All of us are pro-choice when it comes to where people live and thousands of other personal choices and preferences that harm no one. People can choose their religion, politics and lifestyle, even when those choices are not beliefs and behaviors with which we personally agree.
Freedom to choose is not a magical slogan that makes all choices equal.
We must ask, "Freedom to choose what?" Concerning abortion the question is "What are we choosing?" Abortion kills an innocent living child so the question really is, "Do you think people have the right to kill innocent unborn children just because they want to?"
Any civilized society restricts an individual's right to choose whenever that choice would harm an innocent person. Laws against rape, child abuse, and thousands of other crimes restrict our freedom of choice. Why? Because when others' rights are at stake, and particularly when their lives are at stake, society has a right and an obligation to restrict an individual's freedom of choice to do harm.
Most of us are not pro-choice when we oppose rape, child abuse, kidnapping and other crimes. When we are against the "right to choose" rape or child abuse we aren't opposing a "right." we are opposing a "wrong." We are not narrow-minded for doing so. We are decent citizens concerned about the rights of others.
Nearly all violations of human rights have been defended on the "right to choose." Slaveholders, whites against civil rights, the Nazis, those against women's right to vote, all believed they had a right to choose their behavior even if others didn't choose that behavior. The pro-choice position always overlooks the victim's right to choose. The Africans didn't choose slavery and unborn babies don't choose abortion.
Women choose to abstain from sex, to use birth control or to do neither. These are individual and private choices. But when a woman is pregnant the choice she has made has created a new life. Once pregnant the only choice is whether to deliver a baby alive or dead. After pregnancy women can choose to keep the baby or give it to a loving family to adopt. The only choice that profilers are against is the choice that kills an innocent unborn life.
All choices are not equal and all choices have consequences.
Sunny Murray
Belleville
