Abortion is the death of freedom

Frans H. Said (The Sunday Times, August 12) claims to be against abortion yet he argues in favour of it by rejecting any suggestion of an anti-abortion clause in the Constitution. Pro-abortionists often use this technique, posing as anti-abortionists to gain sympathy for their cause.

Mr Said falsely compares abortion to "swearing" or "throwing dirt" and then makes the ludicrous claim that, like these, abortion will not be enforced. On the contrary, such a clause in the Constitution will go a long way to solving the problem of abortion. Even if one life is saved by anti-abortion legislation, it would be worth pursuing.

Procured abortion is the deliberate and direct killing, by whatever means, of a human being in the initial phase of his or her existence, extending from conception to birth. While the term "choice" may sound democratic, the person who opts for abortion is neglecting to consider the fundamental right to life of the mother's unborn foetus.

Today, in many people's consciences, the perception of the gravity of abortion has become progressively obscured. The acceptance of abortion in the popular mind, in behaviour and even in law itself, is a telling sign of an extremely dangerous crisis of the moral sense, which is becoming more and more incapable of distinguishing between good and evil, even when the fundamental right to life is at stake.

The moral gravity of procured abortion is apparent in all its truth if we recognise that we are dealing with murder. Given such a grave situation, we need now more than ever to have the courage to look the truth in the eye and to call things by their proper name, without yielding to convenient compromises or to the temptation of self-deception.

On a superficial level, we may be convinced that legalised abortion has not really changed much in our private lives and in the life of our societies. It all takes place in the silence of an operating room which ensures the woman's safety. And it is as if the foetus that will never see the light of day had never existed.

However, the recognition of the sacred character of human life and of its inviolability - a principle admitting no exceptions - is not some trivial little problem or a question that may be considered relative, in view of the pluralism of opinions we find in modern society. There are no "small murders". The respect for every human life is an essential condition if a societal life worthy of the name is to be possible. When man's conscience loses respect for life as something sacred, he inevitably ends up losing his own identity.

To claim the right to abortion and to recognise that right in law, means to attribute to human freedom a perverse and evil significance: that of an absolute power over others and against others. This is the death of true freedom.