No one wishes to prevent
raped women from giving birth to Willie Horton's children.
If that's what a raped woman wants,
please do.
On the other hand, many Americans, in
good conscience, want women to have the option of expunging from their bodies
the artifactual remains of the violent weapon that the rapist left -- like a
bullet -- in his victim's flesh.
Trappist monk, Father Thomas Merton nails it: "The terrible thing about our time is precisely the
ease with which theories can be put into practice. The more perfect, the
more idealistic the theories, the more dreadful is their realization. We
are at last beginning to rediscover what perhaps men knew better in very ancient
times, in primitive times before utopias were thought of: that liberty is bound
up with imperfection, and that limitations, imperfections, errors are not only
unavoidable but also salutary. The best is not the ideal. Where what is
theoretically best is imposed on everyone as the norm, then there is no longer
any room even to be good. The best, imposed as a norm, becomes
evil.” Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander by Thomas
Merton - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Merton
I do not know what God is thinking.
I do know that "God" created a world in which half of all
fetuses abort spontaneously. http://www.emcom.ca/health/abortion.shtml
As we are told in Genesis, God "saw
that his creation was good."
Clearly, the most frequent form of abortion -- "an act of God" -- is part of the natural order which God ordained to be good.
Now...
Maybe it is "best" if all
fetuses engendered by rape come to term.
Maybe it is "best" if all
mothers whose lives are jeopardized by fetal development are allowed to die.
Maybe.
What seems clear is this:
"Where what is theoretically
best is imposed on everyone as the norm, then there is no longer any room even
to be good. The best, imposed as a norm, becomes evil.”
The imposition of an absolute obligation to bring every fetus to term is mortally sinful in comparison with the venial sin of abortion sought by a raped women whose womb carries the rapist's child.
The imposition of perfection is always
evil.
Abortion is not always evil.
John Koster, GOP House Candidate: 'The Rape Thing' Does Not Excuse Abortions
Posted: 10/31/2012
John Koster, a Republican congressional candidate in Washington state, said Sunday that "the rape thing" is not a good enough reason for a woman to have an abortion, the Associated Press reported.
Asked at a campaign fundraiser whether he supports abortion rights in some situations, Koster replied that he only supports abortion in cases where a woman's life is in danger.
"Incest is so rare, I mean, it's so rare," he said. "But the rape thing-- you know, I know a woman who was raped and kept the child, gave it up for adoption, and she doesn't regret it."
He added, "On the rape thing, it's like, how does putting more violence onto a woman's body and taking the life of an innocent child that's a consequence of this crime -- how does that make it better? You know what I mean?"
Listen to the audio of Koster's comments:
His Democratic opponent, Suzan DelBene, supports abortion rights. Her campaign criticized Koster for trivializing rape.
"Dismissing it as a 'thing' is an awfully casual way for him to talk about it, and I think it highlights how little he understands the ramifications and the seriousness of the issue. So that's very problematic," DelBene spokesperson Viet Shelton told TPM. "And the way he approaches the issue and the policy conclusions he comes to, it just highlights the serious problem we have when politicians are trying to dictate women's health care decisions."In response to the controversy over his comments, Koster campaign manager Larry Stickney told the AP that Koster clearly takes rape seriously because he has strongly advocated cracking down on sex offenders.
Republican lawmakers and congressional candidates have made headlines several times over the past few months for their comments about rape and abortion. Indiana GOP Senate candidate Richard Mourdock said that pregnancy from rape is "something God intended," Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) said victims of "legitimate rape" almost never become pregnant, and Rep. Tom Smith (R-Pa.) compared pregnancy as a result of rape to "having a baby out of wedlock."
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