A right to kill?

A sea turtle has just laid its eggs and I eat one. Severe legal action is taken against me and the nest is quickly guarded 24/7. It’s just a ball of albumen and yolk, nothing at all like a turtle. The argument against me is: that egg could have been viable and developed into a turtle that we don’t have enough of.

I see! But, then, why is it OK to end the life of – not a possibly viable egg – but an already developing human embryo with its unique genetic make-up?

Abortion can take place in some places right up to the ninth month, to the moment the mother goes into labour – if it hasn’t popped out, it can be terminated...

Can someone tell me since when did a “possibly viable turtle egg’’ have more value than a human baby? Maybe the world has too many people but not enough turtles?

Now there are those who will mock me and say it’s a question of health, of sacrificing the baby to save the mother. Come on, enough of these excuses. Statistics show health reasons form a very small fraction of reasons for abortion.

Pro-choice activists keep ignoring the fact that here in Malta a baby will be aborted, with parental consent, if the mother’s life is in danger. Let me ask these activists one question: how many pregnant mothers have died in Malta because they were refused a life-saving abortion? I can’t think of one.

Then there’s that ubiquitous pro-choice mojo: My body, My choice. What about the baby’s body? That unborn baby is a unique person with its own genetic make up. I don’t think that the pregnancy came out of the blue, so why should the unborn child suffer?

Now one might raise the argument: what about rape victims, etc.? I could be contradicting myself to an extent, yet, there is the morning-after pill. Perhaps there was no conception, still it would be a precaution. However, one shouldn’t wait months before deciding.

Another pro-choice argument is: does the parent have the right to abort a baby that has been diagnosed with serious health issues, deformity, etc.? This is a grey area like euthanasia.

One has to consider the seriousness of the ailments, whether the abortion is going to be carried out for the baby’s benefit or for that of the parents.

Individuals with Down syndrome and autism, depending on how extreme, can live a fulfilling life. Also, one has to be prepared for misdiagnosis. I can swear to one case where the unborn child was diagnosed with Down syndrome; everyone in the family gave the mother their blessing for an abortion but the mother refused. The baby was born perfectly healthy and, today, is a very talented artist.

In democratic countries, abortion was decided upon after a referendum. I am sure there are pro-choice activists that don’t want a referendum in Malta because it won’t stand a chance.

Since when did the life of a developing human in a womb begin to have less value than the “‘possibly viable’ turtle egg” buried in the sand? I know there are those who will scoff at what I am about to say.

Do you know that one of the signs of the forthcoming apocalypse mentioned in the bible is another killing of the innocents, the first being when Herod had the first-born killed when he feared the messiah was born?

Could these abortions today be fulfilling that prophecy?

JOE FALZON – Qala