Aborting Landon

I cannot think of another moral issue that stirs up more animus than the subject of abortion. Not even Satanism comes close to igniting much discussion. Throw homosexuality into the ring and you won’t get more than a yawn. Any religious or political topic can get emotional but usually not untethered. Yet, open a discussion about abortion and get ready for an argument.

In an age when science and technology reign together over our minds, it would seem that no debate was needed. As we fold back more of the mysteries of life in laboratories and under microscopes the answer to the question of when life begins comes into focus. The tiny seed of human life is created at conception. If left undisturbed this minuscule kernel of animate tissue will become a human being.

It’s self-evident that the fetus is human life. Part of the abortion debate is not whether the fetus is life, but whether the fetus is viable human life. Viable means the capability of developing and living on its own. Science can prove that human life begins at conception, but the argument is over when viable human life begins.

Viability carries with it the dimension of personality. A viable fetus is one that has attained a degree of humanness and is therefore a real person. Abortion advocates might argue that the death of the fetus before viable personhood is attained is not the death of a human being, but only the termination of human life.

Eventually the philosophical ramifications of viability reach the severely disabled and frail elderly. In many cases these lives are not self-sustaining. They have no viability in themselves, and in fact, their sustainability is artificial insofar as it depends on the facility of others. This begs the question, does less viability mean less human? As one decreases does the other decrease as well?

Now it feels like I’ve just stepped into the quagmire known as eugenics, or the set of beliefs and practices that seeks to improve the human race by selectively excluding or eliminating people and groups considered to be inferior. Of course, eugenics is junk science, and as a philosophy it is pure madness. The value of human life doesn’t decrease as that life becomes less functional. If anything, a society should place a premium of value on those lives that are most vulnerable. Shielding these lives from risk and harm is a true measure of a society’s benevolence.

Imagine an opportunity to discuss the meaning of life with a young couple who just had their first child, a boy named Landon. This couple considered themselves to be moderately evangelical and libertarian and more aligned with the Democratic party platform. As such they endorsed the concept of elective abortion and adhered to the standard positions used to protect a woman’s right to choose.

The dichotomy between their unquenchable love for Landon and their unshakeable support for abortion was not lost on me. I asked them when their love for Landon first appeared. Of course, it was at the point when they first learned they were expecting a child. Yet, at that point Landon was little more than a nonviable fetus. I asked them when did Landon become Landon – at the point of conception or at the point when his body could be viable outside the womb.

They hesitated to agree with me that Landon began his life at conception because that would jeopardize their passionate commitment to abortion. At the same time, they were conflicted about when Landon actually became Landon, so they resolved that they didn’t know precisely when he came into being. In essence, they found a love for a tiny mass of tissue that would eventually become a Landon, but they couldn’t quite grasp the idea that the tiny mass was already Landon.

Democrats insist they’d feel differently about abortion restrictions if Republicans fully funded initiatives like birth control, counseling, and a range of supports for teenage and unwed mothers. They contend Republicans go big on protecting the unborn fetus, but once the baby arrives the mother and child are left to fend for themselves. Republicans insist they’d feel differently about an increase in post-natal and pre-school programs if the Democrats were even halfway serious about any limitations on elective abortion.

More could be done for babies once they’re born, and more needs to be done to instill in our culture a deeper recognition of the worth of all human life regardless of its state of being – like my disabled son, the frail elderly, and the tiny bundles of organic matter that are guaranteed to become the Landons of the world if given a chance.