Pro-Choice...A Post-Modern Superstition

The following quote from Patrick Gray, in 'Aborton Rhetoric & Common Sense," appeared in 'Touchtstone,' Apr. 2004

"...anyone who defends the practice of abortion must posit a state of limbo, a literal no-man's land somewhere between life and death, between human and nonhuman, inhabited exclusively by embryos and fetuses."

Superstition is the rejection of common sense and the corruption of reality. It's belief in the absurd....in whimsy, and wishful thinking. It's the redescription of reality in order that its' adherents can believe in their own fanciful conceits. Because adherents of abortion must redescribe and even deny reality in order to allow themselves to support and to engage in a practice that ends human life , by definition then, their reasoning falls into the category of superstition.

Since they cannot admit that abortion kills a human life during any stage of its' development, they must deny that reality by redescribing life in terms that dehumanize it. Life becomes an 'it' called an embryo,a collection of cells, a zygote, or a fetus. Death and killing are redescribed as termination. At no time can this 'thing' be thought of as being alive, for to do so is to admit that 'something' dies......that a life has been put to death. And at all times, we are encouraged to think of the ongoing development of this nonhuman 'thing' as something that may or may not become 'viable', which seems to mean that at some mystical moment the 'it' has magically become humanlike.

Some pro-death types wish to believe that even after birth and up until one year of age, that the 'collection of cells' given birth to lacks something called 'personhood' and as a result, is still not a bona fide human being. Of course what they're really saying by way of mumbo-jumbo, is that if the personhoodless 'collection of cells' is displeasing or unwanted for whatever reason, then 'it' can still be 'terminated'. And we are not to ask....."Where does this 'thing' called personhood come from if it is not already existing within the baby....er,uh.. "thing"? Was it perhaps floating around in some unseen dimension while waiting for a personhoodless body to be born?"

In listening to Court TV's feminist talking heads voicing their outrage towards Scott Peterson, I wondered at their inability to see their own disattachment from reality. Had Laci not been murdered, and rather than anxiously looking forward to Connor's birth had she decided instead to exercise her pro-death 'choice' option and have Connor 'terminated' at a state sanctioned killing center, Court TV"s feminist talking-heads would have given her their full support. So what was the real source of their outrage?

In the final analysis, 'choice' is an innocuous sounding but deceptive facade behind which lurks a malignant disregard and vulgar disrespect for human life. By denying the intrinsic value, inherent dignity, and unique spirituality of human life, it adulterates the value of human life by categorizing it as just another animal.

Thus, just as we choose to own a pet or choose not to own one; choose to have it 'put down'; choose to abuse it; or choose to welcome it and love it, we've been seduced into believing that we can make similar choices with regards to unborn human beings. But, in order for us to continue to believe in this corrupt fairytale, we must not allow truth to intrude upon our consciences. Therefore we must deny reality and truth and accept the grossly absurd and distorted in their place. And just as we are not to question whether 'stepping on a crack will break our mother's back,' we dare not question the horrible absurdities of 'choice.' So we must perforce, believe in its' veracity much as we do any other superstitiously held belief. Blindly......without thinking about it.....and in a perpetual defensive mode

Since they cannot admit that abortion kills a human life during any stage of its' development, they must deny that reality by redescribing life in terms that dehumanize it.

In listening to Court TV's feminist talking heads voicing their outrage towards Scott Peterson, I wondered at their inability to see their own disattachment from reality.

Between Two Holocausts

The Third Reich leaders were experts in distortion, and indoctrination techniques. To dehumanize Jews, Nazi leaders had to suppress facts and propagandize with a barrage of lies about the Jewish people. Any sane person reading Nazi Julius Streicher's story, "How To Tell A Jew," in his anti-Semitic children's book "Der Giftpilz," can not possibly believe such filth would receive wide acclaim and acceptance. But it did.

The dehumanization of unborn children did not occur in a vacuum. Following the introduction of birth control pills, feminist organizers became preoccupied with reforming abortion laws as the sexual revolution unfolded during the 1960's. Gradually, through judicial activism, abortion laws were liberalized in a number of states prior to Roe. Feminist literature from that time seems almost quaint, articles longingly spoke of a day when coat hangers would be back in the closets; when back-alleys would be no more sinister than backyards, and the word "quack" would refer to nothing more than the petulant phonations of an aquatic bird.

Mr. & Mrs. Fetus are being rehumanized for those who still have a conscience by the following:

four-dimensional (4D) ultrasound imaging by General Electric. This time the good thing GE brought to life was the reality of the humanity of the unborn child. As the popular song "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" played in the background, new parents (GE was even careful to show the father's wedding ring) were depicted gazing enthralled at the moving, three-dimensional image of the baby in the mother's womb. The infant's facial features and fingers were all clearly delineated. The camera demonstrated the continuity of individual human life by ending with a shot of the ultrasound image "morphing" into that of the newborn nestled between his parents. ^{PFM | Good Things to Life}

A new wave of research suggests that the fetus can feel, dream, even enjoy The Cat in the Hat.By monitoring changes in fetal heart rate, psychologist JeanPierre Lecanuet and his colleagues in Paris have found that fetuses can even tell strangers' voices apart. They also seem to like certain stories more than others. The fetal heartbeat will slow down when a familiar French fairy tale such as "La Poulette" ("The Chick") or "Le Petit Crapaud" ("The Little Toad") is read near the mother's belly. When the same reader delivers another unfamiliar story, the fetal heartbeat stays steady ^{Psychology Today: Fetal Psychology}

Judge Jones cited evidence showing that neonatal and medical science "now graphically portrays, as science was unable to do 31 years ago, how a baby develops sensitivity to external stimuli and to pain much earlier than was then believed." The evidence reviewed by Judge Jones on the issue of fetal pain was similar to that produced by the federal government in recent trials on the constitutionality of partial-birth abortion. There, an Oxford-educated specialist in neonatal pain, Dr. Kanwaljeeet Anand, testified that unborn children are likely to feel pain in the womb by 20 weeks of gestation — perhaps even earlier — and that abortion could therefore cause excruciating pain for an unborn child. Reviewing similar evidence before her, Judge Jones concluded that "if courts were to delve into the facts underlying Roe's balancing scheme with present day knowledge, they might conclude that the woman's 'choice' is far more risky and less beneficial, and the child's sentience far more advanced, than the Roe court knew.". — Shannen W. Coffin is a former deputy assistant attorney general for the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. A^{Tough Boat to Roe, National Review Online, September 16, 2004}

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.