‘Not in the slightest contrite’ in continuing to protest abortion
Henry Morgentaler, Canada’s most flamboyant abortionist, is an in-your-face kinda guy. That’s presumably why he chose a location adjacent to a junior high school and within sight of several churches for his new Fredericton, N.B., abortuary.
Of course, Henry was on hand for the grand opening, milking as much publicity as he could from the occasion. And of course the media eagerly lapped it up. Reportedly, the nine anti-abortion protesters on hand were substantially outnumbered by journalists.
“If I have to become a martyr for the cause, so be it,” Henry announced, referring to his potential as a target for assassins like the one who killed Buffalo, N.Y. abortionist Barnett Slepian last month. “I’ve established eight clinics which are going to be my legacy to Canada. I think I’ve contributed to a change of public opinion in Canada … If I had to die tomorrow by an assassin’s bullet, at least I’ve achieved something in life.”
Predictably, Henry trotted out the cliched “climate of hate” innuendo, calling protest “futile,” and suggested that “in a climate where doctors are being shot, any protesters could be seen as potential killers … I would urge them to stay away from the clinic as an act of contrition for the murder of doctors who provide abortion services.”
Well, Henry, despite the battering they’re taking from activist courts, freedoms of speech, expression, and assembly supposedly still hold in Canada, and while I don’t condone assassinations, and sincerely hope that Dr. Slepian’s murderer is caught and punished appropriately, I am not in the slightest contrite about continuing to vigorously protest the slaughter of millions of unborn children at the hands of abortionists like you. It is your bloodstained activity, not my objection to it, that incites unbalanced individuals to lash back lethally. You’re in a lethal business. Bad karma, man.
Morgentaler philosophized in Fredericton about his belief that abortion has contributed to Canada’s declining crime rate; about how “fewer unwanted children are being born … the ones that get neglected, abused, or brutalized. These are the children who when they grow up sometimes have this vengeance, rage, and hatred in their hearts.”
How conveniently utilitarian. Abortion as the solution to crime! Why didn’t I think of that? If we carry that rationale to its logical conclusion, why don’t we abort all children of disadvantaged or potentially abusive parents? Henry is apparently comfortable in the role of deciding who lives and who dies on the basis of his own subjective, quality-of-life value judgments.
The problem is, if we hypothesize that the thousands of children Henry has aborted had somehow escaped that fate and been born after all, how many do you suppose would agree that it would have been better to let Henry have his way with them? My guess is none, regardless of the circumstances of their upbringing and life situation.
Let’s consider some real-life cases where abortion might have been considered a rational choice according to Henry Morgentaler’s reasoning.
Case 1. A man and his wife are very, very poor. They already have 14 kids. She finds out she’s pregnant with number 15. They live in tremendous hardship. Wouldn’t an abortion be appropriate?
Case 2. The father is in poor health and the mother has tuberculosis. They already have four children. The eldest is blind; the second died, the third is deaf, and the fourth has tuberculosis. The mother is pregnant again. Given the extreme situation, an abortion would be better, right?
Case 3. A 13-year-old black girl is raped by a white man, and she becomes pregnant as a result. Isn’t it inhumane to insist that she carry and bear her tormentor’s bastard child?
Case 4. Another teenager is pregnant. She’s not married, her fiance is not the baby’s father, and he’s very upset. Wouldn’t an abortion be the wisest option here?
If you found yourself “voting” for abortion in the above true cases, in case 1, you would have killed John Wesley, one of the great Christian evangelists of the 19th century. In case 2, you would have killed Beethoven. In case 3, you would have killed Ethel Waters, the great black gospel singer. In case 4, you would have murdered Jesus Christ.
Only God has the right to decide who lives and who dies. Henry Morgentaler is wrong. Abortion is emphatically, absolutely, and irretrievably wrong, and no amount of fatuous sophistry about “choice” and “crime prevention” can ever make it right.
“Contrition?” Not in an eternity, Henry.