Source: CNS STORY: European court says Ireland's abortion laws breach European rules
I always find the use of the "Pro-Choice" label rather ironic, since it makes the assumption that regardless of whether a fetus is a child (which is never asked by one who supports abortion), the mother should always have the right to kill it — In other words have laws imposed which are in accordance with their beliefs.
Meanwhile, the people who believe the unborn is a child do not have the right to pass laws in accordance with their beliefs.
I think Abraham Lincoln, though he was speaking about the United States, speaks wisely about this conflict between those who believe abortion is a right and those who know it is wrong. His words go far beyond American borders and far beyond slavery:
If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it.
We are now far into the fifth year, since a policy was initiated, with the avowed object, and confident promise, of putting an end to slavery agitation.
Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only, not ceased, but has constantly augmented.
In my opinion, it will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached, and passed.
"A house divided against itself cannot stand."
I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.
I do not expect the Union to be dissolved -- I do not expect the house to fall -- but I do expect it will cease to be divided.
It will become all one thing or all the other.
Either the opponents of slavery, will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new -- North as well as South.
You can read the full address HERE.
The reason I find this address, from 1858, to be enlightening on the world situation and abortion today is we have two mindsets. One which holds that the act of abortion is an act which kills a human life. The other is a view which holds that regardless of whether or not the abortion takes a human life, it should be kept legal, so that any woman who thinks she has a "need" for it can do so.
This latter group believes there should be no restrictions whatsoever. People within this group may feel a twinge of unease over reasons (such as sex-selection abortions) or methods (such as Intact Dilation and Extraction — AKA "Partial Birth Abortion"), but remain firm in insisting it should be kept legal.
The point is, the legal system cannot accommodate both views. We cannot be half in favor of and half opposed to laws legalizing abortion. Those nations with legalized abortions act on the assumption it is a "civil right" and look on those nations which oppose it as violating said rights.
Thus, those people who believe that abortion ends a life will be forced to endure a system which says it is legitimate to have access to abortion. Then we will cover it up with banal slogans like "If you're against abortion, don't have one!"
Such a slogan is meaningless. Just replace one cause in the slogan with another and you can justify anything (this is an example of a reductio ad absurdum). In this case, we could say the slave owner could use this slogan to say If you're against slavery, don't own a slave!
See how the cheap slogan evades the issue? The issue then was whether it is moral to own slaves to begin with. The issue now is whether it is moral to kill the unborn child to begin with. Yet this is the issue which is ignored, and instead "choice" is pushed into its place.
Court cases like this one requires us to ask hard questions: Who is really against "rights" and "freedom"? The person who believes that the unborn person is human and therefore has human rights? Or the people who force abortion laws into being law of the land in nations where the belief in the rights of the unborn exists?
Lincoln was right. A divided system will not work, and supporters and opponents of abortion "rights" both recognize this. This is why we must continue to support the right to life, even in nations where this right to life is recognized. No nation can be half legal abortion and half illegal abortion. It will become all one or all the other, and those nations where it is believed to be a "right" will continue to seek to impose it on nations where the right to life is recognized… unless we can halt its further spread and place it in the public mind that it ought to be extinct.
