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Show By a yf V 1 for Utah TrtaJl'ltimffiirriii'iiiiiiir UNBORN CHILDREN DESERVE RESPECT AND PROTECTION A Utah resident recently recent-ly wrote me a letter which seemed to typify the philosophies phi-losophies of many abortion advocates -- philosophies which ignore that abortion is the literal killing of innocent, inno-cent, human life. The writer argued that the unborn child has no viable via-ble aliveness and that it is not a self-sustaining entity, rather a "dependent cell mass." Following are some comments 1 made in response re-sponse to that letter: It seems to me that if a "thing" (his term for the fetus) is alive, human, and innocent, a civil society should want to treat such a "thing" differently with a higher degree of delicacy and respect. When emphasizing individual in-dividual freedom, and the so-called "abortion freedom," free-dom," there are obstacles the pro-abortion people refuse re-fuse to face. One is that the woman's freedom to abort is in direct conflict with the child's right to be free from assault, and sometimes in conflict with other freedoms, free-doms, such as the father's freedom to have children and to protect them. In this country, some things are not permitted because be-cause personal choice must not only be weighed against personal choices of others, but also against certain community values. Laws against murder restrict a persons "right to choose" to end another's life, but few would argue against them. Legislators are often criticized for trying to force their personal views on the community and for using the legal sanction to do it. But, I thought we agreed some time ago that certain choices ought to be prohibited, pro-hibited, especially if they deny the humanity of an entire en-tire class of people, such as slavery did. Therefore, I do not apologize for trying to extend legal protections to the unborn, because 1 believe be-lieve they constitute a class of people which should be protected. Facts have proven that by the end of the seventh week, a new body not only exists, but also functions. After the eighth week, everything ev-erything is present that will be found in the full-term baby. The aborted "thing" as the writer referred to it, . is very much like you and I. The letter-writer said he is "left wondering" what innocence has to do with abortion. But, if an unborn child is in fact a person, which I believe it is, it is only fair and reasonable to ask whether he or she has done anything to deserve to be denied life. |