From: wilhited@brahms.udel.edu (Douglas Ben Wilhite)
Subject: Alright, an unoriginal point
Organization: University of Delaware
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 16:08:19 GMT

Ok.  So one of the major points brought out in the US Constitution is that
the government shall not dictate moral decisions except for those widely and
most basically accepted by the people, such as the dictum against murder and
incest.

Yet those who support legislation to stop abortion are asking our government 
to do just that.  In fact, our very own President, the symbolic figurehead of
our constitution, is begging for the Congress and Supreme Court to transgress
the document which has put all three parts of government into power.

It is possible to argue that abortion is murder, and thus that illegalizing
abortion simply falls as a subset of the legislation against the destruction
of human life.

But, the fact is that there is no general agreement upon whether or not a 
human life is destroyed in the act of abortion.  One group of people says 
yes, and another says no.

No scientific proof is available to support either group, because the question
has reached the point where it deals with the idea of soul.  The debate is
now, "Does the fetus have a soul?  Does the embedded zygote have a soul?"

Well, does it?  If you can answer this, you must have a strong faith in some
form of religion.  Not necessarily a standard, practicing religion, but
a person set of beliefs.  A personal set of beliefs.

Once again, our Constitution specifically states that the United States shall
not dictate religious beliefs to its people, but rather maintain a distinct
and well marked line between religion and state.  If you don't recognize the
power and importance of this aspect of our government, remember back to the
removal of silent prayer from public schools during the Reagan years.

Both in decrying abortion as the destruction of a life, and in firmly stating
that it does not end a human life, one is making a generalized moral/ethical
and faith-based statement.  A statement which comes from one's personal 
religion, as religion is taken generally as the source of ethical code in 
people's thought.

So both of these extreme opinions are asking the US to make a general religious
statement, an action which the government is strictly prohibited from doing.

What is left?

For the government to remove general prohibiting or providing legislature,
and to provide for abortion to be performed on the basis of personal choice.
Here, each person is entitled to choose their own definition of life, and
act upon what they believe, just as people are entitled to in other instances
of moral decision in this country.

As a note of comparison, one could examine the Christian religion, and its 
survival in the United States.  The Chrisitian belief dictates that if one
does not find faith in "God," one will not be granted the eternal life which
all people are given a chance to obtain.  Therefore, those who do not 
follow the teachings of Christianity, such as Moslems or Hindus, will not
find God, nor will they reach eternal life.  Thus, these people are in effect
killing themselves.  

Yet, the Christians of this country do not stand in front of mosques, blocking
entry, nor do they attempt to take away the children of Hindu parents, in 
order to educate the children in "their" beliefs.  The Christians are made
to understand, no matter how painful it may be to them, that members of other
religions have reasons just as inherently powerful to themselves as the
Christians' beliefs are to them.  The Christians allow other religions to 
practice freely and to develop and refine their own personal beliefs, and
act upon these beliefs freely.

Such is our way, in the United States.  Such is the way which people are 
fighting and dying for in many parts of the world.

It is not up to our government to step in and tell each and every one of us
how to deal with the issue of abortion.  It is not up the the pro-life       
organizations to convice the people of America that abortion is murder.  It
is not up the the pro-choice groups to prove that abortion is not murder.

It is up the government, the pro-lifers, the pro-choicers, and all of the 
people of this country to take a slow, careful step backwards, and realize
that tempers have overtaken our best yet once again in this nation, much
as what happened with the legislation empowering Prohibition.  We must once
again realize what is at the root of our existence, and at the core of our
government.  We must free the hands and minds of the people to choose freely
and comfortable through themselves.

Advice may be given, information distributed, even conflicting views presented,
but each and every person must, in the end, be allowed to decide on their
own what to do about this, and every other moral/ethical issue in this country.

Doug Wilhite
wilhited@brahms.udel.edu

"
Newsgroups: alt.birthright,alt.abortion.inequity,talk.abortion