Dichotomies Rationalised

Following the exchange of shouting at the huge anti-abortion rally last Friday evening it is clear that two poles of thought have been established.

On the one hand is the concern for the life of the mother, on the other hand there is concern for the life of the child.

The pro-abortion group maintain that they also do not want abortion but sometimes it is necessary. This attitude highlights the position of the anti-abortion group who try to uphold a person's (in this case the foetus's) absolute right to life.

The former group have a limited regard for the life of the foetus. But the anti-abortion supporters show that there is an absolute right to life at stake here, and the absolute is that an innocent, I repeat, innocent, person has a right to life. They show that it is on this basis that cannibals are stopped in continuing traditional practices, slaves are freed and freedom is demanded for prisoners in Theiu's and Park's prisons. Because the people are innocent, life is their right.

Since abortion became a public issue the anti-abortionists have set up a group (in addition to the Christian organisations already working in this sphere) to help mothers, married or unmarried, who are pregnant and facing difficulties.

Have the pro-abortionists made a similar move to protect the foetus say by the spread of values which hold the foetual life in respect?

The two poles of the abortion question should be able to come together with a meshing of concern for the mother with concern for the life of the child.

As yet the pro-abortionists seem to regard the foetus as a foreign animal, a lump of flesh, or an organ of the mothers. Its small size is taken as a measure of its significance in decision-making,

However the foetus, being the product of humans, is human life. It is certainly small but it is quite distinct from its host in that its genes, bodily features and temperament (all of which can be observed early on in pregnancy) are markedly different from either mother (or father).

Certainly the foetus is not yet separate from its host but its personality is beginning to develop under the stimuli of sound, taste, and discomfort. Even in the womb the foetus sets the scene as to when and how much it feeds off the mother, how much it upsets the mother by moving about, when the time is right for birth.

In the future we hope that there will be a very definite movement together of the policies, of the abortion issue. The concern for the welfare of the mother must merge with concern for the welfare of the foetus.