The Death of Abortion: an analysis of South Dakota House Bill 1215

Covenantnews ^ | 02.28.06 | Dan Holman

[Coleus]

Abortion and birth control are antagonistic to Creation. They waste under their own curse as they course toward self destruction. They leave in their wake the deaths of individuals, the destruction of families, a void in communities, and the downfall of nations. They rip, slash and tear at the moral fabric of a religious people. Coming events foreshadow themselves as several states introduce legislation to abolish or restrict abortion. Most of this legislation will undoubtedly be gutted with exceptions for rape, incest, or lifestyle of the mother. South Dakota legislators have kept most these exceptions from defiling House Bill 1215.

Though HB 1215 declares that life begins at conception, it allows for a life of the mother exception. A doctor should always try to save both patients. We should never pit the life of the mother against the life of her child. We should recognize the same rights for both pre-born and post-born. Though a doctor may be penalized if he aborts under a pretense of medicine, HB 1215 does not penalize abortion as it would other homicides. Pre-meditated murder by abortion faces a mere maximum of 5 years in prison and a $5000 fine. It suggests in its penalty that the pre-born child is somehow worth less than other human life. It is holding to a Common Law double standard.

I find no instance in Common Law or American Jurisprudence where the rights of the unborn are equated with that of the post-born. Common Law made it a Felony to abort after quickening and a misdemeanor to abort before quickening. HB 1215 makes it a felony to abort from the moment of conception. Modern ultra-sound technologies open a window to the womb. Quickening, or movement, occurs much earlier than previously realized. Can quickening or viability be a legitimate criterion for human worth? Knowing what we do today, was it not unjust to have this double standard under Common Law? Humanity begins at fertilization, it is a scientific fact! HB 1215 declares the humanity of the pre-born child. Hopefully those who defend HB 1215 will not waver, but expand on this principle

The unborn baby is not the property of the parents, the people, or the state. As we call our soul our own, the unborn also owns his soul, yet not exclusively:

Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: Ezekiel 18:4

God is Sovereign over His Creation.

God has put it in the heart and mind of every creature to protect its young. “For the poor wren, the most diminutive of birds, will fight, her young ones in her nest, against the owl.” Mac Beth

You might think me unreasonable to demand such stringent standards. To not demand tough standards is to inherit weak ones which inevitably allow for human cloning, fetal tissue harvesting, stem cell and fetal research, designer babies, sex selection, animal-human hybrids, test tube babies, and a host of other evils.

It is doubtful that the Supreme Court will uphold HB 1215, yet they should be forced to address the humanity and worth of the unborn. The court has evaded this argument for over 33 years. The Supreme Court should explain its betrayal of the Constitution in Roe v. Wade, and account for its crimes against humanity.

Missionaries to the Pre-born Iowa
Dan Holman, P.O. Box 135, Keokuk, Iowa 52632,  (319) 524-5587, truthvan@yahoo.com