On 25/3/05 1:53 PM, "Kenneth Wolman" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I have to break silence for a moment. I am one of those "sacredness of
> life" people you seem to find both irrational and inconsistent.
Ken, I read your email and didn't see that you were saying in one breath
that abortion is wrong because life is sacred, and on the other hand that it
is perfectly ok to murder doctors who perform abortions. Nor were you
saying that life in any form, however degraded, is sacred, while on the
other hand cheering on the deaths of 20,000+ Iraqis and 1500+ Americans or
signing execution papers or winking at deaths in military custody. So no, I
don't see that you are in that basket. Your beliefs as you state them are
quite consistent, and if I differ from you, I can respect what you say and
why you say it.
I think it's ridiculous to think that abortion is consequenceless, or to be
squeamish about what it is. Equally, I can't see that a cytoplast or a
zygote or a first trimester foetus is the same as a new born baby. And I
really believe that the idea that abortions are taken lightly is erroneous.
Perhaps it's those who think it's an "easy" choice who suffer. For every
woman who regrets an abortion, you will find another who is relieved and
regretless, despite making a choice which involves difficulty or even grief.
I have made that choice myself, and it was the right choice. I have never
regretted it. I do not think the State should make that choice for me, or
for anybody. Again, as I said, I feel so sorry for the family of this
woman, both the husband and the parents; but it's not something the state
can decide, and the political grandstanding is obscene. I know people close
to me who have had to make similar decisions about those they love, and have
chosen to turn off the machine. I hope I never have to make a decision like
that. Personally, if my cerebral cortex was reduced to mush, and I had no
hope of recovery, I would not want to be alive. Turning off the machine
would be a higher mercy. Sometimes letting someone go is kinder and larger
than trying to preserve any scrap of life, no matter what. Denying death
can be a real denial of life. Those Dutch doctors are both brave and kind.
They are not punishing those terribly ill babies; they are relieving them
from existences which can only consist of terrible pain, and against which
they are defenceless. That too seems to be an act of mercy, if a most
difficult one.
I was very sorry too to hear of your brother in law. I hope that he
recovers and that you can work out your relationship.
Best
A
Alison Croggon
Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Editor, Masthead: http://masthead.net.au
Home page: http://alisoncroggon.com
|