After reading Mike Monahan's column on Jan. 24, I would have to say I was not only unconvinced of any reason he had to offer, but walked away with an even greater level of dissatisfaction for those sharing his views.
First of all, on his argument that an ejaculation seemingly kills more potential life than abortion, I would have to say, yes, all sperm are life; they are living. But, they are not human life in every sense that a human is. They are only a part of humans, just as much as an arm is part of a human, but not the human itself.
A sperm or egg separately will not grow, and hence give over to death in just a matter of time. A union of both sperm and egg, however, will form into the most important living creature on earth, the human. Just because you relate the blastula of cells to be the same thing as a sperm does not mean they are essentially the same thing. Simply put, one will become something, the other will not. It is not a matter of "does it have potential for life," but if it is life.
By saying "We are all human from the time we are born," you clearly degrade the value of life and also falsely attribute it to being life only at the onset of birth. I say it is at conception. This can, however, be boiled down to a matter of opinion. In this case, neither side could be wrong. But it is not about opinion, it is about fact. You cannot deny that a fetus in the womb will undoubtedly develop into a human. What else would it develop into? So in this case you are destroying life, because given enough time a child will be completely intact. Given enough time with sperm, it will still be sperm.
So why is it any easier to kill life when it is five weeks along rather than five months, or even if you wanted to extend that, five years? Why is it unlawful to kill children? After all, they don't know much, can't do much and can't survive on their own. Pretty much, they are exactly what a fetus is prior to birth. Both need nurturing and both will continue to grow. So what if a child has not developed into an adult yet? Does this make them any less worthy of life? So if a fetus has not developed into a child, how is this any different? It is a matter of stages in life.
As a female, I realize the importance of valuing our bodies and the right to privacy we have concerning reproductive issues. However, I do not think that this should extend to the right to taking life from someone who cannot speak for him or herself. The role of motherhood is a much more revered and benevolent duty than knowing you did not grant your offspring its only life to live.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
