During a recent trans-Canada flight, I opened to the opinion column in the Toronto Star, and was instantly captivated by Heather Mallick’s wit.
“Troubled, obsessive people seek to control the lives of others,” she said, and her words stirred up a gut-level response . . .
“Pro-lifers stick their fingers into the uterine decisions of women,” she said, forgetting that surgical probes do just that.
Why are we more bothered by pithing a frog in biology (don’t look that up!) than when the same thing is done to babies?
OK, call them fetuses if you like, but some of those fragile little wisps survived.
And they turned out to be people, actual humans!
Internationally, Canada is a peacemaker.
But what about peace for the unborn?
Goethe mused, “our level of character as a nation can be observed in how we treat those who can do absolutely nothing for us.”
What sometimes happens to those fragile wisps says something about us.
And the abortive mothers’ 800 per cent increase in suicide tells us it’s not good.
A woman has the right to use her body as she wishes.
But who will hover over the rights of our most vulnerable – the unborn? Abortion is a choice, but it’s anything but free. It removes millions of little choices, without asking.
And when one person’s needs take precedence over the life of another, we have slipped, and perhaps fallen.
“Thou shalt not kill” and other ancient wisdoms exist to protect more than just the victims.
“They also safeguard the killer; they shield us from dulling our finest sensibilities.
“An insane man once told me his job had been to kill 300,000 chickens each year. And that had broken him.
So, what’s the future for an inconvenient baby, or a mentally deficient ‘product of conception?’ Or the ‘fetus’ whose mom was a drug-soaked dropout, or an infant who is racially unclassifiable?
They have all grown up. And they are all mine.
They have moved me from judgment toward tolerance. They have made me a better person - or at least better than I was.
Sadly, there may be a place for abortion. But here is something I probably should not say.
Whatever happened to selflessness? Does character make our decisions, or are we run by expediency?
Pro-choice, I am, I guess — but not for me.
I believe in future choice for the unborn, and in developing brains instead of scrambling them. Could we perhaps mold our tiniest challenges into assets instead of cauterizing them?
Those little wisps are as vapourous as a cloud on a hot day. But what they become will depend on who we are.
My ‘wisps’ will be home for Christmas this year! One heavy-duty equipment operator, one drug dealer, one lawyer, two health care professionals and one handicapped angel.
But The Star wouldn’t print this rebuttal. So I offer it to you. Canada, it’s time to land.
I’d love to hear your story, unless you’re just too busy reading one to a tiny wisp of your own. LOL@wltribune.com