Where The Argument Is

 

Where The Argument Is

     It is harvest time in western Iowa.  I can tell because the combines run into the night with their lights shining onto my windshield.  Cyclic dust is spewed from the machines’ tails.  An autumn breeze brings the low hanging dust from the valley.  Sudden car lights confront me appearing from the manmade fog.  Bumpers are not the only ones to threaten my path.  Deer, forced from their lodgings, seek an exodus from the harvester’s hum.  A desolate ditch ejects them onto the blacktop since it provides no cover.  Caught in my lights, their hooves scrape desperately to find traction.

     “Deer!”  I jolt everyone awake by stomping on the brakes.  In a flash my opponent ducks recedingly nearer the ditch.  Another near miss.  “A buck!  Hey, help me watch out for deer.”  Other passengers agree with mounted vision.  But, where do we look?  In the ditch or upon the path?  At collision point surely.

     The question of abortion is like looking in the ditch.  It is a matter of dark logic.  Hardly requiring breath if one were to consider a prerequisite.  The thrust of the discussion should intercept observation.  Leave science behind.  No PhD’s.  No complex ethical arguments.  Just grab an expensive microscope and let’s go spelunking!

     If my biology is correct, the ovary and a fallopian tube get the unfertilized egg to the uterus.  If not fertilized, the egg is discarded.  Point being, if left to its own, it becomes nothing.  A man’s sperm is created in his testicles then ejaculated.  And again, if left to its own, it becomes nothing.  Upon observation, it would seem no magic happens unless these two get together.  Once they do, something wonderful happens.  This thing begins preparing itself for life outside the host.  In other words, it begins its journey of survival.

     Survival: the continuation of life or existence

     Call it what you will.  A bean.  A growth.  A fetus.  Nubbin’?  This thing follows our definition of life.  It now requires nutrition since it begins growing.  Respiration happens in the free exchange of gases.  It moves if you poke it.  It’s rather sensitive to stimuli.  “You little turd!”  (Yep, the bud gets rid of waste also.)  The only thing it doesn’t do is reproduce.  Thank the Lord for that.

     When does life begin?  Are we looking in the ditch or straight forward?  If we want to avoid an argument with this matter in our paths, can we use foresight and hit the brakes now?  Deer are not wanted on the roadway.  Perhaps the real argument is the want of society for these “buds.”