Points for Considering a Vulnerable Population

August means its recess time for the members of the United States Congress, when they leave Washington, DC, and spend time in their home districts.  Many hold town halls for constituents.

My Representative, Danny K. Davis (D-IL-7) held a town hall at Oak Park Village Hall back on the evening of Thursday, August 6.  When it concluded, I approached him, and said I had a burning question to ask him, which he agreed to field.  In this blog post, I relate, to the best of my memory, what happened during the course of our conversation.  It started in the Village Board Council Chambers, and proceeded through the hallways of Village Hall out into the parking lot--so we were talking as we walked along, over the course of 5 minutes or so.

I have contacted Representative Davis several times on defending one of the most vulnerable populations in our society, the unborn.  Once, when I called his office regarding legislation before Congress addressing abortion, the staff person who picked up the phone told me that Representative Davis "supports a woman's right to choose".  So when I was talking with Representative Davis himself this evening, I told repeated this sentiment, and he acknowledged that is indeed his stance on the issue of abortion.

Then I told him that I believe when a human embryo is conceived in the womb, it has its own unique DNA, and thereby is a human person with human rights, deserving protection.  I then told Representative Davis that it would appear that he would not agree that human rights begin at the moment of conception.  So then I pressed the question:  If human right don't start at the moment of conception, when do they begin?

Representative Davis responded, "I really don't know", and then continuing his answer so as to suggest that there needs to be more discussion to arrive at an answer to the question of when human rights begin.  He then reiterated his opinion in supporting a woman's right to choose what to do with her body.  He mentioned something about how he was raised to adhere to the principles of the Bible, in which God created people, and somehow, though I don't remember exactly, that led to his reiteration of his stance on abortion.  I then asked, "Does that include an unborn woman's right to choose?"  He started his reply saying that he's not really sure if there is such a thing as an unborn woman.

As we neared the door leading out to the parking lot, I then pressed the matter further, saying that the Declaration of Independence speaks of the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  If a human person is aborted, his/her life is taken away, and is thereby denied the right to life, as well as being denied the rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Representative Davis said that there would need to be more discussion to sort out the issues of when and where one person's rights stop, and where another person's rights begin.

There's a lot to consider in Representative Davis's responses.  For starters, let's go back to his response to my initial question, that if human rights don't begin at the moment of conception, when do they begin?  As I told Representative Davis, at the moment of conception, the embryo has a unique DNA, distinct from that of the mother and father, and so it's only logical to say at that moment, the embryo is a human person, and so the protection of human rights begins at the moment of conception.  If it doesn't begin at the moment of conception, there's really no other logical moment at which human rights would start.  It doesn't make sense to say human rights begin at birth, because the fetus shows signs of being a human person even before birth, signs which are staggered throughout the pregnancy.  So Representative Davis, in a way, aptly states that he doesn't know when human rights begin if not at the moment of conception, because there's no other logical moment to fix as the starting point for the protections of human rights if not at conception.

(Representative Davis's answer reminds me of the answer then-US Senator Barack Obama gave at a forum during the 2008 presidential campaign moderated by Pastor Rick Warren.  When posed with the question of when a baby has human rights, Mr. Obama said that it was a matter "above his pay grade".  In my mind, that reflects how there's no other reasonable answer to give if not at the moment of conception, as Senator McCain straightforwardly stated in his answer to that same question.)

And then there are the comments Representative Davis offered toward the end of our conversation, when, in pressing the matter, I evoked the idea of the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  The advances of modern medicine have unleashed the horrors of abortion:  The scariest part of it is that an abortion is done in the name of the rights of a woman, so as to relinquish any rights the unborn person has.

Throughout history, people have asserted power in such a way that quashes the rights of others.  In the past, people were denied rights and other opportunities based on characteristics like the color of skin, ethnicity, or religion.  And although our society has progressed to allow people the greater realization of their God-given rights, the medical ability to perform abortions has opened Pandora's box, allowing for a denial of the rights of people simply because they aren't yet born, even the basic right to live.  Abortion, therefore, is like a step backward in the progress of fuller realization of our God-given rights.  While I have many reasons to oppose abortion, this idea of the denial of a basic right is an important one, the starting point that addresses the big picture for why I am pro-life, and believe the sanctity of human life commences at the moment of conception.

If you disagree with me, I encourage you to consider the points I have mentioned in this blog post based on how Representative Davis responded to my pressing the issue of abortion on him.  If you agree with me, I hope the points I give in this blog post help you in seeing the big picture of why we believe in the sanctity of human life.