Abortion Battle in Iowa

The Des Moines Register reports on efforts to pass a law in Iowa that will make it more difficult to perform late-term abortions and which could send the issue back to the Supreme Court.

Late-term abortions should be banned anywhere and everywhere. To be clear, I support the Church's teaching on the sanctity of human life in its entirety, but I can see why those who do not share our faith feel no particular sense of identity with, nor need to protect, a zygote. But, a six-month old fetus is a baby. I understand that the situations in which late-term abortions are even considered are tragic situations. I understand that a woman facing a risky continuation of her pregnancy, who might have one or more children already, would feel that she must have a late-term abortion to avoid the risk of her own death. But, I also have to say that there are tragedies in life for which the "remedy" is unacceptable, there are problems that cannot be surmounted.

The thing that is most noxious about American culture is its irrespresible sunniness, its Panglossian sensibility, seen on the right in the belief that ours is the greatest country in the world and seen on the left in the belief that progress will overcome all difficulties. And, that noxious sensibility serves as a license to women to think that they can not only ignore God, which is their constitutional right, but that they can play God, choosing whether their unborn child lives or dies, which is where the Court got it wrong in the first place.

It is imperative that pro-life advocates do not demonize women who face such excruciating moral choices. It is imperative that we sympathize with their plight. But, we must also draw a line in the sand and say that, No, late-term abortions is not an acceptable solution to any problem. No matter how horrific the problem, this "solution" is yet more horrific.