Dear Editor:
In the title given to the Hoboken Reporter’s recent letter, "Abortion of a pregnancy due to rape should be the mother’s and her loved ones’ choice" the unspoken moral dilemma of abortion is exposed. Pregnancy itself is a biological process set in motion by the acts, willful or not, of human persons. But in those actions, a third person is created who, as such, has certain inalienable rights (such as the right not to be killed.) The disputes surrounding the issue tend to center on when those rights take effect for the child.
Reading the letter, however, I was pleasantly surprised to see that author Tomasin’s and my views on the subject are not as far as I had suspected.
The reasoning he lays as ground for acceptable pregnancy termination is based on the child’s development not being more than microscopic, with no brain present within the body, and with the male or female sex of the child yet to be expressed. I consider such criteria being required as better than our present situation (where each of these criteria can be violated.) His argument has some logical merit, although I personally disagree and feel that human life should be respected in all of its stages.
Rian Girard