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Once upon a time, there lived a mother with a son who loved to go caving. One day, while he was caving, there was an earthquake that collapsed the mouth of the cave. The son was trapped inside, and possibly dead. Rescuers rushed to the scene, along with the mother. Upon arrival, before they began their work, the rescuers asked the mother, "do you think your son is still alive?" She answered, "no, I do not." So the rescuers simply packed their things, and went home.

Do you think the rescuers acted properly? Because, as perhaps I can convince you, this story is exactly analogous to America's position on abortion today.

There is really only one question that matters in the abortion debate: is the fetus a human person, or not? Almost all Americans, if honest with themselves, would give either of two answers to that question, and for either answer, the conclusion is the same: a woman should not have the right to choose abortion. The answers are:

1. Yes, the fetus is a person. This answer is particularly popular among Christians in America. They take their cue from Bible verses like Psalm 51:5 (NIV), which says "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." Only a person could be sinful. Similarly, Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV) records God saying "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you." If the fetus is a human person, and killing innocent people is wrong, then abortion should surely not be permitted.

2. Instead of religious texts, we could look to science to determine whether the fetus is a person or not. If we do this, then we must conclude that we simply do not know. What, after all, is the critical step that makes the fetus a person? Is it when the heart starts beating? When the soul enters the body? After a certain level of brain development? Even though science can tell us at what point in the fetus' development some of these lines are crossed, it cannot tell us which line is the critical line. Therefore we do not know if the fetus is a person or not.

So what do we do? Do we agree with many on the pro-choice side and let the mother decide? Well, consider again the story this article began with. Hopefully you agree that the rescuers should not have asked the mother what she thought - it wasn't her life at risk after all. No, the right thing to do in their ignorance was to act as if the son was still alive, and try to save him. Similarly, if we do not know if the fetus is a person or not, we should act as if it (he? she?) is, to preserve what may be a human life. It is not the mother's life at stake, so it is not her decision to make.

And there you have it. The prolife position is the rational and right position, and should be acknowledged at such by both those who believe they know that life begins at conception and those who don't know when life begins.

But if the issue is this simple, then why then do some people believe abortion should be permitted? I think the biggest reason is that they simply have not considered the issue rightly. Prochoice groups have packaged it as one of woman's choice, the right to do with her own body what she wishes. And if abortion was really like treating a stomach ache, no one would mind. It is not. The issue is not whether a woman has domain over her own body, it is whether she has a right to end what may be the life inside her. But prochoice sloganeering has kept people from seeing and thus considering the real argument against abortion, an argument I believe virtually all would agree with.

Learn more about this author, David Shane.
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