A Picture Can Speak A Thousand Words
My physics teacher always says, “A picture speaks a thousand words.” It’s true. It’s true across the board, no matter what the subject is. That phrase just might save millions of lives.
Jamie Dean, an author of World Magazine, wrote an article concerning abortion and how South Carolina lawmakers are attempting to make a law to help convince women to reject abortion. A group called the “Palmetto Family Council, a pro-life group in Columbia, S.C… is marshalling support for a bill that would require a woman to view an ultrasound image of her unborn child before having an abortion (Dean, 25).” Marie Connelly was the woman who gave her testimony concerning the subject. Connelly, who now works for the Palmetto Family Council, shared that if she had seen the picture of her unborn child, she would have “crumbled” and not gone through with the act. Granted, some abortion centers are required to offer informative materials concerning “fetal development and alternatives to abortion (Dean, 25).” But others do not have these requirements. And, even with this, the women have the right to refuse the materials.
Connelly’s words sums up one side of the debate: “I think the ultrasound could be a firecracker that will break them out of their catatonic numbness and awaken them to reality (Dean, 25).” “Them” refers to the women who will experience what she, herself, experienced in undergoing an abortion. The people of the opposing side say that the women, if they are forced to view the unborn child, may face “emotional blackmail (Dean, 25).” They also brought up the victims of rape and incest and yet were counteracted by the words of the bill’s House sponsor, that “the unborn children in those terrible cases are no less valuable (Dean, 25).”
Personally, I think that to make a breath cease is equivalent to killing it. Death can become a sticky situation when discussing subjects such as: war, taking away life support, the death sentence, abortion, etc. These are a few examples that I can think of that could be used in debating whether abortion is right or wrong. Do I think causing something to die is wrong? Not necessarily. There is a time for war and a time for peace. I believe if someone murders another then the governing authorities have the right to punish the murderer accordingly. The two that I believe get sticky, are the abortion and ceasing life support. In both cases, there is a life dependent on another person. That individual who is the guardian or person in control has the power to keep or let go of the life. The major difference here is that someone on life support has lived life, and now is depending on a machine to breath. If they are relieved of the machine, they will die, or live, naturally. In abortion, a baby’s life is stolen 1) before they had a chance to have it and 2) completely intentionally without any natural cause whatsoever. There is the difference.
So, I say, since there is such dispute on this subject of keeping or throwing away life, then some sort of compromise must be made. I believe that this law of requiring women to view an ultrasound before having their child killed would be a good way for them to have one last chance to decide. If they still have complete peace about aborting the child and they know what they are about to do is best for them and the child they produced, then they still have the right to go ahead and have the abortion. But, give the picture a chance to speak a thousand words for the baby who might never have the chance to learn to say “mama.”
Dean, Jamie. A Thousand Words. World Magazine (Page 25). April, 2007.