The Pendragon's Hall

Listening to a local radio station today, the Pendragon heard an interview with Eric Massa, the Democrat challenger to Republican congressman Randy Kuhl here in western New York. Mr. Massa sounds like a well-meaning man, but his response to a question about abortion dismayed the hopefully-listening Pendragon. Instead of answering directly, he blathered on a bit about an operation he had and how he had told his wife if he didn't make it not to resuscitate him. This was, he said, a private decision and nobody else could make it for him. He never did get back to abortion, but the Pendragon assumes that he meant that the decision to abort can only be made by the mother and father, and not by the government or the church or anyone else. This answer no doubt cheers the pseudo-conservative libertarian movement, but his own answer undermines his statement. For what is abortion but one human being making the choice for another human being over the very basic question, Shall I live? If Mr. Massa were confronted with this suggestion, no doubt he would answer, in the strain of John Stuart Mill, the epitome of liberalism, that a child, particularly an unborn child cannot make decisions for itself and so the parents must make such a call for them, based on their own decisions in life. But this answer is simply not good enough--life is an inalienable right, and where is the cutoff date to be? If children are not allowed to make decisions in regards to life, why may not the parent of a five-year-old decide it's in her best interest not to live and pull the plug? It is not a matter of choice, it is a matter of what kind of nation we want to be? A nation cannot call itself just when one section of the population holds the power of live and death over another. Humans were not meant to exercise this kind of control. Parents, according even to the great liberal John Locke, are given control in order to nurture and raise their children to adulthood. They fail by this standard if they opt for abortion. The Pendragon sighs and signs off. He is still supporting Randy Kuhl.