[net.abortion] Ken Arndt is right about at least one thing...

ark@alice.UUCP (Andrew Koenig) (03/28/85)

Ken has made an important point, which many people on both sides overlook:

	If you believe abortion is murder,
	then it is INCONSISTENT to condemn
	the people who are bombing abortion clinics.

Here is a hypothetical similar situation:  suppose that some
criminal organization was rounding up people by the millions
and executing them, with the full sanction of the government,
and that the places where these executions took place were
widely known.  Suppose also that some anonymous collection of
people took it upon themselves to try to stem the tide by blowing
up some of these buildings.  Certainly the enormity of the
situation would give moral justification to such desperate action.

Therefore, when Reagan says that he believes that abortion is
murder, and then goes on to condemn the violence directed at
those who pracice it, he is making two statements THAT CANNOT
BOTH BE TRUE AT ONCE!  He is lying about one or the other.

I don't know which one it is.

tmh@ihldt.UUCP (Tom Harris) (03/29/85)

> Therefore, when Reagan says that he believes that abortion is
> murder, and then goes on to condemn the violence directed at
> those who pracice it, he is making two statements THAT CANNOT
> BOTH BE TRUE AT ONCE!  He is lying about one or the other.
> 
> I don't know which one it is.

Actually I think he truly believed the accuracy of both statements.
After all, any one who can condem abortion and then ask congress for a
billion plus dollars to buy MX missles (which will enable him to
kill millions of people) certainly is not in the least concerned
about consistency.

					Tom H.

dbrown@watarts.UUCP (Dave Brown) (03/29/85)

In article <3496@alice.UUCP> ark@alice.UUCP (Andrew Koenig) writes:
>Ken has made an important point, which many people on both sides overlook:
>
>	If you believe abortion is murder,
>	then it is INCONSISTENT to condemn
>	the people who are bombing abortion clinics.
>
>Here is a hypothetical similar situation:  suppose that some
>criminal organization was rounding up people by the millions
>and executing them, with the full sanction of the government,
>and that the places where these executions took place were
>widely known.  Suppose also that some anonymous collection of
>people took it upon themselves to try to stem the tide by blowing
>up some of these buildings.  Certainly the enormity of the
>situation would give moral justification to such desperate action.

That is of course based on your moral standards of outrage and justification.
Being a pacifist, I can not morally support the bombing of abortion clinics,
nor, as outrageous as it may sound, would I support the destruction of such
genocide buildings. I would protest, to the limits of my peaceful powers.
But, murder for murder, destruction for destruction are not viable alternatives
in an increasingly violent world.
>
>Therefore, when Reagan says that he believes that abortion is
>murder, and then goes on to condemn the violence directed at
>those who pracice it, he is making two statements THAT CANNOT
>BOTH BE TRUE AT ONCE!  He is lying about one or the other.
>
>I don't know which one it is.

I don't know about Ronnie Reagan, but I do not think that the ends justify
the means. You are argueing with something that is not applicable to
many people. Breaking the law, which is what bombing of clinics is, is not
a viable "Christian"(I assume that these bombers are Christian) alternative
to abortion. Such lawlessness breaks another of the ten commandments and
also breaks Jesus' Golden Rule. It is sin in God's eyes; however, I should
not judge, lest I be judged.

Yours,

		DAVE BROWN