From My Perspective - - -

The Journal of Medical Ethics has broached a subject that many thought could not or would not occur in a civilized culture. Abortion has been debated for quite some time - but now – a Paper presented to the Journal goes even further, namely, to discuss after-birth abortions. The question is framed by using some philosophical considerations:  When does – or can -  a person begin to be identified as a person? At what point – outside of the womb – can there be a recognition and an identification that this is a person? The proponents don’t want their concepts warped into views that have espoused euthanasia and infanticide. The argument is: “If the death of a newborn is not wrongful to her on the grounds that she cannot have formed any aim that she is prevented from accomplishing, then it should also be permissible to practice an after-birth abortion on a healthy newborn too, given that she has not formed any aim yet. There are two reasons which, taken together, justify this claim: (1) The moral status of an infant is equivalent to that of a fetus, that is, neither can be considered a ‘person’ in a morally relevant sense. (2) It is not possible to damage a newborn by preventing her from developing the potentiality to become a person in the morally relevant sense.”

How can this position be substantiated and defended? The presenters of the paper are: Alberto Giubiliniand Francesca Minerva. Their rationale is stated as follows: “We are going to justify these two points in the following way: “The moral status of an infant is equivalent to that of a fetus in the sense that both lack those properties that justify the attribution of a right to life to an individual.Both a fetus and a newborn certainly are human beings and potential persons, but neither is a ‘person’ in the sense of ‘subject of a moral right to life’. We take ‘person’ to mean an individual who is capable of attributing to her own existence some (at least) basic value such that being deprived of this existence represents a loss to her. This means that many non-human animals and mentally retarded human individuals are persons, but that all the individuals who are not in the condition of attributing any value to their own existence are not persons. Merely being human is not in itself a reason for ascribing someone a right to life.”

Let’s focus on just one initial proposition: “Both a fetus and a newborn certainly are human beings and potential persons, but neither is a ‘person’ in the sense of ‘subject of a moral right to life’. We take ‘person’ to mean an individual who is capable of attributing to her own existence some (at least) basic value such that being deprived of this existence represents a loss to her.” The writers of the paper seem to be suggesting that anyone who cannot articulate a reasonable defense regarding why they should have the right to exist and live is not yet or no longer a person. It amounts to – Move over God! The Medical Ethicists have usurped and replaced You! It also amounts to the one who has Alzheimers (a common form of dementia of unknown cause…characterized by memory lapses, confusion, emotional instability, and progressive loss of mental ability) should be Euthanized – thus removing the burden of family and care-givers. The same type argument occurs for the “after-birth-abortion.” If there is some unforeseen or undetected, such as: “Perinatal asphyxia, for instance, may cause severe brain damage and result in severe mental and/or physical impairments…” – this come be a reason for an “after-birth-abortion” (why not call it Infanticide?).

The unthinkable is creeping into our culture and is now becoming the thinkable. Consider personhood from Biblical declarations: Jeremiah 1:5 (The Message) – "Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you. Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you: A prophet to the nations - that's what I had in mind for you." Psalm 139:14-16 (The Message) - “Body and soul, I am marvelously made!...You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day.” The conscience of our nation is seared. We’ve allowed for more than 50 million Abortions since 1973. We are ripe as a nation for Euthanasia and Infanticide to become acceptable. May God have mercy on us and forgive us for rejecting Him and His Word. Consider these things with me!