Abortion

            Imagine that your child walks up when your back is turned and asks, "Daddy, can I kill this?" What is the first thing you must find out before you can answer him? You can never answer the question "Can I kill this?" unless you've answered a prior question: What is it? .
             Abortion involves killing and discarding something that's alive. Whether it's right or not to take the life of any living thing depends entirely upon what kind of being it is. The answer one gives is pivotal. Let me put the issue plainly. If the unborn is not a human being, no justification for abortion is necessary. However, if the unborn is a human being, no justification for abortion is adequate. Some say the unborn is not a human being. They contend it's just a non-viable tissue mass, merely a part of a woman's body. Others say it's only a "potential" human, or a human that is not yet a person. If any of these options turn out to be true, then it's hard to imagine how any additional considerations could make a difference. No further defense would be necessary. Have the abortion. .
             On the other hand, maybe the unborn child is a bona fide human being, deserving of the same care and protection you and I enjoy. If that's the case, then abortion takes the life of an innocent child simply because she or he is in the way and can't defend himself / herself. This is not a reason to kill another human being. .
             This distinction simplifies what, to many, seems to be an intractable moral problem. Talk-show hosts, educators, politicians, even religious thinkers reflect and nod solemnly, "Oh, yes, abortion. It's a very complex issue. There are no easy answers." .
             Answering the foundational question "What is it?" removes the complexity. When one clears away the irrelevant thoughts on both sides--the name calling, the misrepresentations, the circular reasoning, the medical misinformation, the emotional language--the issue becomes very clear and, I think, reasonably easy to answer.