 Ex-atheist launches scathing attack on abortion The Layman Online Monday, May 26, 2003
J. Budziszewski, a professor of government and philosophy at the University of Texas, spoke to more than 200 people May 25 at a Presbyterians Pro-Life gathering. Comparing Budziszewski to William Wilberforce, who helped to end slavery in England, Terry Schlossberg, the organization's executive director, said that both men had "honorably vilified" for their strong moral stands – in Budziszewski's case, against abortion. Budziszewski began his address by noting that, although this General Assembly will be dealing with the issue of late-term abortion, his remarks would deal with abortion in general - although, he said, there is no difference ethically between an abortion in the first trimester and one in the third. Budziszewski said that it's just easier for people to relate to the issue in the last trimester because of the baby's advanced development. He based his remarks on what Paul in Romans 2:15 calls the law "written on the heart." God has created us with certain knowledge in our consciences, Budziszewski said, referring to what he called those certain things "that we can't not know."For example, he said, people can't not know that "it is wrong to deliberately take innocent human life." Since we're created in the image of God, and since this knowledge is written on our heart, "we all know this to be true," Budziszewski said. He then went on to enumerate the efforts that people make to rationalize their choices and convince themselves that they really don't know what they know. He broke this rationalization, that "We can't not know that it is wrong to deliberately take innocent human life," into six parts: 1) Deliberately: "I wasn't trying to get pregnant. It wasn't deliberate. It just happened." This line of thought, Budziszewski said, is "a formula for personal chaos" as people choose not to trace actions and their consequences. 2) Taking: "It's not me taking the baby. It's the doctors who are doing it (the abortion)." People, therefore, avoid all personal responsibility and, he said, in effect declare that "I am not me." 3) Innocence: "The fetus is not innocent." Whereas one finds it difficult to imagine a pregnant mother falling into this rationalization, Budziszewsksi said radical feminists have referred to the fetus as an "aggressive trespasser" in a mother's womb. This unmasks a naked hatred for human nature, he said – a woman's womb was created to be a baby's home. He or she has nowhere else to live and grow, but in the womb. 4) Human: "It's not human. It can't feel, can't communicate, can't do any of the things which make up what it means to be a human person." If people succumb to this rationalization, he said, they lose their "who-ness," and human value then is found not in who we are but in what we do. Budziszewski, following this faulty logic to its logical conclusion said that if the ability to communicate is what makes us human, what about toddlers, or teenagers, for that matter, who may struggle at times with their communication skills? Does that mean they aren't human? The logical result is the development of an idea of degrees of personhood – the one who has a higher degree of personhood has more rights than one who is less able to display the skills of personhood. 5) Life: "It's not a life. It's just blood clot." 6) It's wrong. "Sometimes, you just have to do what's wrong, do evil so that good may result." People know that abortion is wrong, he said, but they promise themselves that they will repent later. This attitude hardens people's hearts, Budziszewski said, and perhaps they won't be able to repent later or they promise to make up for it. He then illustrated the point with a story about a woman who aborted her baby to get back at her husband. Then, when she got pregnant again, she dealt with the debilitating guilt she felt for killing her baby by having another abortion. Without repentance, he said, the result will be a twisted effort to "make up for it." Budziszewski eschewed the argument that abortion is "a sad thing but, out of compassion for the mother, it should be allowed." It is not compassionate, he said, to encourage a mother to abort her baby – but she should feel compassion for her child. No matter what the circumstances of the pregnancy, he said, if the mother hurts the child she is, in reality, hurting herself. He closed his address by challenging his listeners not to pray the popular prayer of Jabez but, rather, to pray the prayer of Daniel: "Oh, Lord, great and awesome God, keeping covenant and steadfast love with those who love you and keep your commandments, we have sinned and done wrong, acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and ordinances….." (Daniel 9:4-5) |
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