Published December 03, 1999
Updated Thursday, 02-Dec-1999 23:54:00 EST
I have procrastinated about writing a column on abortion for several months. In part, this is because it is an issue that I care so strongly about that I want to be clear and not waste a single word. At the same time, it is a topic that is so controversial that many people will not seriously consider opinions with which they already disagree; people are in their respective camps and plan to stay there no matter what I write.
Columnists must be prepared to suffer the repercussions of stating unpopular opinions. If their opinions are viewed as extreme, columnists must accept that they will become objects of hate mail and derision in the near future. They do not have to like it, but when they feel that something needs to be said, they must accept the consequences of vocalizing their opinion. Choices have consequences.
It is often said that the abortion issue hinges on one question: Is an unborn child a living human being? If the answer is yes, then abortion is the murder of an unborn human being. If the answer is no, then abortion is the extraction of tissue that would one day become a human being from a women that would one day be the mother of that human being. I believe that the answer our society has given to this question is one by which future generations will judge us; I do not believe that it will be a favorable judgement.
The right to life is an issue that seems very obvious to many of us with reference to ourselves, but it is very easy to ignore with reference to those we can be convinced are not human. Centuries ago, there were those that considered the American Indians sub-human, and who therefore felt it was justified to kill them in atrocious ways in order to obtain their land.
The Cherokee "Trail of Tears" is the most famous example of many atrocities that we today claim we would never support, but we are not living in a culture that repeatedly emphasizes that American Indians are not really human.
As a person of Cherokee descent, it has always horrified me that my ancestors were treated so cruelly. I used to wonder how it could be that anyone could treat a fellow human so terribly, apparently without feeling the slightest bit of guilt. Then one day, I realized that no one views themselves as the bad guys; they felt justified because those they were hurting did not enjoy the same rights that they did.
It is always a difficult thing to compare a modern day issue like abortion to an issue of the past about which nearly everyone alive agrees. However, I would assert that we agree because we have culturally come to understand that those who were persecuted in the past always were human beings and that it was wrong of past generations to treat them as they did. Our culture understands today that American Indians enjoy the full quality of life, even if our government once said otherwise.
The answer of whether an unborn child is a living human being is ultimately not a matter of opinion; it has a right or wrong answer. We have tried, as a society, to answer with a public opinion poll a question that is not decided by public opinion. Whatever the answer, it is an absolute that must apply in all cases of pregnancy.
Earlier in this column, I asked the question "Is an unborn child a human being?" While it is obvious that my own answer to this question is emphatically yes, I want to consider the ambiguity of the question itself for a moment.
Do we want a society in which a person is innocent until proven guilty, or assumed guilty until proven innocent? Well, our legal system is based on the idea that the burden of proof is upon those that would attempt to penalize those whose guilt is in doubt. It is therefore questionable to me that we can apply a different standard to those that are unborn. Do we want a society in which a person is assumed to be a living human being until proven inhuman, or assumed inhuman until proven to be a living human being? I do not feel there should be any question but that we must assume that the unborn child is human rather than make the mistake of past generations.
When a person looks upon a great crime and says nothing, they have become accessories to the crime. And, if future generations someday decide that unborn children are living human beings the way that we today have decided that American Indians are, we must accept the verdict of history against ourselves.
Of the verdict of God, I will not even speculate.
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