VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL
June, 2009
This past Sunday, a gunman fired one shot and killed famed abortionist George Tiller while he attended “church” services in Wichita, Kansas. Tiller is famous because he is one of very few abortionists who, for a handsome fee, will end the life of viable fetuses, sometimes in the 9th month.
In most cases these are fetuses could have survived outside the womb had a physician merely performed a Caesarean section.
The fetus no longer needs the mother for its continued survival. In five years it would be ready to have its lunchbox packed and get on the school bus.
The board of The Valley Patriot is not of one mind on abortion.
Our perspectives range from “radically pro-life” to a strict “right to choose” during early pregnancy. But certainly never after the fetus achieves viability. We agree, once a fetus can make it on its own, it should be protected by society. Any act by an outsider, including the mother, to end the life of a viable fetus is undeniably murder.
What if the law permitting this procedure were extended to include ending the life of children up to a week after birth? Would that be acceptable? How about two days? Twelve hours? Five minutes?
What is philosophically critical about the event of birth when viability has long since been established?
It is time to outlaw, as murder, all abortions that occur after viability is achieved. The debate on the ethics and the appropriate legal framework for earlier abortions can then proceed.