Letter: A fetus is no less human than a developed adult

Editor,

I am writing this in response to Damian Erasmus' letter about abortion in Thursday's Daily Lobo. First, I would like to establish the personhood of a fetus or embryo. Despite some people's opinions, there is no debate among the medical community that life begins at conception. Though it is true that embryos and fetuses are less developed than full-term, newborn babies, it is only a difference of degree, not of kind. Physical and intellectual development have nothing to do with personhood outside of the womb, and they are just as insignificant in determining personhood inside the womb. A child is no less of a person than a more-developed adult. It is humanity - not brain capacity or bodily development - that determines personhood. Those who oppose abortion are trying to preserve the lives of these preborn people and thus are justified in using the title pro-life.

However, pro-abortionists using the title pro-choice is another issue. Individual choices are either allowed or restricted by our laws, based on their context. Laws against rape, murder and speeding remove legal protection from a choice to protect a more foundational freedom.

A man would be a fool to try to justify rape by saying my body, my choice, because it involves more than just his body, just as abortion involves more than just the mother's life. Individual choices that infringe on the life or livelihood of another human must be legislated against. Thus, pro-choice advocates who support abortion because women should be free to make their own choices are either ignorant or dishonest. Furthermore, the vast majority of all U.S. abortions are by women who choose to have sexual intercourse. Thus, they have already made their choice by engaging in an action that they know could lead to pregnancy.

Finally, I would like to correct Erasmus' comment that the women would either be forced to "undergo 20 years of enslavement" or "attempt dangerous, back-alley abortions." He fails to mention a third alternative - adoption. Though pregnant women may undergo an uncomfortable pregnancy for nine months, it is not permanent. On the other hand, abortion costs the child his or her very life, a completely permanent condition. With so many women in the U.S. seeking to adopt, it has the most positive outcome.

Abortion can negatively affect the mother both physically and mentally.

Unfortunately, I do not have the space in this letter to provide more evidence of my argument, but I would like to encourage anyone, whether pro-abortion or pro-life, to go to www.abort73.com if they are sincerely interested in the facts and truth of abortion.

Rachel Shreve

UNM student