Fraters Libertas

Did Somebody Mention Abortion?

Reader Tim G. responds to my post on the Colorado abortion burials:

During local radio coverage of the burial of the remains of the aborted babies, I heard one interviewee express a very good point: why are the pro-abortionists making such a fuss? They didn't have much to say when the baby was removed from the womb, but now it's an issue?

Some people, when they discover they're pregnant, give the baby a name, and make their plans for that child to come into their lives. Rarely, but tragically, they sometimes suffer a miscarriage or the child dies from complications during childbirth. When that happens to these people, they conduct memorial services for their baby. I do not understand why the people who have elected to have an abortion, or support abortion policies, would care that someone else values what they have thrown away.

That is an excellent point. Personally, I suspect that their outrage arises to a large degree from the fact that they themselves recognize the inherent value in what they have destroyed and they'd just as soon not think about it. That others are calling attention to the fact that a human life was unceremoniously disposed of makes it harder for them to justify their actions to society and, more importantly, themselves.

If the pro-abortion crowd had their way, everyone would consider the unborn to be nothing more than worthless unviable tissue with value attributable to them if and only if they are wanted. In such a world abortion loses its stigma, human life becomes less valuable and can therefore be discarded with impunity. That's not the kind of world I want to live in.