Through the Moral Looking Glass

I remain ambivalent about abortion. But there is no ambivalence about the pure evil of these "ethicists" and their "moral" argument for actual infanticide on demand.

How did it come to this?

The Gunslinger

So Egregiously Out of Control

You think I'm paranoid.

Not so much...

Red State's Francis Cianfrocca's piece: The Stakes in the Catholic Church Abortion Debate are Higher than You Might Think.

In this case, the Obama Administration has ruled unilaterally that health insurance programs provided by the Catholic Church must pay for abortions. Forget about the welter of discussion about whether the Federal mandate extends beyond those of many states. That’s not the core issue here.

For the government to say, as it has, that its goals are prior to the Catholic Church’s core beliefs, is precisely to say that government power is unambiguously senior to all other claims.

This is radically counter to the doctrines of the American founding. It’s more radical than anything that even FDR said during the New Deal. It quite simply elevates government to the level of a religion.

Democrats should beware. Imperial Government is bad for everyone; even them, eventually.

The Gunslinger

Abortion

Wow!

There's a subject I bet you're dying to read about. But wait. For me this has been a conundrum because I've been Pro-Choice most of my adult life, and even though I "converted" to Conservatism in 2001, I've been unable to quite bridge the gap to full bore Pro-Life.

And with my belief that Liberty is the highest human value, it was easy at first glance to say that the liberty of control over my own person trumps all other considerations.

But in conversation with smart readers, and hearing the Libertarian conversation I've referenced in previous posts, I've realized that while I DO believe that Liberty is the highest human value, it is not the ONLY value.

And when I talk of Liberty being more important than Life, I speak of it only in terms of myself...MY own liberty vs MY own life. Like Patrick Henry said: "Give me liberty or give me death!"

He didn't say, "Give me liberty by taking HIS life!"

Now, to borrow an overused phrase, let me be clear....

I agree with the position of Pro-Choice people that the right to have an abortion is about a woman's liberty—about having control over her own body. If liberty's not about that, it has no meaning.

Therefore LIBERTY is at stake here.

I also agree with the position of the Pro-Life people that the right to not be aborted is about the baby's right to LIFE.

Therefore LIFE is at stake here.

So, we have two of our fundamental values in conflict: LIFE vs LIBERTY. How is it to be resolved?

Typically, both sides of this issue refuse to concede the claim of the opposing value, because they believe that to do so would weaken their argument, and inject doubt into their conclusions. (Or even worse, cause self-doubt!) And they become exactly what they appear: Rigid, close-minded idealogues.

The one thing they never acknowledge is the crux of the problem: both sides are right. 

Liberty means nothing if it doesn't mean having control over one's own body. And Life means nothing if someone else can take YOURS away at THEIR whim.

So. Since we cannot choose between the values of Life and Liberty in the abstract - as much as both sides have tried to do so, we can only compare the impact upon each of them in the particular as it relates to abortion.

As to the Liberty of the pregnant woman: If required to see the pregnancy to term against her will, her liberty—her control of and power over her own being— is absolutely violated - for nine months. (Assuming of course that the pregnancy is not a threat to her life or ongoing health.)

As to the Life of the baby: If aborted, it's right life is absolutely violated.. forever.

If Liberty and Life are equal values, either the degree to which or the duration of which, each is violated can be the only determination for choosing between them on a case by case basis.

Forever trumps nine months.

Logically, Mama must lose.

I don't necessarily love the conclusion, but there it is. 

And I'm prepared to live with it. 

Well, no. I'm past menopause. I don't HAVE to live with it. Just like a man, I get to preach a behavior and demand a sacrifice I'll never have to make.

And that makes me very uncomfortable.

The Gunslinger

You'll notice that God never personally appears in this argument. He's there though...he gave me the brain I use to think all this shit up.

Besides we need an argument that doesn't depend on "authority" but on logic. If you're going to try to persuade a pro-choicer, honestly, the God argument isn't going to get you very far.

He Lies...Naturally...as naturally as breathing...

Is Abortion covered or not in ZerØ's "health" care scheme?

Well opponents seem to agree that it is.

So...he looked the teleprompter right in the eye..and LIED.

I know, you're shocked....SHOCKED.

(BTW, have you sent your donation to Joe Wilson yet?)

The Gunslinger, E.O.T.I.S.

...their own petard...

Abortion

I hate this issue.

I agree that at some point, a fertilized egg is just a collection of cells with the potential to become a human being at some point in the future. I find it difficult to believe destroying it is murder.

I agree that at some point, a fetus is a human being...beyond mere potential...even though not yet viable outside the womb. I find it difficult to believe destroying it isn't murder.

The anti-abortion fanatics won't accept the first point.
The pro-abortion fanatics won't accept the second point.

The use of the "morning after" pill, which dispatches an egg within 12 hours of fertilization, and the IUD, which prevents a fertilized egg from attaching to the wall of the uterus...have been condemned by anti-abortion activists as "murder".

The recognition of humanity in a fetus that has a face, a beating heart, a brain, and self generated movement has been condemned by the pro-abortion activists as the slavery and oppression of women.

They call each other "extremists". Takes one to know one.

For a moment, let's be practical: Outlawing abortion doesn't prevent abortion. Women have been getting them almost as long as they've been getting pregnant.

Remember how we castigate Progressives for their Utopian policies that don't work? That have never worked? And that often have unintended consequences?

Let's not be blind to our own well-intentioned ones that lead to hellish results. We really can't pretend that desperate women have not died because of illegal "back-alley" abortions. We can't pretend that we don't empower evil exploiters when we make abortion unavailable legally.

Our "goodness" is a pretense if we refuse to acknowledge the evil consequences of our actions...if we are stiff-necked, unyielding, priggish moralists.

God is not impressed.

The pro-abortionists won't concede any ground because they know the ultimate goal of the anti-abortionists is to outlaw abortion outright. They don't trust any offer of "compromise" because they know the anti-abortionists have no intention or desire to compromise—except as a first step...their camel's nose under the tent.

The pro-abortionists' inhuman refusal to acknowledge the barbarism of partial-birth and late-term abortion is partly caused by their fears that if they "give them an inch, the anti-abortionists will take a mile".

And they'd be right.

You can't have any meaningful dialogue when neither side trusts the other...when both want to utterly destroy the other. Asking the pro-abortionists to compromise with the anti-abortionists is like asking Israel to compromise with Hamas terrorists who want to wipe Israel from the map.

The fact that we have partial-birth abortion is partly the anti-abortionists' fault. Their intractable position, which they continue to make perfectly clear, results in their opponents' intractability. The fear of a slippery slope of incremental restrictions—unto an outright ban on abortion—keeps the pro-abortionists from budging, no matter how they might actually feel about the barbarity of the practice.

And until somebody can speak to this issue without the passions and fanaticism of the current contenders, not a single serious step will be made toward a solution, or a resolution.

Both extremist sides violate fundamental principles of Conservatism.

The pro-abortionists have used the Federal Government to decide the question, but also to use all taxpayers' money to fund something that many taxpayers find morally repugnant.

The anti-abortionists want to outlaw a practice that offends their religious sensibilities...even though it does not offend those of many of their fellow-citizens.

The first violates the principle of "limited government" the second the "establishment clause".

Both violate the principle of "individual rights". The pro-abortionists of the fetus after a certain degree of development. The anti-abortionists of the mother, before that degree of development.

There is a point where the collection of cells becomes a human. Before that, abortion should be legal. After that, it should be illegal (life-of-the-mother exceptions, etc.)

Today*, I consider this a perfectly reasonable, and a moral compromise.

The Gunslinger

*New information, exculpatory evidence or reasoned refutation can change my mind.

Moral Liberalism

"Obama's liberalism is not an opponent of human rights abuses but an embodiment of them. The CIA restricts itself to methods far less ruthless than those permitted by the platform of the Democratic Party. When will Obama bring his own platform into line with the Geneva Accords?

It is a little late in the day for Obama to worry about America's moral reputation. Resisting evil even "when it is hard" hasn't interested liberalism for at least four decades. It rests on an ideology of expedient evil and crass utilitarianism."

Read the entire article by George Neumayr at American Spectator: Obama's Torture Policy for the Unborn.

He nails it.

The Gunslinger

Murder is NOT "Choice"

Does this remind you of anybody? Our "hero" King thinks this is a matter of "choice", no doubt.

But any actual human being with a beating heart will be horrified.

Welcome to the Monkey House. Zero's America.

The Gunslinger

Ghoulish Granny

This woman is a ghoul. If you squint, doesn't this sound a little like:

"Let's kill the children to save money in these uncertain economic times."

Considering her support for abortion, and how Liberals generally include abortion in "family planning", I think it's a pretty accurate paraphrasing of what she really means.

In another century it would be shocking satire. Today, it's just everyday Liberalism.

The Gunslinger

First Kill All the Babies

I'm not a big "Pro-Lifer". I wish nobody had abortions, but I am unwilling to make it illegal.

That being said, Partial Birth should be utterly outlawed...and Obie should be outlawed for his despicable position regarding Born Alive Infants Protection.

What sort of man would chose, no matter what the tasty advantage to himself, to vote for the purposeful neglect of newly born babies, who through no fault of their own, are unwanted by their mothers? What sort of man would encourage...nay, DEMAND, that doctors be REQUIRED to leave such children unaided, un-cared for...unto their deaths?

(Read about it)

Only a monster. A MONSTER. How is it that anyone can even contemplate voting for this person? How is it that this issue alone, even if you are generally Pro-Choice, is not a defining issue of character? How is it that a man who has voted and argued with passion for the deliberate snuffing of babies' lives because in his twisted idea of "rights" it might somehow impact the life-choices of potential voters?

How can anyone watch him with his own children, and not be sickened by the contempt he has for others' children...for all the children of the human race? And he does. Because it is not their own intrinsic worth that makes Obie love them, it is only the decision of their mothers whether to keep them or not that gives them value in his eyes.

Clearly the child itself has no worth. It's worth is entirely dependent on its desirability. Live human babies to Barack Obama are a commodity; their worth determined by the market. Desired, their worth increases, un-wanted, their value plummets.

Are his live-born children valuable only because Mrs. Obie decided to "want" them. According to his own words and arguments and votes, they would be worthless if Mrs. Obie decided not to want them...and perfectly appropriately left to die.

Who are the Democrats planning to run in 2012? Hannibal Lechter?

The Gunslinger

Obie's Problem #1,468

~
Kathleen Parker has a nice essay on Obie's "infanticide" problem with a fabulous closing line:

"Obama’s born-alive problem ultimately could prove fatal to the man who thought too hard and lost his sense."

(Emphasis mine because I think it's a fine turn of phrase. Almost worthy of Aesop.)

The Gunslinger
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