Monday, July 2, 2007

Abortion Is in Retreat All Over the Land

Caveat emptor. Let the buyer beware. If it's good enough when buying a car or cigarettes, why shouldn't it also be useful when deciding whether a woman wants to have an abortion? A defective car could kill you tomorrow or cigarettes in 20 years; there is no certainty of either event occurring but sufficient evidence to suggest that such an outcome is not to be discounted. An abortion, of course, is terminal in every instance. Once a baby has been vaccuumed into a bloody mess or hacked to pieces by the abortionist, there is no putting it back together again. Therefore it is important that a prospective mother considering an abortion know exactly what her decision entails. A decision that she will have to live with for 50 or 60 years or more should not be made casually or in the absence of facts. The primary fact about abortion is that the fetus is a living human being who is no different from what we ourselves were once, undergoing a natural process which is inevitable in the realization of life, without which, indeed, there is no life.

A new law was enacted and takes effect on July 1st in the states of Georgia and Mississippi which requires that prior to the performance of an abortion the mother must be provided with the opportunity to see an ultrasound or sonogram image of the fetus and be allowed to listen to its heartbeat. Of course if the pregnant woman chooses not to see the proof of her baby's humanity, she may proceed to affirm man's inhumanity by sentencing it to death without judge or jury. Just as in court evidence of a crime is presented before the judge can render a sentence, here the evidence is also presented prior to the execution of the sentence. The mother, then, sits in judgment and decides for herself whether to apply or not the only sentence applicable in this case: life or death. If society is so demeaned and debased as to allow a sentence of death to be rendered on one who is as manifestly innocent of any crime as a child in the womb is, then at least accord the mother the opportunity to make an informed decision, in the presence of the facts rather than in their absence. Let life plead for life in the only way it can — by asserting its humanity. Let the mother be afforded one last chance to save her baby and herself from the consequences of such a course of action.

I would go one step farther. I would also mandate that those considering abortion be presented with the chance to view pictures or videos of aborted babies. Let them see the beheaded torso, the limbs forcefully torn from the body, a body that is as perfectly formed as theirs and in their image. Let them decide then, in the presence of the evidence, whether they are capable of such an act. For the onus is on them. If pictures of such butchery are horrible to see, how much more horrible must it be to suffer and perish by such an atrocity? If the baby is to endure it in its flesh and bone, let the mother at least see with her eyes what abortion entails and what she may yet avert.

There is no doubt that the evil of abortion is in retreat everywhere in this land. The Supreme Court decision outlawing the most horrible varient of it, known as partial birth abortion, where the baby is murdered in cold blood after it has already exited the birth canal, did at least set a limit on permissible cruelty. Little by little the threshold on cruelty will be narrowed till abortion will no longer be available on demand but shall only be regarded as the last recourse in saving the life of the mother. Only to save existing life can viable life ever be sacrificed, and medicine has advanced to such a point that such a choice is now rare indeed and soon there will be no medical justification for abortion. Then the question will become as it largely is now — Is murder justifiable for convenience's sake and to elude responsibility?

42 comments:

Sharpshooter said...

Manuel,
Excellent post. As we have been accostumed to read from your articles, like we say in Spanish, "pusiste el dedo en la llaga". I say that because I do not know the equivalent for that phrase in English. It should be mandatory for mothers to hear the heartbeat of the fetus and then, let them make the decision to terminate or preserve its life. As you say, let the onus be on them to make the decision to end its life if the do after hearing its heartbeat and let them live with their concience. Abortion in my opinion, is nothing but wholesale murder on demand. Perhaps if the mother hears that life beating inside her, she might think and reconsider the horrible decision she is about to undertake. As an asidual reader of your blog, I will like to extend my congratulations on this excellent post. Is comforting to read such honest words in the defense of those who are most defenseless in the world. Keep up the good work. Again,my heartfelt congratulations for your brave and honest words.

Manuel A.Tellechea said...

Agustín:

To fight abortion is my debt to humanity.

To fight Castro is my debt to my countrymen.

Your words of encouragement mean a great deal to me.

Steve ("Klotz" As In "Blood") said...

Gentlemen: The law is yet another instance of a government condescending to women, rendering them second-class citizens incapable of determining their own destinies without interference by an unwanted authority.

However, Manny, I'm pleased to see you've finally come around to the position I urged upon you in previous exchanges: conceeding that indeed, the ultimate choice of the fetus's disposition belongs to the woman.

bookster said...

Manuel

If we approach this the way you are proposing, which is very rational there's not need for the politicos to debate this.

The woman is made aware of the choice she is about to make and the ramifications of her choice and the decision is left up to her.

I think what's missing is that society does not hold people accountable for their bad choices, i would have a national abortion database to track repeat abortions and impose some sort of penalty to repeat offences.

Steve ("Klotz" As In "Blood") said...

Corgi: I am confident, given my own personal involvement with women who have chosen abortions (as well as those who have chosen against one), that those who do are well aware of the choice they make. Some kind of big brother apparatus to trace their behavior -- and calling that behavior an "offense" -- is exactly the kind of totalitarian approach practiced by such regimes as are found in China, Russia, and Cuba.

Do you not see this, really?

bookster said...

Steve

Freedom without responsability leads to anarchy. I'm all for live and let live but within boundaries.

Somehow you need to hold people accountable for bad or destructive behavior, the greater good needs to kick in somwhere.

We do that with drink/drive, speeding, sex offenders. We did it to Paris Hilton the poster child of bad behavior, We did it to IMUS, Why not repeat abortion offenders?

Sharpshooter said...

Steve,
may I ask what would you call murder? Is it not an offense? Or do we only call it murder when it is done to children and adults but not babies? Those who have not say on the matter and are totally defenseless, are they not entitled to the protection of the law same as those others? Just because abortion on demand is the law of the land, the so called right to choose, it does not mean is not wrong. Once slavery was also the law of the land, people had slaves and it was legal, and yet today our thinking has evolved and one will dispute that it was wrong to enslave another human being simply because he came from Africa and the color of his skin was different. Of course I might be looking at it from the christian perspective and I know that is old fashioned nowadays in today's secular world.

Steve ("Klotz" As In "Blood") said...

Corgi: I don't know anybody on either side of the issue who disagrees with the thought that freedom requires responsibility. A woman who chooses an abortion is as responsible for her decision as a parent who makes a decision on behalf of her child. She lives with the consequences.

The term "repeat abortion offenders" is merely an insult. For what it's worth, I knew one woman who had 5 abortions, 4 of which resulted even after birth control precautions. What is her offense? Sex?

Augustin: Certainly you believe that abortion is murder. It's a value judgment, not a scientific finding, and subject to moral debate. While I agree that abortion kills, I disagree that it's murder. What you are killing in the case of an abortion is not yet a person, and only persons can be murdered.

I submit to you that responsible adults make decisions for all sorts of "defenseless" persons, including their own children, or elderly parents, or incapacitated loved ones. These decisions might include ending a life. These life-and-death decisions are part of the human condition, and they belong primarily to the individuals involved, not to third parties or governments. It is choice and freedom at a crucial moment in a trying time.

Sharpshooter said...

Steve,
how can you say that "What you are killing in the case of an abortion is not yet a person, and only persons can be murdered."?
If you have looked at a sonogram ultrasound you would have seen a person with a beating heart, limbs, eyes and other organs. I sure did when I saw my son and my daughter in the womb. This was a living human being with life! He/she might not have been out of the mother's womb yet, but nevertheless it was living soul in our own image. It is apalling to hear that these fetuses are yet entitled to life and are not persons. Yes, according to the law there are not considered people yet, but one look at that ultrasound picture will tell you different. And the law is not always right, there is a higher law than man's.
In fact if a child survives after being only 6 months into the gestation period, it is an early birth, yes, but is a person.
Or is it that we have become so callous that only after that life exits through the birth canal, is it then considered a person? As a christian I cannot condone or approve of abortions or euthanasia. It is my belief that life was given by God and should only be taken by him. This is strictly His will and as a believer in God I cannot endorse murder under any type of euphemism, be it that an abortion or euthanasia. Others might think different and I respect their opinions although I may not agree with them, but I cannot in good conscience see abortions and euthanaisa as anything other than murder by just another name.

bookster said...

Steve

5 abortions?? Responsible Adult?? Out of Control maybe, do you think?

Manuel A.Tellechea said...

Steve:

While I am against abortion, I am not for storming abortion clinics. In fact, I believe women need privacy to make a choice which society should never have forced upon them in the first place. I only ask that they be provided with all the facts so that they can make (hopefully) the humane and intelligent choice (which is life). Of course, I am in favor of a constitutional amendment to ban abortion; but until that day, I am resigned to support Georgia and South Carolina's full-disclosure provisions and trust that conscience will supply the place of law. If all murder were legalized I would also trust that man's better angels would prevail over man's baser instincts.

Manuel A.Tellechea said...

Agustín:

Yes, five abortions has something in it that smacks of the Final Solution.

If sex for Steve's friend means having serial abortions, then, yes, she should stop having sex until she learns how to avoid pregnancy.

Manuel A.Tellechea said...

Agustín:

Interestingly, the law does sometimes consider a fetus to be a living human being on a par with any other. If a criminal shoots at a pregnant woman and kills the baby in her womb, he is charged with murder even if the woman herself survives.

Vana said...

Oh my! what have I come into, this debate is quite scary, what can I say, I'm a WOMAN, is very nice to have a bunch of men, making the laws, and telling us what we can do with our bodies, it is our bodies you know, I'm pro abortion, sorry, hope I don't dissapoint anyone, even though I myself have never had one, sometimes you as a woman gotta make that choice, what I do not agree with, is using abortion as a means of birth control, some women do you know, but trust me they have to live with that decision, they have to live with that guilt, if you deny women legal abortions, they will still do it, only it will be done in dirty back alleys, with dirty instruments, and dirty hands, and then the laws will kill both, the mother and the fetus, if you are gonna have a baby, to physically, sexually and mentaly abuse it, then sorry but I must say, it's better off dead, abortion is as old as the oldest profession, it has been with us for canturies, when it was first made legal, women heaved a sigh of relief.

Vana said...

Steve
Any woman that has had five abortions, does not have a heart

Anonymous said...

Not to take a swipe at Vana or any woman, abortion is murder. If a woman is going to have sex, she'd better know the main purpose: to create another life. Personal responsibility is lacking in today's world on so many levels. I think some people see abortion as any easy way out of a "consequence" (sickening some people see an unborn kid like that) that resulted of sex. Take some personal responsibility and realize what you're (the you is generic here, btw) doing when you have sex.

Manuel A.Tellechea said...

Vana:

And her mind (not to mention other regions) cannot be the better for it, either.

Manuel A.Tellechea said...

What would one say about someone whose pleasure resulted in another's human being's pain?

The enormity of abortion is not lost on most women. It has been observed that almost all women leave the abortion clinic in tears. I do not know of any similar reaction to any other optional medical procedure.

It is better that those pangs of conscience and those tears should come before the abortion than after. Showing the prospective client for an abortion an ultrasound picture of her baby and allowing her to listen to its heartbeat will no doubt be a traumatic experiencve for some, but better a few tears then than a lifetime of regrets and shame.

Something else to consider: In many cases it is not the woman herself who wants an abortion but the boyfriend or her parents or the boyfriend's parents. In such a case even an underage girl should have the right to assert control of her own body by rejecting outside pressure to do the "convenient" or "expedient" thing. Putting to death all criminals would certainly be convenient and expedient but we don't do it because it would also be inhumane. An unborn baby should at least have the same expectation of life as the criminal does. Society places restraints on its behavior when deciding the most important question of all — whether to take somebody's life, which is the ultimate deprivation of freedom.

Abortion also is an instrument of repression which totalitarian societies use to control artificially population growth because they squander their resources or do not know how to use them effectively on behalf of all their people. That's why we have the demographically disastrous "one-child policy" in China and preemptive abortion in Cuba, where mothers are forced to abort potentially "imperfect" babies whose birth (and expected death) might increase the regime's vaunted infant mortality rate.

Racists in this country also use abortion as a means of controlling the growth of minorities. Indeed, the "mother" of abortion (that's about the most ironic of all expressions), Margaret Sanger, advocated its use to reduce and eventually make extinct African-Americans and other "undesirables." In fact she wrote articles in Nazi eugenics journals calling for the use of abortion as a means of "purification of the race."

Vana said...

Matt:
Why is it always the woman that has to take birth control pills, or shove some inanimate object in her vigina, so she doesn't become pregnant? where is tha man's resposibility in all this? most men won't wear condoms, if the woman becomes pregnant, the first thing most men say, it's not my kid, it's her fault, a woman straddled with three or four kids, most often will have to make those decisions by herself, where's the man? out getting some other woman pregnant, always the finger gets pointed at us, we are the ones that get pregnant, not you guys, and is not fair,for you to judge us like that.
As I said before, I do not agree with a woman using abortion as a means for birth control, but if one is needed, better it be done in a clean enviroment, than in some dirty back alley

Vana said...

Some women need to be smarter, I was, I had two children, and because my husband refused to have it done, I had my tubes tied when I was 24 years old, I decided I didn't want anymore children, I was not about to have any abortions, so I took control, there are way too many stupid women out there, who open their legs to anyone that comes along, end up having too many babies, that will be abused, who grow up to be serial killers, because of the abuse they suffered at their parents side, just look at the headlines, too many children are abused and killed, better to die when you are a fetus, than to be given life to be treated like a piece of shit.

Manuel A.Tellechea said...

Vana:

There is always adoption as an option. If a mother can't love her own baby, then she should let somebody else love it.

Anonymous said...

Vana,
the man has as much responsibility as the woman. Both need to realize what they're doing. Sorry for not clarifying that.

Steve ("Klotz" As In "Blood") said...

Another day, another abortion debate.

Augustin: Yes, according to the law there are not considered people yet, but one look at that ultrasound picture will tell you different. And the law is not always right, there is a higher law than man's.

There is no law "higher" than man's, and a fetus is not a person. You are entitled to your religious beliefs, but not to inflict them on others of a more scientific bent.

The woman of my acquaintance with 5 abortions is responsible, compassionate, intelligent, and respectful of life. Those commenters here who grandly generalize without personal knowledge reveal themselves as sanctimonious ideologues hardly capable of rendering judgement on their fellow creatures....makes this commenter wonder regarding their alleged "compassion" for the unborn. I include Vana with her "heartless" remark.

I'm out of new material. I see nothing here that undermines my several premises: that a fetus is not a human being; that the decision to undergo abortion is a serious one by rights left to the one responsible for making it; that most women fully appreciate the consequences of making that decision; and that the government, of all entities, has no place in the household or hospital when such decisions are made.

Sure, Manny, abortion is used by totalitarian regimes. The same regimes also use the media. And oil. To some rulers, any stick will do to beat a dog with, but that doesn't make the stick evil.

Ladies and gentlemen: do you believe that abortion is NEVER justified? How about following an incestuous rape by a man with advanced syhphilis? Where's YOUR compassion and/or common sense?

Happy July 4, everyone.

Vana said...

Yes Manuel, there is adoption, but how many people are standing in line wating to adopt? not too many, I consider throwing a baby into a trash bin, or wrapping a live baby in plastic, so it can choke to death, a worse crime then abortion.
Just listen to the news, read the headlines, what some women do to their babies, if you are gonna bring them into the world, to do that to them, better you don't have it, and of course, I agree with you in that it would be better, that they would have used means not to get pregnanat in the first place

bookster said...

Vana, Steve

I believe that we need to leave the decision up to the woman. Personally i believe that abortion is morally wrong and should be discuourged by our society somehow.

After following vana passionate argument, i can see that this is a value issue and cannot be legislated or left upto politicians to decide

Sharpshooter said...

Steve,
To debate whether there is no higher laws than man's will get us into another realm of the discussion and that maybe the subject for another post. My premise was that as a believer in God, I firmly believe that there is no law higher than God's law. As a Christian I was taught to disregard and disobey man's law when it comes in conflict with God's laws. This not being santimonious or hipocritical it is just my own belief. As I said in my post I respect everyone else's opinion and believe they have to live with the consequences of their actions later on. I was taught that God give us free will to do as we see fit, but at the same time also that there is a penalty to be paid for disobeying his laws. I do not presume to say that my beliefs are the only ones that are right, just that they are my own and I try to live my life accordingly.
In today's world with all of the different methods available for birth control for both men and women, is inconceivable to me that someone still gets pregnant and then consider abortion as the only possible solution to their irresponsibility.
And Vana, I believe is a shared responsibility for both men and women to be responsible when engaging in sex.
I have to agree with Manuel's opinion on the case of the woman with 5 abortions although I do not know the particular details of that case. I do pretend or desire to impose my beliefs on anyone as I said above, we have been given the free will to follow our own path in life; however I do believe that there is a rendering of accounts when we leave this earth and then we better have our speech ready to defend what we did here during our short stay. I was raised a Catholic and have remained one, and as one I believe in a life after this one, so maybe that is the reason I believe this way. I cannot change a this late stage of my life.

Sharpshooter said...

Sorry for the typo. The sentence below on my previous comment

"I do pretend or desire to impose my beliefs on anyone" should read:

"I DO NOT pretend". My apologies for the mistake.

bookster said...

Agustin

I think the issue is whether you can force your christian values on someone that doesn't have the same values as you.

We are a pluralitic society made up of christian,atheists,jews,muslims etc... with different value systems.

To expect politicians to sort all this out is futile. That's why religious beliefs have no place in goverment.

If you all have time you should listen to this podcast is 1hour, in this link they talk about legislating values

http://philosophytalk.org/pastShows/LegislatingValues.html

Let me know what you think

bookster said...

I think mistype the link on the previous post it ends with .html

Http://philosophytalk.org/pastShows/LegislatingValues.html

Sharpshooter said...

Corgiguy,
you are correct in what you say. We are pluralistic society with many different religions and even atheists. As a refugee from a country where only one religion is tolerated, (communism) and I call it a religion because its followers are quasi-religious in their fervor, I do not pretend to impose my beliefs on anyone. Everyone should follow its conscience and its beliefs. I merely pointed out that I think that there is a life in the hereafter, and we will be asked to render an account of what we did while we lived here in this one.
I forgot to point out in my previous post the fact that during the Nuremberg trials, we refused to accept the excuse for wholesale murder the Germans officers gave: "I was just following orders and it was the law of the land in Germany then"
In fact since then, military men were made aware that when an order went against their conscience and morals they were right to refuse it.
As a believer in democracy I think Govt should not impose these type of decisions on people and it should stay out of the bedroom. Having said that, I also believe that Govt. should impose some restraints on people for example, prohibiting having sex with children. I think any rational human beig would not object to such a restraint. Different value systems are ok, but murder of human beings is another thing altogether. Now the question is what constitutes a human being and when does life begins.I believe a fetus in the womb is already a human being and as such is entitled to the protection of the law the same as any other human bieng. But that is just me, I don't pretend to impose my views on others. I just stated that in my opinion God's laws supersede man's laws. "Thou shall not kill" does not specify only when you have exited through the birth canal. There are fine points to argue, such as when does life truly begins, but that I leave for the religious experts.

Vic said...

I do believe that should be a very personal decision that once must base on personal believe and/or religions that must also be regulated by some kind of government’s laws to avoid excesses and women must be fully and adequately inform of all options and consequences of each one of the options. Now I am also convinced that the issue must be left out of the hand of politicians that uses it on their own advantage to gain votes.

Now here is a final though for all you guys: Remember the Laci Peterson case. How can the same system that accused her husband of double murder (she and her fetus) authorize abortion?.. I don’t think that anyone can answer that for me.

bookster said...

Augustin

I was raised catholic as you, so i understand where you are comming from.

Religious values and Politics are strange bedfellows.

I think the bible says don't cast judgements upon other, i don't remember the exact verse. The deity will sort out who is good and who is bad

Sharpshooter said...

Corgiguy,
that is exactly what I was trying to say. I don't presume, want or need to judge anyone by their actions because Someone who is infinitely wiser and more powerful than me will do that. As I said, we are free to do as we please, but once the ride is over in this neck of the woods, there is an accounting to be rendered for those actions.
An example of that is the Blogger in Chief in Cuba who said recently that the good Lord protects and watched over him and that is why he was never killed by the CIA. Boy do I have news for him! Fidel, you miserable tyrant, you are in for a big surprise!. You are going to straight to Hell without passing over GO or collecting the 200 hundred dollars!

bookster said...

Augustin

I think blogger in chief, talks to a different lord that you and i

Steve ("Klotz" As In "Blood") said...

Manny: I personally know 2 white families -- one Catholic, one Jewish -- who adopted black babies here in Florida. I have no clue where you tripped across a statement that the government disallows this practice, but I suggest you re-research it carefully.

Right now I have a cousin (non-Hispanic) trying to adopt a Guatamalan baby. She's having a helluva hard time as the Guatamalan government keeps finding things to throw in her way, all of which seem to involve additional cash charges. Sure does start to look like government-sponsored human trafficking after a while.

Manuel A.Tellechea said...

Steve:

There may be some adoption agencies that defy convention, or private adoptions may have been arranged; but as a rule, adoption of black babies by white parents is discouraged and even prohibited in most states.

Yes, it appears that the Guatemalan authorities are exploiting your friends. Their attitude is not surprising, however, since their newspapers report on a daily basis stories of Central Americans whose transplantable body organs are stolen from them and sold to rich Americans on the vivisection market. You know: a local wakes up in a hotel bathtub only to discover that he's missing a kidney. Disproven a thousand times, the story keeps resurfacing in Central American newspapers and has done more than anything else to engender hatred for Americans in the region.

Vana said...

Manuel:
I was anaware, that black babies, could not be adopted by white families, I know of a couple that adopted one, how they went about it, I have no idea.

Vana said...

Agustin:
I too was baptized catholic and spent 5 years of my life in catholic boarding schools, one year in Cuba, my mom claimed I needed taming, even though she practiced no religion, only her belief in San Lazaro, she taught me when I was a little girl, that there was something greater than us, what it was she did not know.

As I got older I turned away from organized religions, I no longer believe that a priest can forgive my sins through confession, I now know that only God in his infinite power and wisdom, can do that, through religion I learned fear, every minor infraction I commited I was told I would burn in hell, I'm an avid reader, one day I picked up a bible, and read the whole thing, since then I have read it about three times, the bible is good reading, through it I started to see religion with different eyes, I realized that if I followed the teachings of Christ, there would be salvation for me, I did not need any church to tell me that, or do it for me, in my readings I discovered Astrology, and that tought me great tolerance for human beings, that lead me to the belief in reincarnation, through that I learned that no soul is ever lost, no mattered if murdered, aborted,or all the other ways of dying, also that the soul does not enter the body, until shortly before birth, some of us are meant to be born at a certain time, when things are right for us, otheres are not, reincarnation is the only way I can explain the world, why is it that some of us are born to be sexually, mentaly, and phisically abused, why are so many children tormented and die young, why would a mercifull God allow these things? because God does not interfere with things that happen to us on earth, my sincere belief is, that it all has to do with Karma, depending on past lives, we get the life we deserve in each reincarnation, some are born to suffer, some are not, even though every one suffers in some way or other in this earth, if you follow the things that Jesus taught us, do unto others as you want done unto you, give to those that ask( I do) then we will be rewarded with a better life in the next, so you see life goes on and on, only the body dies, never the soul, in order to never return to earth, you have to become an exceptional human being by living as Jesus did, owning nothing, I know I will be returning many more times, I'm not there yet, I'm not willing to give up the things the world has to offer.

Of course I'm not trying to convince you or anyone to believe as I do, read it for yourself, make up your own mind, and decide if I'm right or wrong, thank you for listening to my rant

Vana said...

By the way Agustin, in his next life the Blogger in Chief fidel will be born a pig, and we shall all eat him for Nochebuena..lol..

Vana said...

Corgiguy;
It says, Don't cast judgment upon others, lest yee be judged

Manuel A.Tellechea said...

Vana:

Wasn't there already a movie called Eating Raoul?

In any case, that is the first order of the day at all military camps in Cuba.

Vana said...

Lol Manuel I have heard of a movie called that, but have never seen it