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By Smokey Briggs

Tuesday, August 24, 1999

Abortion ignores logic and morals

The "parental notification" law takes effect next Wednesday. As of September 1st, unmarried minor children won't be able to get an abortion without the clinic telling mom and dad about it first.

Of course, there is a loophole written into the bill so that mom and dad can be written out of the process. Abortion providers can skip the notification process if a judge determines that the child is mature enough to make the decision on her own. Remember that the next time elections are coming up and you just can't find time to read up on the local judicial candidates.

What irks me is not that Texas passed this law, but that such a law is necessary at all — and that opposition in the legislature was fairly stiff. What kind of moron would suggest that a child we hold incompetent to decide whether to smoke a cigarette or drink a beer is competent to decide to end a life?

The logic just doesn't seem to follow.

But the abortion-advocate's stance is rooted in emotion, not logic. There are no logical, or moral, or common sense root to the statement that abortion is, "a woman's choice."  As a society we have held that personal choice must always be reined in when the choice harms another person.

I would argue that abortion probably does harm another person.

Of course the abortion-advocate argues that abortion doesn't end a life. And this is the crux of the issue, isn't it?  When does human life begin?

The pro-abortion crowd argues that there is a point between conception and birth where a child becomes a human being, and hence worthy of not being killed. Unfortunately, there is no evidence or logic that points us to that magical point. There is no line of reasoning that illuminates this special moment where we transform from "blob of stuff" to "human being with a soul." There is only an emotional guess.

A logical/moral approach would flow something like this:

— we hold human life to be sacred;

— we can't know when a new life becomes a human being, whether that point be conception, birth, or somewhere in between;

— since we cannot know for sure, then it is logical to err on the side of caution since this is in keeping with our firm principal that human life is sacred;

— caution then dictates that we not abort newly conceived life, because that life might be human.

Just for the record, I intensely dislike the term "pro-life." To me it has smarmy, public relations ring to it.  "Anti-abortion" is more descriptive and more truthfull to me. And I am not necessarily dead-set against abortion either. If the legislature were to come up with a bill making such acts legal to the 300th trimester or so, I might be willing to toss the logic and morals argument.

 
EDITOR'S NOTE: Smokey Briggs is the editor and publisher of the Pecos Enterprise whose column appears on Tuesdays. He can be e-mailed at: smokey@pecos.net

Your View

911 number poses problem  outside the city

I am writing to express my disgust with the 911 system for Reeves County. After the time and tax dollars spent assigning 911 addresses outside of Pecos, persons outside the city limits still do not have an efficient or reliable system for law enforcement to locate them in an emergency.

Sunday morning, at about 4 a.m., I was awakened by someone banging on our back door. I went to the door and looked out to see a young man standing there, with blood on his face and arms; he was asking for help because he'd been in an accident. I told him I would call the police for him.

I dialed the number for the Pecos Police Department, and explained to the dispatcher who I was, and that there was a man in need of help outside my house. I gave her the 911 address that I had been given two years ago, when they supposedly were setting up county residents for 911 emergency service. I was extremely surprised when she told me they didn't have that address on record (even though the number is posted on a blue and yellow sign at my front gate). I then began giving directions to the house, as this man stood outside, bleeding. About 30 minutes later, the officers were finally able to find the house.

I have no problem with the performance of the officers. My problems is with the fact that apparently all the time and money spent on setting county residents up with 911 has been wasted. People who live in the county should not be lulled into a false sense of security because of the 911 system. The police may not, after all, be able to locate you from simply your 911 address...because it may not have been added to their database, event after two years!

Fortunately, the young man at my door Sunday morning was not "seriously" injured; however, the fact that the 911 system is not working right could have contributed to a tragedy.

I hope the persons in charge of setting up the 911 service system in the county read this and get these addresses added to the Police Department's database, so they can actually do some good.

Thank you,

PAULA J. CONNER
 

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Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
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