I would like to point out just one thing that I feel is a typical mistake people make when discussing the teachings of the Catholic Church (my church). I feel that many people either don’t realize or ignore the TOTALITY of Catholic teaching. For instance, many argue against the Church’s position on contraception (which the author mentioned in the last bit. Sir, when you said “the next logical step would be to take away another fundamental right women hold dear – the right to take birth control”, you were absolutely correct.) by saying that the “sexual playground” is full of diseases and risk of pregnancy and that it’s stupid to ask people not to protect themselves from these risks. True. But what you forget is the Church’s stance against extramarital sex. The Church cannot be condemned for hypocrisy (in this case, anyway) when it teaches against both practices (extramarital sex and contraception). If a man and woman do not have sex before they are married, then there is no risk of transmitting STDs. Rape is an extraordinary evil, I absolutely agree. But the fact that it occurs does not bear on the Church’s position. I’m sure it sounds absurd to someone who is most likely an atheist, but the Church does believe that God wills the existence of every human being, born and unborn. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” (Jer 1:5, NASB). Sorry to quote the Bible, but I felt you deserved to see my bibliography. While rape is a horrific crime against sexuality, the value of life created is not diminished. We can continue discussing the mental ramifications attributed to both mother and child, but the fact is the life created is just as sacred as any other human life.

Okay, that should be enough to annoy you. But as I said, thank you for providing an example of what true debate should look like.

My favorite argument against the pro-life crowd is that about 40% of all normally occurring embryos are aborted by Nature. Might be too late in the cycle, a hormone imbalance, whatever, Nature just dumps them down the drain. Then, for the Bishops, I then argue that man has no control over Nature, it was designed/invented by god. Therefore, these are “god approved” abortions since “god” could design things differently. And, if Nature (god) arbitrarily aborts embryos why does mankind need a stricter law?

Rich, keep up the good work of education the public. The Bishop of Scranton tried a full-court-press to have all catholics vote against Obama, but catholics voted for President Barack Obama in larger percentages than the general population. I remind the bishops at every opportunity that the catholic vote put President Obama in office. The Bishops lost the election and they lost the health care fight. Every generation going forward has fewer hard-core, brain-washed catholics for the Bishops to intimidate.

RCharles

You’re doing a good job, here. You don’t need my help, obviously; but I would like to share my thoughts.

For me, the whole debate pivots upon two points: Until there is brain activity (at about the beginning of the third trimester) I cannot consider the fetus a “person”. The anti-abortion response to this is usally something along the lines of “Oh, so it would be okay to kill someone who’s sleeping or in a coma?”

No. There is a fundamental difference between someone who has temporarily suspended their brainwaves and a thing that has not yet begun to develop them.

The second point is that even IF the fetus were considered a person, NO person has the right to use the body of another person against their will. Typically, anti-abortionists will respond by saying that if the woman chose to have sex, she has given consent to pregnancy and consented to the fetus using her body, whether she likes it or not.

To me, this is analgous to claiming that a woman has no right to stop intercourse if she desires. If she agrees to having sex with a man, she has no right to change her mind even if it turns violent. I think that this is a sick and mysogynistic position. I believe that the woman has the right – at any time – to tell someone who is inside her body to GET OUT NOW if she so chooses… whether it’s a lover or a fetus. It’s HER body; SHE should be the one who decides who gets to use it.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share my views.

c