In a recent column, Paul Thompson argued that an unborn child is not a person and implied that the unborn child is not a human life deserving protection.
Saying the state should not have a say in abortion is ignoring two facts. First, the state already had a say in abortion by allowing the procedures. Second, we, the citizens, are the state. What Thompson and others are actually arguing here is that pro-life supporters should not be allowed to exercise their rights to work to change the law.
Thompson suggests that allowing such a change “removes the decision-making power on abortion issues from the affected people …” This argument can only be acceptable if one completely dehumanizes the human life most affected by abortion.
Unfortunately, dehumanizing the unborn is a common tactic of abortion supporters. If human life begins at birth, and the unborn are not really people, well then there is no problem with abortion.
The truth is that from the moment of conception a human life is present and developing. This developmental process has but one successful outcome, the birth of the child. It is important to note that the developmental process does not end at birth, nor does the child’s dependence on others for its survival end at birth.
That people could argue that an unborn child is not yet a human life or a person illustrates the effectiveness of the dehumanizing tactics. To further illustrate how effective these tactics are, I ask you to mentally apply the same argument that life does not begin until birth to nonhuman life forms.
During the recent BP disaster in the Gulf, oil was approaching beaches used by nesting sea turtles to lay their eggs. At tremendous financial cost, great efforts were made to painstakingly dig out and carefully transport turtle eggs to safe beaches. Why save the eggs unless the eggs are turtles in a stage of development? You save the eggs because you want to save the turtles. I don’t recall any debate about whether these sea turtle eggs were turtles or would be turtles. The logic seemed simple. Why isn’t the logic so simple when it comes to unborn people?
Joseph Phelps is the chair of the department of advertising and public relations.
