What do supporters of the proposed abortion amendment to our Arkansas Constitution think they can accomplish? Will it produce good, or will it instead cause harm?
There are lives at risk. To decide how you should vote, spend a few minutes considering the issues at hand. What does the right to abortion mean? Some prefer the terms "pregnancy termination," or the more nonspecific "women's reproductive health care." They say a woman has a right to make decisions regarding her body, and no one has a right to tell her what to do. That seems to make sense. But does she? Is she deciding only for her body?
So what is an abortion? The term abortion used in the amendment is referred to by doctors as induced abortion, the deliberate, intentional ending of pregnancy, and the life of the unborn child, as opposed to spontaneous abortion (miscarriage), or natural loss of the unborn child.
It is important to remember the amendment to codify induced abortions legalizes a deliberate act to kill unborn children. We are being asked to consider signing the petition to get the abortion amendment on the ballot, and if it were to get on the ballot, to vote for a woman's "reproductive health-care rights," or for "her right to make decisions regarding her body." As reasonable as it might sound, what about the rights of the unborn child?
A baby dies a gruesome death as a direct result of that irreversible decision, though some may argue the contrary. It causes the woman lifelong physical and emotional scars, according to Project Rachel, "whether at the level of extreme psychological distress or with less traumatic grief, spiritual pain, and family dysfunction, a vast number of women are affected."
Consider: (1) hospital obstetrical units have bereavement teams of physicians, nurses, and social workers to help parents deal with miscarriage, the natural loss of their baby, and the issues of grief, anger, and guilt that it raises, and (2) how much grief, anger, and guilt must be involved for a woman getting an abortion to have to own the conscious decision to end her unborn child's life--perhaps even more so if she was coerced to do so.
Think about it. If the wording was different and you were asked to vote for an amendment to our constitution to end the life of an unborn child, would you vote for it?
Or is it because we cannot see this child, beyond the growing, uncomfortable tummy of his mother, that it does not deserve the same unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness which the Declaration of Independence says have been given to all humans by their Creator, and which governments are created to protect? Why does a newborn child have these rights, but not have any just a few days earlier, before birth? There is no footnote in the Declaration of Independence limiting those rights based on the stage of development.
Any human being is valued at all stages of development, even before birth. For that matter, personhood cannot be limited either based on a measure of intelligence, or lack thereof, consciousness or disability.
Dr. Fred de Miranda of Fort Smith is a retired pediatrician.