SO, AT WHAT POINT DO WE BECOME A HUMAN BEING???

WHAT DO YOU THINK, A HUMAN BEING AFTER 20 WEEKS?

Now you can call me old fashioned if you wish, or tell me that I am not allowed to even comment on such things because I’m a man and am therefore not allowed to have an opinion on the matter.  That said, it’s to my way of thinking that from the moment of conception, there is no doubt than an unborn child is a human being.  And as such, it is guaranteed the very same rights that I, and you, enjoy.  And yet, there are those who claim that that ‘child’ is not really a child until it has been able to successfully navigate its way into the world.  And there are also those, including our president, who have argued that even at that point the child has not had time to earn its right to exist and may yet be allowed to fall prey to the abortionist’s blade.

From the moment of conception what we are really talking about here is not only the life of the woman, we are also talking about that life that lies within her.  And for some rather twisted and perverted reason, whether it involves liberal politicians, those who march under the feminist banner, or those who see themselves as somehow being the champions of women’s rights, particularly their “reproductive rights” the fact that what we’re talking a life within a life, is something that those who favor abortion really never speak of.  Because to do so would risk tainting the entire argument regarding abortion on demand.  And you’ll notice that those who favor partial birth abortion rarely like to talk about just how gruesome the procedure is.

Which brings us to Rep. Xavier Becerra, Democrat from California and chairman of the House Democrat Caucus.  Becerra was recently asked the yes-no question of whether an unborn child 20 weeks into pregnancy is a human being, he was, of course, unable, or unwilling, to provide what could be called a direct answer.  It was this past Tuesday that the congressman was asked: “Do you think an unborn child 20 weeks into pregnancy is a human being?”  He responded by saying, “You know my wife’s an OB/GYN, and I know having watched as we raise our three daughters, there is no one who knows more about what’s in the best interest of a child than the mother--and I say that as a very proud father and I have total faith when my wife makes a decision.  She does it in the best interest of her family and her kids and obviously me as well.”

He then went on to say, “So when a woman has to make a decision, I have full faith in what that woman will do because my sense is that, over the millennia, women have had to deal with these issues far more than men,” said Becerra. “And so, when someone says to me that you’re going to put at risk a woman’s health to make a political, social point, it’s just not--I don’t believe we should be legislating what a woman should do. We got to believe that our mothers and our sisters and our daughters know better than a politician in Washington, D.C.”  To me, when a woman has put herself into a position where she may become pregnant, what ‘right’ does she then have to ‘decide’ to end that life which she so obviously played a role in creating?

There was then a follow up question where Becerra was asked, “But that question aside, just simply, if a child 20 weeks into pregnancy is a human being or not?”  Becerra responded, “I think I’ve given you the answer that a woman’s going to make a decision on what to do with her body. I think she knows far better than I do, especially if she’s pregnant and if she’s going to have a baby.”  He went on to say, “I don’t think we should be legislating what a woman must do especially when it might harm her health, that to me seems to be a tragic result of politicians trying to get in the way of the privacy of an individual, an American.”  These people talk so casually about ending the life of a baby, as if it’s nothing more than a lifeless mass of goo.

And then he went on say to something that I thought was rather odd, when he said, “To me--not that most men have a great track record on some of these things when it comes to rearing kids--but I have, as I said, the confidence that most women make the right decision when it comes to what happens with the future of our country.”  I guess I’m not making the connection here that he’s trying so hard to make.  Because what exactly does bringing about the death of an innocent baby, who is in no way responsible for its arrival into this world, have to do with the future of our country?  I just don’t understand how one thing has anything to do with the other, but then, rarely do I understand the liberal perspective on things such as this.  

The Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which was under debate on the floor of the House of Representatives last week, would have prohibited the abortion of babies 20 weeks or later into gestation unless they were conceived in rape or incest, or if the life of the mother was at risk.  The bill says that the rape exception would only allow terminating the life of an unborn child at 20 weeks or later into pregnancy if the rape was reported to law enforcement.  The Republican House leadership had initially intended to hold a vote on the bill last week on the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, Jan. 22, but delayed it after a debate arose over the reporting requirements in the rape exception.

So, as I said earlier, you can call me old fashioned, or worse, but I’m a firm believer in the fact that from the moment of conception, what has been created, and is therefore from the outset, a bona fide human being.  And to speak of it as being an inconvenience that can be simply gotten rid of without so much as an afterthought seems to me to be more than a bit callous and borders on being immoral.  I agree that it may justified in the case of rape or incest, but that’s where my support for abortion comes to a screeching halt.  You know, when we are young we’re taught that life is sacred, and yet, once we become adults it seems to become less so.  There is nothing in the Constitution that grants the right of one to end the life of another.