Why?    

Socratically examining the pertinent issues of our day

Why is Abortion wrong?           

A dialogue between Leif (pronounced Life) and Joyce (who pronounces the J like like a Ch)

Phonetically, Life and Choice are friends. In fact, Joyce cannot exist without Leif, and Leif depends on Joyce to make decisions. Joyce recently found out her niece is pregnant, and calls on Leif for advice. Their conversation quickly turns into a friendly debate before coming to a resolution. As you read their dialogue, you will find yourself deciding whether you are really pro-Leif or pro-Joyce. 

Joyce: Leif, I need your advice. Do you have a minute?

Leif: Sure. What’s up?

Joyce: My niece just found out she’s pregnant. She just turned 20, in college, has no money, and doesn’t know where to turn.

Leif: I assume she’s not married?

Joyce: No; and her boyfriend is giving her the cold shoulder. She can’t even depend on him.

Leif: This is a sad and challenging situation.

Joyce: A bit too challenging for her. I told her I’d lend her the money.

Leif: For what?

Joyce: Well, you know. This isn’t the time for her to have a baby.

Leif: Joyce, think about what you said. It’s not a matter of whether she is going to have a child. She already has one. Her child may be tiny and invisible to us, but he or she exists. Everyone’s unique DNA and everything that makes up what we are today is present at conception. Honest people admit this, and I know you to be honest. Since science clearly shows every human being comes into being at fertilization, what you really mean is she’s not ready to raise the child she already has.

Joyce: Well, whether there’s a human being inside her or not, she’s not ready to become a mother.

Leif:  But Joyce, since her child exists within her in his or her embryonic stage of life, she already is a mother.  You see, the option is not whether to “have” a child, but whether or not to give birth to a child. Literally, the only alternative is to kill him or her.

Joyce: Are you saying a woman does not have a right to terminate her pregnancy?

Leif: You tell me. Follow reason. You know individual human beings begin their lives at conception, and you know the intentional killing of any innocent human being is murder.

Joyce: But not all killing is murder.

Leif: That is true. Normally, violence against another is wrong, but in cases of defending the innocent against unjust aggressors, proportionate force to stop them is justified. But the preborn child is the most innocent and vulnerable of us all, and not an unjust aggressor. For them care and protection are what is called for.

Joyce: Okay, the coming into being of each human can be traced back to conception. I get it. But what if the woman is not ready or the child is deformed – like my niece, for example. Wouldn’t the child be better off?

Leif: Better off dead?! With challenging circumstances the answer is to kill someone and dispose of their remains? Would you do this to one of your children?

Joyce: Of course not!  But they’re already born.

Leif: We’ve already established birth is just a change of environment for the child. If you could go back in time, would you kill one of yours kids before birth if times were tough?

Joyce: Well…no. But I can’t tell anyone else not to.

Leif: So it’s wrong for you to kill your child but it’s okay for other people decide to kill theirs?

Joyce: Well, I guess. But why say it that way?

Leif: Is there verbiage that would correspond more accurately to the truth?

Joyce: I don’t know, I guess not. But it doesn’t sound good.

Leif: Maybe that’s because it isn’t good.

Joyce: Okay, maybe it isn’t. But shouldn’t women make these decisions for themselves?

Leif: If the decision is strictly for themselves, perhaps. But this is a decision on whether to kill their child, another human being.

Joyce: Leif, you’re right. Since we can’t deny our existence begins at conception, we must be consistent. Emotional reactions should never cloud the truth.

Leif:  Thank you for your intellectual honesty. You see, it’s not just a matter of personal choice or of religion, as the media tries to tell you; but it is a matter of justice.  Every innocent human being through all stages of life has an absolute right not to be murdered.

Joyce: Okay Leif, suppose one is pregnant from rape.  Surely you would be in favor of choice?

Leif: The choice to do what?

Joyce: To… have an abortion.

Leif: And what exactly is abortion? We can’t play games with words if we want serious answers. We know preborn children are human beings, like you and me, in a different stage of life.

Joyce: I hear you, but should a girl be forced to go through with a pregnancy forced upon her?

Leif: Before I directly respond, should I first assume you are willing to concede the other 99% of abortions should be outlawed?

Joyce: Alright, for the sake of this discussion I’ll concede that.

Leif: Okay, with this very rare occurrence of pregnancy from rape, there are three parties directly involved – the criminal father, the victim mother, and the innocent child. Which of these should be punished?

Joyce:  The father, certainly.

Leif: Agreed. Then why are you targeting the child? The woman should be helped with all her needs; but the child is not responsible for how he or she came into existence.

Joyce:  It just doesn’t seem fair. She would be reminded of that monster every time she looks at the child.

Leif: Would she be better off being reminded of killing her child? That can really be debilitating. Sometimes in life we need to choose the better of two evils. And when we respond in faith, God always brings a great good out of it. Ask any woman raising her child conceived in rape. They can’t imagine the alternative to the love and joy they now have. Two wrongs only compound the problem for victim women. Remember, too, adoption is a also a loving option.

Further, think about this. My grandmother was a result of rape. My great grandmother gave birth to her and adopted her out. If she had killed my grandmother by abortion, my mother and uncle never would have existed, my cousins and siblings, nieces and nephews would not exist, and I, too, would not exist.

Joyce: Wow. That’s not good. Leif is worth living.

Leif:  Well put!  Several generations wiped out from one abortion. Absolutely tragic. And there have been some 70 million surgical abortions since Roe v. Wade. Perhaps ten times that amount with chemical abortions. The ongoing atrocity is truly mind-boggling.

Joyce: You make too much sense. Where would I be without Leif?

Leif: Dead, like the millions of our peers who have been aborted. You and I are of the generation that’s lost a third of it peers through prenatal homicide. We are literally ‘abortion-age survivors’. The born have a serious obligation to stand up for the unborn who can’t speak for themselves. If you’re not part of the solution you’re part of the problem.

Joyce: Good points my friend! I am thankful for the gift of Leif. You’ve made me see I’m a very bad Joyce when I let fear or misplaced compassion direct my decisions. Excuse me now while I go visit my niece and her preborn child.

Why?     Paul Murano, M.A., M.A., D.Min.