BY Bill Reagan
Few issues are as divisive as abortion. Deeply held values clash on this issue as on few others. Many of us avoid discussing the subject because passions rise so easily. There is no compromise position. For many, the issue is crystal clear. A woman has the right to decide what to do with her own body according to her beliefs and the advice of her physician. Pregnancy is a personal matter and no one’s business, especially not the government’s.
But it is not that simple.
The life growing inside a woman’s womb is not her life, but the life of another. That is a straightforward biological fact. From the moment of conception the baby has his or her own DNA, with all of the characteristics which make this new individual unique. This human being is not the same thing as the mother, but a different person with a life that is not another’s to take. Life is our most fundamental right.
This is where we get emotional. There are all kinds of “what if” scenarios to challenge the reasonableness of the prolife position. However, there are more than a million abortions in the United States every year. The vast majority are not “what if” scenarios. They are simply circumstances in which a woman or her family do not want to bear the burden of having a child.
Religion, ethics and biology all support the pro-life position. The challenge is that the law does not recognize the unborn child as a person, and as a person, deserving of all the rights the rest of us have.
It is useless to condemn or demonize one another. The solution is not just winning the argument or getting a pro-life Supreme Court Justice (That would be nice.). Society and culture must embrace the responsibilities of fatherhood as well as motherhood, value highest the life of the weakest and offer justice for the unborn and for their mothers.
Bill Reagan is executive director of Loaves & Fishes of the Rio Grande Valley.
