Reflections on Abortion after Gosnell

G. Richard Jansen
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523

Abortion is a political issue with sharp divisions of opinion. Even more so abortion is a profound moral issue because it deals with homicide and murder. This is ignored by some but it cannot be denied. This became very clear recently when a late-term abortion provider in Philadelphia is accused and charged with murder by aborting viable babies and then murdering these infants by severing each of the infants' spinal chord after birth. The problem, unfortunately, as will be discussed, isn't just Gosnell, or late-term and life-birth abortions. It is abortion writ large, 1.4 million of them every year.

In discussing abortion we need to start with some definitions.

Definitions

Human
A human, i.e. a human being, is a primate of the genus Homo and the species sapiens.

Human Development
According to BiologyOnline, human development is the chronological processes or changes that occur from fertilization to the formation of the single cell eukaryote (zygote) through to the formation of a human in utero (fetus) and development of the human from birth through puberty to the adult. Sir Robert Edwards, a leader in the field of in-vitro fertilization said this about a human embryo; the human embryo is a microscopic human being -- one in its very earliest stages of development. He also rejected the sanctity-of-life ethic and the principle of the equality of human beings irrespective of stage of development or condition of dependency. In 1965 Swedish authors Ingelman-Sundbeg and Wirsen, and photographer Nilsson published a book with, after translation, the English title A child is Born. The book is informative on the physiology of conception and gestation, and the color photographs are fabulous. The authors describe the developing life in utero as follows:

• 2nd week; a new being,
• 3rd week; a new individual, and
• 4th week; a not so cute baby.

The point is that the developing baby in utero is a live human being.

Homicide
A killing of one human being by another.

Justifiable Homicide
A homicide considered justifiable under the law. For example homicide during self defense or a killing of an enemy combatant during war. Prisoners of war are no longer considered to be active combatants and under the laws of war killing them is not justifiable homicide.

Murder
Premeditated homicide with malice.

Viable Fetus
A fetus capable of living outside the womb. This is not a sharply defined time but is generally considered to be after six to six and one half months gestation. However babies have been observed to live after as little as five months gestation, so with increased scientific knowledge and technology this time is continuing to change.

Miscarrage
A spontaneous expulsion of a human fetus occurring during the first twelve weeks of gestation. Such an event after twelve weeks would likely be considered a stillborn.

Abortion
The deliberate termination of a pregnancy accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus.

Human Embryo
A human embryo is by definition human and it is alive and is therefore a live human being.

Discussion

Homicide has always been against United States law going back to English common law from whence our law originally came. It is also against the Jewish Christian moral code going back 4,000 years to the Ten Commandments in the Bible. Since, as discussed above, a human embryo or fetus is both human and alive it is human life and thus a miscarriage is a human death due to natural causes and an abortion in homicide. The question that divides people in the United States is not whether abortion is homicide but rather when is abortion a justifiable homicide under the law or when it is morally justified under Christian teaching. According to law in the United States after Roe vs Wade abortion is considered to be justifiable for any reason right up until delivery even if the fetus is viable. This is not generally acceptable in the United States, either legally or morally. This is where the political divide is. When a pregnant woman feels her fetus moving in her body she doesn't say I can feel my fetus moving around. Rather she says I can feel my baby moving within me. Of course.

The CNN exit poll of voters in the last presidential election provides interesting insights into the views of the voters. The question asked of the voters in regard to abortion was:
Do you favor abortion ...

1. always legal,
2. mostly legal,
3. mostly illegal, or
4. always illegal?

Assuming these opinions on abortion are, at least generally in agreement with national opinions on these views the national view can be at least estimated by multiplying the above percentages by the national vote of 126.2 million votes cast. The results of these calculations are:

Although these data are proxies for actual views about abortion by voters, nevertheless they are interesting and revealing. Obama voters favored abortion being always legal over always illegal by 9 to 1. In contrast Romney voters favored abortion being always illegal over always legal by only 1.5 to 1. Obama voters favored mostly legal over mostly illegal by a little over 3 to 1 and Romney voters favored mostly illegal over mostly legal by 1.5 to 1. Obama voters and Romney voters together favored some restrictions on abortion over abortion always legal by 2 to 1 and over abortion always illegal by 4 to 1.

Conclusion

Abortion, by any reasonable understanding of the meaning of words is homicide. Sir Robert Edwards' view that the human fetus deserves no protection from abortion is in reality a view that considers abortion justifiable homicide. In other words Dr. Edwards agrees that a fetus is a human being that does not merit protection from being killed by the abortionist. Late term abortion where the baby's skull is partially delivered and then crushed is in fact murder. According to United States law subsequent to Roe v Wade abortion is justifiable homicide even past viability. The varying views in the country on the justification for abortion differ primarily from moral considerations, not the law as it now is. The very different views on abortion by Obama and Romney voters and by democratic and republican voters are consistent with the fact that democratic voters tend to be more secular and republican voters tend to be more religious.

Justification for homicide is not a new concept. Reasons to allow abortion to be performed need to be considered as justifiable homicide. If the only reasons to consider abortion to be justifiable were rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother the abortion rate in the United states would be very greatly reduced.

Coda

Whittaker Chanbers had been an athiest and a communist and part of the communist underground from the mid 1920's until 1939 when he broke with both and disclosed to the United States government the names of many of the members of the communist conspiracy against the U.S. Government. There were many reasons for this but promineht among them was a growing belief that we need God. He became a Christian. The following passage is from his autobioghaphy entitled Witness in which he and his wife came to an understanding of the evil of abortion.

One extreme group among the Communists held that it was morally wrong for a professional revolutionist to have children at all. They could only hamper or distract his work. That was one of the penalties of being a Communist. I did not belong to that group, but in general I shared its views. As an underground Communist, I took for granted that children were out of the question. Not only left-wing and underground Communists took such matters for granted. Abortion was a commonplace of party life. There were Communist doctors who rendered that service for a small fee. Communists who were more choosy knew liberal doctors who would render the same service for a larger fee. Abortion, which now fills me with physical horror, I then regarded it, like all Communists, as a mere physical manipulation.

One day, early in 1933, my wife told me that she believed she had conceived. No man can hear from his wife, especially for the first time, that she is carrying his child, without a physical jolt of joy and pride. I felt it. But so sunk were we in that life that it was only passing joy, and was succeeded by a merely momentary sadness that we would not have the child. We discussed the matter, and my wife said that she must go at once for a physical check and to get ready for the abortion.

When my wife came back (we were still living in Greenwich Village), she was quiet and noncommital. The doctor had said that she was with child. My wife went about preparing supper. What did she say? I asked. She said that I am in good physical shape to have a baby. My wife went on silently working. Very slowly the truth dawned on me. Do you mean, I asked, that you intend to have the child? My wife came over to me, took my hands and burst into tears. Dear heart, she said in a pleading voice, we couldn't do that awful thing to a little baby, not to a little baby, dear heart. A wild feeling swept me. Reason, the agony of my family, the Communist party and its theories, the wars and revolutions of the 20th century crumbled at the touch of the child. Both of us simply wanted to have the child.