doing what she does best

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Nov 09, 2003

Catholic author Anna Quindlen steers the Partial Birth Abortion controversy out of the linear-thinking arena.

Abortion-rights supporters have not kept pace with the technology.

You're thinking Quindlen is referring to advances in curettage and evacuation techniques? Wrong.

As sophisticated sonograms become more widely used, as it is possible to see the face of a fetus clearly, it will become ever more important to be painfully honest about what really happens here.

Do you understand the moral thinking that suggests honesty was less important back when the fetus's face couldn't be discerned? Neither do I. But hang on tight while Quindlen squares up to the issue of "what really happens here":

Something dies when an abortion is performed. It is not yet a baby. It is not remotely anyone else's business. But something does die.

The conscience?

In the tension between woman and fetus, the woman has the right to choose. But she cannot really choose to ignore that there are two important parts to this equation. Biology tells her so.

In the "tension" between woman and fetus, only the woman has the chance to choose. Is there a tension between the shooter and the skeet?

By contrast, abortion opponents have never understood the psychology. They do not understand that there are times when an embryo is an embedded blessing, and times when it is an incubus, a nightmare, a curse.

But why do its opponents want to outlaw abortion, if they're unaware of the fact that not all mothers regard all pregnancies as blessings?

They do not understand how deeply felt is the notion that the right to the processes of your own body is the great inviolate right.

So all the rationalizations given above are, on your own showing, beside the point. Why didn't you just tell us at the outset?