The London Times has an article on the fact that fifty babies survive—survive—abortions in the UK every year. A young woman named Gianna Jessen, who 28 years ago survived an attempt on her life, asks, “If abortion is about women’s rights, then what were my rights?” Regrettably, she had none. No, that’s not quite true—she did indeed have the inalienable right to life, but 28 years ago, no one respected it. No one acknowledged it. No one protected it—not even her mother.
Of all the human relationships in this world, surely that between mother and child is the most important. Surely it is the one in which we can be guaranteed to find pure, selfless love. One would think that, but sadly, it isn’t the case. Consider this:
Paul Clarke, a neonatal intensive care specialist in Norwich, has treated a boy born at 24 weeks after three failed abortion attempts. The mother decided to keep the child, who is now two years old but is suffering what doctors call “significant ongoing medical problems”.
Three failed abortion attempts? And now this boy has “significant ongoing medical problems.” Sooner or later this boy will learn that he isn’t healthy. He will naturally wonder why. Will his mother—who thrice tried to wipe him out of existence—tell him the real reason? How will she tell him? “Well, honey, you see, I tried to keep you from being born because I didn’t want you in my life. You were inconvenient. I tried three times to get rid of you but I eventually decided to keep you around after all, dear. and, well, in trying to get rid of you, you got injured, and that’s why you’re always sick.” Surely we would not be surprised to find this boy refusing to celebrate Mothers’ Day.
These survivors are in some way analogous to the Holocaust survivors. They remind us of the hideous, ugly secret of abortion: that it is the taking of an innocent life, whether a future life or a present life. Gianna Jessen would not be here if her mother had succeeded in killing her. The three-attempt survivor would not be here if his mother had succeeded in her considerable determination to eliminate him. These survivors speak for the millions who are quietly killed every year throughout the world.
“If abortion is about women’s rights, then what [are] my rights?” they ask.
technorati tags: abortion, politics, ethics, murder, death, culture, society, infanticide
