Judging from comments made by pro-choice activists, Michelle Goldberg (author of Kingdom Coming) and Rebecca Traister (of Salon.com), technological advancements are having an impact on the rhetoric used in the abortion debate. In their discussion of the “internal contradiction” between third term abortions and ultrasound images, the women recognized the need to evolve from using language like “blob” or “growth” when describing the fetus in order to “keep any kind of emotional and moral ground.” The latest ultrasound imagery provides stunning, undeniable proof that the unborn child is a unique person. An excellent 4D ultrasound video presented by the American Life League is available online at YouTube.
This past year, 11 states considered ultrasound legislation including Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Ultrasound legislation requires a woman considering an abortion be given an opportunity to see an ultrasound of her unborn child. This legislation works to ensure that a woman is fully informed of the reality of abortion.
A recent and growing movement seeks to challenge the idea that life can only be acknowledged at the moment of live birth. The “Missing Angels” Bill, enacted in 23 states, allows parents of stillborn children the option of receiving a birth certificate (“certificate of stillbirth”) rather than merely a death certificate as recognition of their child’s existence to help with the healing process. More than 25,000 pregnancies a year end in stillbirth, generally defined as a naturally occurring, unintentional intrauterine death after more than 20 weeks of gestation. While the legislation is carefully constructed to exclude “elected terminations,” it acknowledges that a child in the womb after a certain point of development is worthy of recognition as a person even if he or she doesn’t survive birth.
While Goldberg emphasized that there is a “huge difference” between an 8 week “clump of cells” and an 8 month baby . . . I mean fetus, she failed to explain what justifies that difference and where the line should be drawn. If the line of when life begins is dependent on what technology allows us to see or whether a mother values her unborn child, then the line is merely arbitrary. The law should define and protect life according to the truth, that life begins at the moment at which a new human person is created and that all life has intrinsic value.
For more information on ultrasound legislation, see Defending Life 2008 at AUL.org.
