decisions ...

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Mar 12, 2007

"Remind me -- why do we want it to die?" A perplexed young woman at the For Choice blog is uncertain about her ... catechism ... and solicits readers' help for a "more rounded view" of the issue.

I am strongly pro-choice; I believe a woman should be able to terminate a pregnancy no matter how late in the gestational period or what her reasons are. I often discuss things with my father who is pro-choice but sometimes struggles with the more specific issues surrounding the topic.

The other day we were talking about Amillia Taylor, world's most-premature baby, "believed to be the first baby to have survived following a gestation period of less than 22 weeks". It got me thinking about late term abortion.

A woman's right to her own bodily integrity is the most important thing, of course. But if a doctor is going to kill the foetus and remove it -- why not remove it alive, absolve her of all responsibility and put it into the adoption system? She has not 'become a parent' and she has had her pregnancy ended as she wanted.

I'm struggling, I suppose, with the idea of late term abortion. What is the difference between killing a 22-24 week old foetus and removing it from the mother's body, and allowing it to be born and then killing it? The first is seen as acceptable and the second unacceptable... but why?

I guess what I'm asking is -- why kill the foetus in a late term abortion? Could it not just be treated as a premature birth with a view to the baby going into adoption? The mother has gained the same thing she wanted in the first place, and the foetus/baby has not been killed.

I'm not saying I do or do not believe we should do this - I am unsure about it which is why I am asking for the opinions of the esteemed members of this community. Hopefully others can look at this from other perspectives which will help me (and others) to get a more rounded view of the issue. Thank you in advance for your input.

Both the blogger and her father are "struggling." Their ideological indoctrination has not entirely succeeding in smothering the voice of conscience, and the nagging intuition that a human life is at stake in abortion makes them ripe for a change of heart. Now suppose they were to encounter an articulate Catholic clergyman -- a senior prelate, say -- of the stripe that believes it's the personal prerogative of each communicant to decide whether he should or shouldn't receive the Eucharist at Mass ...