Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Vol 35 no. 19. 3rd August 1972
Concern for the Unborn
Concern for the Unborn
Sir,
Two points struck me after reading the pathetic stories about abortions in Salient. The first was the breakdown in family relationships — the girls could not bring themselves to tell their mothers, or indeed any responsible adults. Their first reaction was the childish one of trying to avoid responsibility for their own actions.
The second point concerns the lack of a spokesman for the child — there is no one to speak for the one truly innocent individual.
If one does not consider the fusion of sperm and ovum the vital point at which the life of the child begins, where else is a logical point? The idea of a 'viable' baby —one who can support life apart from the mother — leads to extremely variable limits even now. We can look forward to these limits being pushed back further as medical science develops. We must try to have an absolute, unclouded by emotion.
I would hope that the extreme concern shown by many for the worth of every individual life in wartime would overflow into a similar concern for the unborn child.
Patricia Morgan. (Mrs.)