Anti-Abortion Zealots’ Grasp=
for
Power
By Warre=
n M.
Hern
Rocky Mountain News
=
=
=
SPEAKOUT
=
&nb=
sp; =
=
Monday, Dec=
ember
19, 1994
The thoughtful comments by Douglass Groothuis in=
his
Dec. 7 Speakout “Pro-lifers face defining moment,” urging
adversaries of abortion to be non-violent in their opposition, is a welcome
attempt to inject peaceful dialogue into the otherwise insane zealotry of t=
he
anti-abortion movement.
Unfortunately, Groothuis’ essay reveals some of the roots of t=
his
insoluble conflict.
While I would st=
rongly
encourage would-be anti-abortion assassins to read Groothuis’ plea for
reason and civility, it contains echoes of the rhetoric that ha made
assassination of physicians who do abortions seem an attractive strategy to
some of Groothuis’ more militant colleagues.
Groothuis refers=
to
physicians who perform abortions as “abortionists,” a degrading=
and
demeaning term that carries with it a history of sordid, illegal activities
conducted by unscrupulous and incompetent criminals on terrified women.
“Abortionist” is not a neutral term, and it purposefully
degrades and dehumanizes those to whom it is applied. It has the same negative connotati=
ons as
the most despicable racial epithet, and it is for that reason that the
anti-abortion movement uses “abortionist” to describe physicians
who help women who seek their assistance.
The term
“pro-life,” by contrast, linguistically commandeers the moral h=
igh
ground by implying that those who believe in freedom of choice in abortion =
are
“anti-life” or “pro-death.” Nothing could be further from the =
truth,
and the anti-abortion zealots know it.&nbs=
p;
It is also an outright lie, because what we live with today is the
directive from some members of the anti-abortion movement that: “Do w=
hat
we tell you to do or we will kill you.” There is nothing pro-life about th=
at.
At least two
physicians have been assassinated, two others have been shot in assassinati=
on
attempts, and other clinic workers have been critically wounded. The rest of us live in fear.
Groothuis’=
essay
implies that he and his colleagues have a monopoly on concern for
“life.” This deni=
es
that there is a legitimate concern for the life of the woman whose health or
very being is threatened by pregnancy, a condition that male priests cannot
suffer, and which can kill women, even when it is welcome.
While Groothuis =
speaks
of “abortion on demand,” it doesn’t exist. But the term implies that there is=
no
thought process involved in obtaining or providing an abortion for a woman =
who
needs one. This is a lie.
The ideas that
“human life begins at conception” and that the embryo is an
“unborn” or “pre-born child” are preposterous (I ho=
pe
no one decides I am a “pre-dead corpse” and tries to bury me).<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Human life began hundreds of
thousands of years ago and has continued in an unbroken sequence ever since=
.
The question is =
not
when human life begins, but who is best prepared to make the decision to
transmit life to a new generation: the individual or the state? In this arena, the individual
woman is more competent than any government.
Anti-abortion ze=
alots
would nonetheless use the coercive power of the state to prevent all
abortions. This would deprive=
women
of an essential component of women’s health care which has lowered
maternal mortality rates.
Therein lies the=
rub:
Anti-abortion zealots care nothing for the health and welfare of women; what
they care about is not fetuses or even life, but power. That is why the murders of physici=
ans
who perform abortions are political assassinations. The physicians represent what the
assassins hate: freedom.
Advocates of pea=
ceful
persuasion like Groothuis notwithstanding, the anti-abortion movement is now
most clearly represented by thugs whose purpose is to inflict pain, terror,=
and
tyranny. “Know ye a tre=
e by
its fruit.”
Warren M. Hern, M.D. is director of the Boulder Abortion Clinic
For further information a= nd commentary by Warren M. Hern, go to www.= drhern.com > News and publications
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