I am opposed to abortion on demand. I know for sure that an embryo is a human being and all human beings have an ethical right to live.

At conception, a human being is created. The mother’s and father’s DNA combine to make a complete human. If a cell is taken from an embryo at any time, and given to someone who knows how to do these things, that person will with certainty confirm that the cell came from a human. It can also be confirmed that the organism that the cell was taken from is alive.

We all agree that an innocent human who has never harmed anyone or anything and poses no threat to anything or anybody has the right to live. Why should an embryo not have that right? Remember, you and I were embryos once.

The argument is that my definition of a human is wrong. The argument is that an embryo is not human. At some point in its existence it becomes human, but not at conception. What is that point? Some (like the Texans) say that it is when the heart is beating. Others say that it is when it is viable outside of the womb. Others think that Late Term Abortions should be illegal. These are all arbitrary. An embryo is human at conception. In my mind, any other point in time is arbitrary.

Many years ago, during Mao Zedong’s leadership in China, The New York Times had an ar- ticle about births in China. It said that the percentage of male births to female was statistically impossible. There was no way that so many more male infants could have been born than female. In China at that time, a family wasn’t allowed to have more than two children, and the parents wanted boys. The question was did the mothers have abortions or were the babies killed at birth? I thought, what difference does it make? They were just as dead.

The only acceptable argument for abortion is that having a child would severely harm the physical or mental health of the mother. She does have priority. Remember, I started this by writing, “I am opposed to abortion on demand.”

I am a Liberal. I strongly believe that the government has the job of making laws that protect the individual. Our laws should protect the rights of the unborn. Even if it means that a woman doesn’t have absolute control of her own body.

Think about this. Is it ethical to abort a child because it is not convenient to have one at this particular time? Or because it is male and you want a female? Would it have been ethical for followers of Mao to abort at anytime?

If you put any restrictions on it, you agree with me.

Fred Harber

Lake Success