With the end of Roe v. Wade, states are now able to determine their individual abortion laws and decide to what extent to protect preborn children.
Texas was prepared for this moment. The very day that the United States Supreme Court’s decision reversed Roe, Texas’ pre-Roe v. Wade laws immediately went back into effect — protecting all preborn babies from the moment of fertilization (conception), with the only exception being for the life of the mother.
Yet now, some self-proclaimed “Pro-Life” elected officials are arguing that Texas has gone too far to protect babies by NOT including exceptions for rape, incest, or a life-limiting fetal diagnosis.
Despite what these politicians say, these exceptions are incompatible with the understanding that all humans are worthy of moral attention and legal protection, especially the fundamental Right to Life.
In 2018, Steven A. Jacobs at Chicago University conducted a study in which he asked over 5,000 biologists when they determined human Life begins. Even though the majority of these biologists identified as liberal Democrats, 95% agreed that human Life begins at fertilization.
Fertilization, or conception, is the moment when sperm and egg unite to form a new living human organism with his or her own unique DNA. At this moment of fertilization, the human child already has over 200 traits determined, including race, sex, and hair and eye color. From this moment, a person only needs time and nutrients to develop to the point at which he or she will be able to survive outside of the womb.
The truth is that humans go through phases of development, independence, and capabilities as they grow and mature, but never will the individual become more or less human.
That science affirms precisely when human Life begins is critical. If the preborn are not living humans, there is no reasonable argument against abortion. If the preborn are living human beings, there is no argument that can justify abortion.
Preborn babies are the most vulnerable and innocent of all the human population. They are without a voice or the ability to defend themselves, but not without a Life and soul.
As is the case with born people, their human rights are not tied to factors such as location, dependence, abilities, size, lineage, or circumstance. The suggestion that the Right to Life can be set aside for any one of these factors has consistently proven to be a grievous misjudgment ending in disastrous consequences.
Children conceived through rape are even more susceptible than other preborn children to having their human rights revoked due to these sorts of misguided arguments than other preborn children.
Rape and incest are horrific crimes against women. These traumatic acts of violence should not be tolerated and perpetrators must be held accountable to the fullest extent.
Committing an abortion on a woman who has survived such a grievous crime only subjects her to a second traumatic event with a whole new risk of emotional, mental, and physical harm. The violence of abortion should not be among the protocols for healing. Survivors of sexual assault deserve compassion, counseling, justice, and medical, social, psychological resources, not more violence.
Women who become pregnant from rape and incest account for less than 2% of all abortions in the United States according to the abortion industry’s own data. Even in this small percentage, each child conceived in rape is valuable and deserving of protection. In fact, the majority of women who become pregnant from such traumatic circumstances choose Life for their child and are thankful they did so.
Each mother who has suffered these horrific crimes is worthy of justice and healing. Ending the innocent baby’s life will not heal, but actually multiply her trauma and will only create a second victim and a new human rights violation.
Just as born people are not guilty of their parents’ crimes, preborn babies should not pay the price for their father’s crimes.
Like children conceived from rape, preborn babies with a life-limiting diagnosis are at great risk of being unjustly classified as less deserving of the Right to Life. Parents who receive a life-limiting diagnosis are often pressured into abortion without being offered life-affirming resources.
The left now even admits that genetic testing often shows false positives, causing parents to abort entirely healthy children for factors that are not actually present. Even when the tests are correct, born and preborn people with disabilities still deserve the Right to Life!
Thankfully, there are resources available for families facing challenging life-limiting circumstances. Abel Speaks is a Texas-based nonprofit that offers community and counseling, and connects families to medical staff that support Life — no matter how long or short that little life is. There are specialized fields of medicine such as perinatal palliative care that offer holistic care for mother and child throughout pregnancy, birth, and after birth for however long the child lives within and outside the womb.
A 2015 Duke University Study found that women who continued their pregnancies when their preborn child was diagnosed with a fetal anomaly were psychologically better off than mothers who chose abortion. The study found that “Women who [chose abortion]reported significantly more despair, avoidance and depression than women who continued the pregnancy.”
To be human is to have inherent dignity and value, and preborn children are no exception.
Texas must not walk back its protections for the preborn, but should affirm its commitment to Life. Instead of increasing abortions, Texas should increase provisions available to women for healing from abuse and increase resources for families needing perinatal palliative care.
We must never forget that even in “hard cases”, preborn babies deserve the protection of their fundamental human rights.
Texas’ Pro-Life laws must not be weakened by the addition of ANY exceptions. Contact your elected officials and let them know you want ALL preborn children to stay protected from abortion in Texas.
Stand for Life by voting for Pro-Life candidates November 8.
