This upcoming Tuesday is the 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s legalization of abortion on demand. The fact that this anniversary approaches causes me to stop, think about this hot-button issue, and ask myself: What have been the ramifications of this ruling?Constitutionally speaking, the Supreme Court trampled the 10th Amendment and managed to invent the notion of “right to privacy,” which, if you actually read the Constitution, is not mentioned. The abortion issue can also be thought of from an economic standpoint.
The 50 million that have been aborted since 1973 could have increased the American labor force. That would have meant that we wouldn’t need to rely on illegal immigrants for cheap labor, and it would also mean that those 50 million could have put more money into the Social Security funds as the baby boomers retire and demand their Social Security checks.
These are all valid concerns, but there is something more profoundly wrong with this ruling. A professor of mine recently reminded me, with a quote from Communist dictator Joseph Stalin, that “one death is a tragedy; a million is a statistic.”
Although Communism is something that works only in theory, the tyrant had a point. If the death of a million people can desensitize people that greatly, one can only imagine how desensitized we are after the 50 million deaths brought on by abortion.
Desensitization is evident when one mentions the phrase “unwanted children.” I want to follow that moral relativism to its “logical” conclusion. If people are able to determine who is “wanted” and who is “unwanted,” we should be able declare Hunting Season on bums and hobos because all they do is urinate in public places and beg for money so they can continue their drinking habits.
They’re a drain on society, so why shouldn’t we? Fortunately, I believe in the sanctity of life and would never sincerely offer that as a remedy to poverty. This is why I am even more worried when those who are pro-abortion dehumanize the child by using the scientific term fetus. Fetus, as a matter of fact, is Latin for “young child.”
The fetus has a beating heart three weeks after conception, has measurable brain waves after six weeks, and by 10 weeks, every organ system is in place. Those who portray the fetus as nothing more than a “blob of tissue” would have made Hitler verklempt.
Finally, there is the “right to choose” mentality that is so prevalent in society. This one-liner has become the carte blanche to ignore the concept of ethics, which helps us figure out whether we should do something, not simply if we can.
This erosion has not only caused people to justify the taking of innocent life, but has made it difficult to treat people better in general because you can choose the “right to act like an idiot” or the “right to burn someone’s house down.”
There are other alternatives to having an abortion. How about actually having the child, or giving the child up for adoption? Those are not only viable options, but make us better human beings. So as this anniversary comes near, let’s ask ourselves whether or not “the right to choose” is the right thing to choose.
If you would like to get involved with the pro-life movement, please join Wisconsin Right to Life Sun., Jan. 20 at 1 p.m. for their pro-life rally, which will be held at St. Joseph’s Middle School at 2626 N. Oneida St. All students are welcome!
NOTE: There was no way that I could have conveyed all I wanted to in this column. Even if there were, I still ask that you send your comments or thoughts to swedbers@lawrence.edu, because I honestly believe that without discussion, there is no intellectual growth.