Salient. Official Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 44 No. 9. May 4 1981
Separating Fact from Slogan
Separating Fact from Slogan
Dear Editor,
In a recent article Victoria Quade used the argument, 'a woman's right over her own body', to justify abortion. If you examine it, carefully you will find that this is not an argument at all but a slogan.
None of us has unlicensed control of our own bodies. The laws of most countries place many restriction on us. We cannot, for instance, inject heroin into our bodies, sell our bodies, destroy our bodies nor can we mutilate them.
The new science of immunology shows that each time a foreign object implants itself into the human body the white blood cells will rally and mount a very serious attack on the foreign invader in order to destroy it and expel it.
The white blood cells have the capacity to recognise 'self and 'non-self'. The reason why our white blood cells do not destroy the heart or kidneys is that they recognise 'self'. There is no foreign person. When a pregnancy implants itself, the white blood cells of a woman's body recognise 'non-self and make a concerted effort to destroy the foetus. They mount a very serious attack.
The foetus, over the aeons in evolution, has been able to mount a counter attack or defence which is very effective. 90 per cent of the time it repels the mother's attack; it fails the other ten per cent of the time and this results in a miscarriage. So the mother's body recognises 'non-self, something foreign - it is not my body. In that sense having control over one's own body is a hollow slogan. The foetus is not one's own body; it is some other person.
Whatever conclusions we arrive at on the morality of abortion, it is essential that we try to distinguish facts from opinions, slogans, feelings, or assumptions.
Yours sincerely,
M. Lynch