Brave New World?

Much has been written so far this week about the murder of the doctor in Wichita. The ferocity of those on the right making Dr. Mengele comparisons is only matched in my book by the audacity of those on the left elevating this man to sainthood. The right looking upon all abortion as the most vile sin imaginable and the left declaring abortion as a sacrament and blessing. To all of them I say: TIME OUT!!!! Go to your respective corners and shut your mouths.

For starters, abortion is a medical procedure. Is it gruesome? Yes, but so is debriding a nasty stage 4 decubitus ulcer ("bed sore"). Is it painless? Not exactly. Is it moral? Hmmmm, now there's the rub, isn't it? How do we determine the morality of a medical procedure? "But wait," you say, "It's taking the life of an unborn child!" Well, now were debating "life" and I'll get to that in a moment. Is amputation surgery moral? "Oh, please, that's a surgical procedure, how can morality enter into it?" Well, what if adult despondent children are pushing for the amputation of the leg of their dying father - a man wracked with cancer - because there's gangrene setting in on his foot? Trust me, it happens. Now would that surgery be moral?

You cannot determine the morality of a medical procedure without understanding the situation and the mindset of the patient, the family members, etc. "But what about killing a..." Hold on there! The debate over "life" enters into this - in the case of abortion it is part of the situation and part of the mindset of the patient.

My wonderful cyber pal Maria (and fellow secular monastic) has a wonderful post on her blog today that got me thinking about this whole topic. Her post involves a can of Eagle Brand condensed milk. Some of what follows is from our dialogue in her comments section of this post. I hope you will go check it out.

Her example of the bread, wine & water used in the Eucharist got me thinking. Picture church early Sunday morning. A loaf of bread and a bottle of wine sit waiting in the sacristy to be used in the service today. How many members of the congregation would feel at this moment that this bread and wine is sacred? How many would gasp if a man off the street walked in, ate half the loaf and tossed the rest in the trash to hide his crime and drank half the bottle of wine, spilling some on the floor in the process? Perhaps only the elderly widower who brought that bread and wine special to honor the memory of his deceased wife that day. The rest would say that it was just bread and wine.

Now what if it's later and the altar guild ladies have unwrapped the bread and decanted the wine and placed everything out on the creedance table or at the back of the church in preparation for the service. What if that same man walked through the church now and grabbed the loaf of bread and bottle of wine and in rushing out dropped the wine carafe spilling the wine all over the floor and dropped half the loaf on the ground rushing out the door? How many now would gasp at the abuse of the sacred? Well, the altar guild and the widower would be upset as well as those first few elderly congregants who came early to pray. That bread and wine would already be seen as sacred by them perhaps, though most of the congregation hearing about it later would say, "Ah, well, it was just bread and wine."

What if the ushers have now brought it to the table for the Eucharistic prayer? What if the Deacon has taken it from them, spread the corporal, filled the chalice, and just before the presbyter is ready to begin the prayer that same man rushes in grabs the chalice and gulps the wine spilling it onto his greasy shirt and the floor; what if he knocks the loaf of bread to the floor while reaching for it and stomps on it in spite? How many of the congregation sitting there would still say, "Ah, just bread and water, nothing sacred" - and would simply be perturbed that this man burst into the service. A decidely larger number though might feel that the bread and wine were sacred and had been desicrated at this point - even though the moment of elevation had not occurred technically.

Finally, the service is over and in practice with the rubrics the left over blessed wine is carefully desposed of because it is seen as sacred now. However, even at this point there are some in the church who would say, "It's just bread and wine."

The sacredness of the bread and wine is completely dependent on the belief system of the beholder - it is tied up in their faith. You cannot argue this logically. If you were raised Roman Catholic or Anglican or Lutheran...on an emotional level that bread and wine becomes sacred somewhere along the way.

How much more difficult then to determine at what point a cluster of cells, a bit of flesh, an embryo or zygote is life and is sacred. Opinions range from "every sperm is sacred" to just short of delivery. When does abortion switch from being equivalent to removing an abnormal growth to the killing of an unborn child? How can we know? How can we pass laws dictating when this medical procedure is moral and when it is not? Or pass laws outlawing it from the safety of clinics and hospitals because, I'm sorry, we cannot legislate away abortion, we can only legislate away legal abortion.

Abortion is a medical procedure. Determining when life begins is a moral argument.

Don't forget to check out Maria's post. Peace.