Friday, August 24, 2007

Archbishop Hart on Abortion

Denis Hart, archbishop of Melbourne, has an editorial in the Herald Sun on whether abortion should be a crime.
There is a link between helping women and the child within and the health of our society.

Protect suffering pregnant women and you protect society.

Offer cheap abortion options and you cheapen the society we share.

UPDATE: The Herald Sun also has three other editorials on the abortion issue.

Peter Singer admits that "abortion ends a human life" but argues that since the unborn don't have the arbitrary properties Singer holds in such high regard (such as self-awareness, consciousness, the ability to feel pain, etc.), it should be legal to kill them. He also argues that birth is an arbitrary line to when we should be allowed to kill some human beings but since criminal law requires dividing lines, birth is the best we have.

One by Julian Burnside is the typical editorial where the writer assumes pregnant women haven't already reproduced, say abortion is a difficult decision (but never explains why it is so difficult) and argues that women should have more say in the abortion debate than men.

And another by Susie Allanson is the kind of editorial you'd expect from someone who works at a place where abortions are performed.

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