Today marks the 35th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court, in its Roe v. Wade decision, legalizing abortion for all nine months of pregnancy. We should be alarmed that some students this week are celebrating a decision that allows abortion until the very end of fetal development.
Last year, Northwestern Students for Life (NSFL) raised awareness of the exceedingly high number of abortions each day in the United States by displaying thousands of American flags along Sheridan Road. We are pleased to report that this number has decreased since last year to 3,300 each day, but are saddened to note that 20 percent of all pregnancies still end in abortion.
This year, we hope to demonstrate why even one abortion is tragic.
Unfortunately, society appears to be at an impasse. "Pro-choice" advocates ask how anyone could object to a woman's right to choose abortion while "pro-life" proponents ask how a procedure so gruesome could be performed at all.
We instead want to ask, "What is being chosen?"
If the fetus is simply a clump of undifferentiated cells, then no one should get in the way of a woman's personal choice. If the fetus is a human being, however, then the abortion debate is a civil rights issue of the highest order. Depriving any person the right to life without due process of law is a grave legal and moral injustice.
How, then, do we know the fetus is a human being?
In Monday's Daily, the College Feminists' treasurer described aborted fetuses as "dead babies" ("Anniversary refocuses issue"). What the College Feminists' spokesperson considers to be a termination of human life is a truth we all must consider.
Last year in these pages, NSFL outlined the scientific case for life: that, after seven weeks, the fetus has the full presence of all organ systems, a unique DNA, a working nervous system, and, yes, a beating heart.
And what kind of status does this life deserve? Prenatal care and standard medical texts such as "The Unborn Patient: The Art and Science of Fetal Therapy" acknowledge that the fetus is a patient. Even federal law recognizes a "child in utero" - allowing a murder of a pregnant woman to be tried for two federal crimes instead of one. Are we surprised when an expecting mother who sees an ultrasound calls what is inside her a "baby"?
Today, we give students that same opportunity. The ultrasound image - a window to the womb - provides a powerful witness to the life of the unborn. Many crisis pregnancy centers find that a significant number of pregnant women choose to keep their unborn children when shown their ultrasound images. Some students, however, might remain uncertain as to whether the fetus is a human life. We suggest, then, deferring to the humane principle: When in doubt, err on the side of life.
The abortion issue, to be sure, is complex, and our mission is multi-dimensional. In the past two quarters, we have hosted two prominent women's advocates to explain the feminist case against abortion and to present the personal narrative of a mother who experienced abortion four times. Volunteering at a crisis pregnancy center in Chicago and hosting a pregnancy resource forum this spring to improve the pregnancy resources on campus are integral parts of our mission. Our ultimate goal is to improve the lives of women and their unborn.
Women's rights are human rights. And so are the rights of the unborn.
Weinberg seniors Mike Breidenbach and Ivana Brajkovic are president and vice-president, respectively, of Northwestern Students for Life. They can be reached at m-breidenbach@northwestern.edu and i-brajkovic@northwestern.edu.
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