Is it less grievous to abort in the first few weeks?

a) That politician wants to legalize abortion – up to nine months!

b) Terrible. But why are you mentioning the gestational age of the child?

a) That’s all the way up to birth! A baby is able to do so much by then.

b) Do we value human beings on how much they can do?

a) But the child is considerably developed by then!

b) Do we give value to people by virtue of their level of development or maturity?

a) Well …..

b) What if I was to tell you this or that politician wants to legalize post-birth child-killing up to 12 years old. Would it make any difference if he said the choice to kill children should end at 8 years old? Or four years old?

a) No.

b) And what if someone else was pro-adolescent killing all the way up to 21 years old. Would you be relieved if he said he’s pro-adolescent murder –  but only up to 15?

a) No. That’s still barbaric.

b) And that’s the point, isn’t it? Legalized murder is equally horrific for any human being, at any stage of their growth or development.

a) Well… I guess you have a point.

b) It might be true that we as a species have a different emotional reaction to an infant than we do to the same child when he was an embryo. But we’re gifted with reason, which no other animal has. We know it’s the same human being at the different stages of growth.

a) So you’re saying I should bypass my emotional response and hold to what I know to be true and right?

b) Absolutely. Following our lower nature tainted by sin rather than following reason and logic is not only responsible for abortion, but it has undergirded slavery and much of the world’s genocides.

a) But I’m pro-life and anti-slavery.

b) Can we honestly call ourselves pro-life if we’re okay with aborting children who were conceived by rape, through incest, or who have deformities? How are their innocent lives any less valuable than yours or mine? Likewise, can we consider ourselves pro-life if we’re okay with the killing of human beings early in their embryonic stages of life? Their entires futures are extinguished regardless of at what point they're killed.

a) Okay, I get it. Since I know, and science confirms, that individual human beings begin their lives at fertilization, I must be consistent in my thinking.

b) Yes, which means recognizing that every human being is invaluable, unrepeatable, and of equal dignity from the moment of his or her conception to natural death – regardless of degree of development, maturity, dependence, or ability to perform tasks.

a) Yes. That is what I believe. I just need to try to align my emotions with reason, and stop being so conditioned by the world. And in the meantime, I must choose what I know to be right, regardless of how it makes me feel.

b) Now you’re talking like a civilized human being.

a) And I feel better for not being a hypocrite.