Posted on 03/26/2012 4:26:15 AM PDT by Kaslin
Author’s Note: I will be speaking in Still Hall Auditorium at Clarion University in Clarion, PA this Thursday, March 29th. The speech will begin at 7 p.m. and will last about 75 minutes unless it is aborted before it comes to term. I’ll let you guess the topic.
My recent engagement lasted only a few days and has resulted in some unfortunate rumors spreading across the internet. It is therefore necessary for me to take a break from the usual subject matter of my columns in order to shed some light on a most unfortunate turn of events.
Anna and I met a few years ago and formed a quick friendship. We both enjoy running, reading, and listening to live music in some of the local establishments in Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach. Our time together was often limited by my hectic travel schedule.
Back in September, however, we began to spend a lot more time together. Just a couple of weeks ago, while we were hanging out on the south end of Wrightsville Beach, I proposed marriage. In a fit of temporary insanity, she accepted. We began to make plans for our wedding until things changed drastically just a few days ago.
After we became engaged, Anna revealed a secret to me. I always knew she was adopted. But I did not know that when she was 32 years old she embarked on a mission to locate her adoptive mother. She did this so she could learn the reasons why she was given up for adoption. She did it for peace of mind but the result of her research was unsettling: Anna found out she was a product of rape.
When I found out the news, I acted immediately. I killed Anna while she was sleeping and then dumped for body off of Johnny Mercer’s pier at Wrightsville Beach. And now I face a long legal battle in which my lawyers will attempt to argue that Anna, as a product of rape, does not have the same rights as other persons. In fact, whatever rights she may possess are outweighed by a compelled need to destroy evidence of rape, which might remind a rape victim of a past sexual assault.
My argument will be simple: I believe that Anna was no more or less of a person as an adult than she was as an unborn child. Therefore, it would have been permissible to kill her at either stage of development so long as that killing was motivated by compassion for the victim of rape.
I anticipate four rebuttals to my argument. Accordingly, I present my counterarguments to all of them below:
1. Size. Some say that the unborn are not persons simply because they are smaller than those who have been born. This is a dangerous argument. If we accept it, we destroy both racial and gender equality. Asians are smaller than blacks. Women are smaller than men. Are we really prepared to say that Asian women are not fully persons? What fraction of a person are they in relation to black men? Are they three-fifths of a person?
2. Level of development. Some will say that personhood is attained at a certain level of development or that it varies with development. This is also a dangerous argument that destroys human equality. A twenty-two year old woman has a fully functioning reproductive system and, in many cases, a college degree. A two year old girl has neither. Is she therefore a non-person? Or is she just a partial person? Could she be killed legally? Or would her killing be considered a lesser form of homicide?
3. Environment. A woman in Los Angeles had her baby two months before it was due. Her sister in New York had an abortion one month before it was due. Could the woman in Los Angeles have killed her baby one month after it was born? Why not? There is no difference in size or development between these two East and West Coast cousins. Are we prepared to say that moving eight inches down a birth canal makes one a person? Since when does where you are determine what you are? Be careful before you answer. And be careful before you take your next step.
4. Degree of dependency. The older I get, the worse this argument seems to become. If we are prepared to say that we become persons when we become independent then we must also be saying that we can lose our personhood. This can happen due to a car accident, a serious illness, or simply due to old age. Regardless, this just doesn’t work. Besides, I know some 16 year olds that could be killed according to this logic.
It should be evident from the foregoing that it is high time that we stop playing games with human equality. We all know the unborn are persons. And we’ve been killing them in the womb for years. In fact, we’ve been enshrining the practice in the constitution since 1973. If we say that the reason we have been doing so is that the unborn are only “potential” persons then we must be prepared for some pretty broad implications.
I propose instead that we carve out a narrow defense to homicide that allows us to kill products of rape because they remind us of a painful violent event. That is the best way to deal with things from my perspective. It will make the world appear to be a better place. Of course, there will be more murder. But it will seem like there is less rape. And that will make all the killing worth our while.
Hope you have good health insurance, or Budget for psychiatry- very expensive and age 13 ends a golden time
yes Thank God for them, and Thank God for us, it can be rather thankless sometimes, especially when your peers are traveling, gardening, putzing, taking up yoga, and migrating to winter condos in Del Boca Vista
bfl
of interest ping
I was making a tounge in cheek reference to a Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift.
Once.
Do you know what the legal fees are?
and the bribery fees to grease the skids for a foreign born child.
Do you know that birth mother can change her mind and have the court take the child away from you?
Yes. I still remember the case a few years ago - can't remember the name, but the father had a full beard, the son's name (I think) was Daniel and, while he was being taken away, he was crying, stating "I'll be good".
I'll never forget that.
Would you agree to an “open adoption” where the birth parents have visitation rights?
No, because then it is no longer an adoption.
Change those laws, and adoption may become more popular.
You have a studied ignorance of satire and irony.
“I used to love beer, but I had tequila!”
His “studied ignorance of satire and irony” may come in useful at age 66 as he today finalizes his adoption of 12/13 yr old siblings, one already diagnosed with a serious lifelong mental illness
People who take on children with these challenges and do so with JOY are God’s helpers who walk on earth - men who at age 66 commit to raise and father the children of other men are extra special
> Hope you have good health insurance, or Budget for
> psychiatry- very expensive and age 13 ends a golden time
I have a biological child diagnosed as bipolar. Academically and functionally competent, but there was a manic episode that just stunned us. We were not prepared. Our adopted special needs kids didn’t require as much help.
> You have a studied ignorance of satire and irony.
I have adopted children, among them a sibling group, some with special needs, and know from experience.
And you?
Ours (non-bio sibs adopted age 4) have both been fully evaluated by a reknowned international adoption expert and neuropsychologist who has seen thousands of kids, written many books and articles, travels the world to conferences, and who adopted 7 kids himself (at least one with FAS)
In his experience 90% of us international adoptees will have children with problems that impair them, physically or mentally. Somehow we have to get them to adulthood and successful independence, Hopefully most of us will make it
Adolescence and hormones are hard enough without the baggage and unknown genetics these kids bring into our lives
My sweet precious attached loving little girl now 14 is morphing before our eyes, possibly a genetic organic mental illness cause that emerges in teens, making our autistic son look like the one who is going to be easier to live with
So- good luck and God Bless us all
> Ah, so you have been through the mill
As have you.
Everything you said is 100% spot on, spoken from real experience.
Hang in there!!
God will not give you more than you can bear, and I believe with all my heart that you will be blessed for your efforts in the end.
> My sweet precious attached loving little girl now 14 is
> morphing before our eyes, possibly a genetic organic mental
> illness cause that emerges in teens,
By the way, this is virtually a TEXTBOOK description of bi-polar disorder!
We also know this from experience.
That’s the bad news.
The good news is that bipolar disorder is among the most treatable of all mental illnesses.
More good news is that it afflicts people of above-average intelligence. Once your child’s brain chemistry is balanced, you will find that she is rational, bright, and quite normal.
The brain is an organ, in the same way as the pancreas is an organ. If the chemistry of the pancreas goes awry, you will be diagnosed as hypoglycemic or diabetic. If the brain chemistry goes awry, you can be diagnosed as “bipolar”.
Untreated, bipolar disorder can present psychotic episodes, complete with paranoia (believing you want to harm her or worse) and even hallucinations.
With counseling and medication, bipolar disorder can be managed very nicely.
Ping 32
Have you seen this.... http://news.yahoo.com/forced-adoptions-for-unwed-mothers-around-the-globe.html ?
so what is your point? That there are a significant number of adopted babies who were actually stolen?
Note I said “significant” number. Family pressure or even social pressure 40-60 years ago on an unwed girl to give up her baby for adoption does not a stolen baby make, though as in any cause, there are women who consider themselves victims
international adoption by US citizens these days is rather tough and limited to a handful of countries because of US laws that prohibit adoptions in countries where “baby selling” is proven or cannot be ruled out. Canadians and europeans have many more international options because their laws are not the same.
I thought it was an interesting article. Did you notice that many of the people they talked to were from other countries?
Then I remembered it was Lent.
I thought it was an interesting article. Did you notice that many of the people they talked to were from other countries?
Then I remembered it was Lent.
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