Letters to the Editor
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Kalliope
No apologies necessary - I wanted to clarify things and I think that was done - I should thank you, instead!
I agree that the caliber of debate here was quite high, at least once the pro-choice flamers got tired of writing me nasty posts. Thanks to all of you - I've definitely learned things and at the same time clarified my own position.
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Is the editor on vacation?
Ain't nobody had a starred letter since mine about 4 days ago. Now I agree that mine was brilliant, but this has been an exceptionally civil and thoughtful thread, and it would be nice if the editor would recognize that and do some editing, for heaven's sake.
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To all- My appologies on terminology
Anna- thanks and God bless you and God bless the Democratic Party! Let's take back this country from pilaging, cash-loving, people-hating war-mongering Repubs!
To Annonomous and others- point well taken on terminology and I'll be more circumspect in the future...
I sometimes over-romanticize my language and rhetoric in terms of pregnant PEOPLE... it's somewhat incendiary, I acknowledge, when I refer to those women as mommies and their fetuses as bouncing happy babbies...
Look, parenting, honestly, often, is just a drag. Kids are expensive, demanding, often frankly impossible.
My daughter is now 22 and for the most part was a joy to be with- but there were TIMES. Man.
Okay. In any event, in order to help to focus the conversations on stuff we can agree on and make progress with and to not try to hit anyone's hot buttons, I will do all I can to limit talk of mommies, babies, killing... blah and blah.
I got it. Thanks all.
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Mississippi burning??
In 1964, it was a black's right to vote. Now, its a women's right to choose. I guess the fascist undercurrant of that state will never die. I wonder what it looks like to the rest of the world?
What's the differnece between Mississippi and Afghanistan under the Taliban??
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Two Cents
There are no more stars because we are the last characters to exit this one-act play. The house is black, one stage light burns. The audience left long ago, on to the next show.
It seems odd that A parent is enthusiastic about the Democratic Party after all he has written here. I left the Republican Party, and there is no place to call home now, politically. And yet, the Democratic Party is more contemptible than the Republican.
Much of this is reflecting upon thoughts of Kaliope.
The term fetus is an impersonal term for an individual mammal before birth. While applied scientifically to humans, fetus is correct, but in common usage it suggests an entity less than fully human, or less than a person—a subhuman. Kid, kitten, shoat, chick, cub, puppy, foal, calf, cygnet, whelp and so on are names of young ones of various species. Child equals baby human.
It could be a mistake (ethically) to assume that pre-born children have no sense of self in the last few months of pregnancy. Less than a newborn, certainly, but some. But who is to say that a sense of self is a criterion by which a human lives or dies? And how much is enough? Some “ethicists” suggest that newborns may be killed, and on up to a few months after birth. Except for attachment to the mother, birth is an arbitrary point to grant rights of personhood. A human fetus/pre-born child normally has all the sense of self he/she is required to have.
There is evidence that a pre-born human does have some sense of survival, as during abortion or other irritable stimulus the child will react. Some fetologists insist that this is reflexive only, but they protest too quickly and too roundly. There may be more than reflexes—it could be pain. Even in adults aspects of survival are reflexive. But who says that sense of survival is a criterion by which to judge whether a human may be killed or not? Many adults lose their sense of survival, especially under stress or starvation conditions, or in deep despair. Likewise, level of mourning should not be a measure of another’s humanness or personhood.
Many thousands of women (and men) mourn the loss of children by abortion, and miscarriage. Pro-abortion/choice people do injury to such women by trivializing or dismissing this.
Again, I think it is dangerous (to one’s heart) to assume that there is nothing to know in a pre-born child. Taking a chance with analogy: Say you are told that a person is coming to visit you, and this person is a relative you never have met. Who would say that there is nothing to know? Or, here is a wrapped Christmas present. Who would say that there is nothing to know inside the package? A child in the womb is a distinct, unique creature, many of whose physical/mental features are determined at fertilization. A female human fetus at an early stage (eight weeks) already has the very cells that will produce her offspring. (Video of live children in the womb at eight weeks show them busily moving their limbs and moving around, opening and closing their mouths, and they are “cute” even.) A question is whether a parent will allow him/herself to be attached, or has the attachment been aborted or never conceived.
Biologically an oocyst and a spermatozoon are just that--human haploids who live their short lives and die, or who combine with each other to form an individual human being.
(A sideline. Consider this idea: The potential of a quality or ability is a form of that quality or ability. Or, the potential for personhood (whatever that is) is a form of personhood. Egg and sperm have the potential become a human being. A human embryo at the earliest stage has the potential to use human language, to fly an airplane, to play the violin. The nascent (potential) form of those activities is essential to those activities, and it is the same for what we call personhood.)
I think that what happens in much debate/argument/wrangling about abortion (and particularly from the pro-abortion/choice side) is based not on carefully considered objective reasoning, but rather carefully considered reasoning (or vicious personal attacks) in defense of one’s behavior, of one’s decisions, of one’s life as lived. At this point I may not have constructed a documented case, but hear me out because this is my belief (for what it is worth.): much defense of abortion is self-justification in the face of felt (or suppressed) guilt.
A writer here who narrated three poignant “abortion stories” concluded each with the question. “What would you advise?” Two were about abortion. To the two I would have said, “Let your baby live; let me help you.” To the other woman whose baby died after birth, I probably would say nothing unless I had standing. (An acquaintance of mine had a similar experience. They counted their daughter’s brief life a blessing.) People don’t just suddenly walk up to the Golden Gate Bridge and jump off. They make ill decisions that change them, and then the changed persons make more bad choices and they and their circumstances alter further, and until there may follow a dramatic break. When a suicidal person jumps, it is a small step, and it seems their only option. And with unwanted pregnancy and abortion one can either begin to stop the downward spiral, or keep spinning and take part in the death of a child—and I am talking about the majority of cases. Surely there are exceptions.
I will wrap this commentary with one final remark. There is a beautiful book, a short work of fiction that has been made into a radio drama and a film. The title is Tilly. Author, Frank Peretti. Check Barnes and Noble. The story is about forgiveness and healing after abortion.