all for giving people more control over their personal affairs and getting the government out. But I also believe in a right more fundamental to "privacy": our constitutional right to life. If there is any doubt whatsoever that the fetus is not human, then the government has not only the right, but the responsibility to err on the side of life, and to protect and preserve all innocent human life. So in this case, I want the government to "intrude" into the lives of pregnant women.
The cat = fetus argument is utterly ridiculous.
None of this would be a problem if we had free birth control and universal health care.
Two points. First, Loyal, free birth control doesn't mean people are going to use it and even when used properly there are still going to be incidents--however rare--when abortion is needed to clean up the mess.
I want to thank Jesse for being intellectually honest. I think your stance is wrong, but at least you admit that you will accept the murder of a fetus so that someone else can live.
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