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Abortions Now Legal
...
BUT IS ABORTION
The
U. S.
Supreme Court has ruled that abortions
are
legal. Many
now
ask, n¡s abortion murder?
When does human life start?" The experts do not
agree.
Heart transplants brought doubts about
exactly when death
occurs. Can we
know when
human life starts?
by
Herbert W. Armstrong
I
T DlDN'T
get the
BIG
headlines.
Jt
was overshadowed in the news
by the ending of the Vietnam
war (so far as direct U. S. participa–
tion is concerned) and by the death
of a former Presiden
t.
Yet the U. S.
Supreme Court ruling handed down
January 22 may bave even a more
important and lasting etfect on the
future of America and the world.
It
was probably the most sweep–
ing and sensational decision of the
Nixon Court. It abolished the crimi–
nal abortion laws of almost every
state, ruling that the decision re–
garding abortion, prior to the last
ten weeks of pregnancy, must be
made solely by tbe woman and her
doctor.
Two Opposing Views
The ruling "sets in motion devel–
opments which are terrifying to con–
template," said Cardinal Krol ,
president of the National Confer–
ence of Catholic Bishops.
But, applauded Dr. Alan F. Gutt–
macher, presiden! of the Planned
Parenthood Federation of America.
2
it was "a wise and courageous stroke
for the protection of a woman's
physical and emotional heallh."
But is abortion murder? The Su–
preme Court carefully avoided an–
swering the question of when a
human life begins.
lt
said, "We need
not resolve the difficult question of
when an unborn child actually be–
comes a human person, with a legal
right to live."
The Court's majority (it was a 7 to
2 decision) justitied this dodging of
the question of legalizing
LIFE
or
DEATH,
and "passed the buck" by
saying, "When those trained in the
respective disciplines of medicine,
philosophy and theology are unable
to arrive at any consensus, the judi–
ciary, at this point in tbe devel–
opment of man's knowledge, is not
A FORTY-TWO-OAY-OLD EMBRYO,
one
half inch long, bathed by the fluid in
the amniotic sac. Attached is the yolk
sac, with the surrounding chorionic
placenta. Embryo already looks human,
its eyes, ears and nasal organs hove
started to form, the jaws are well
formed and the rudiments of fingers
and toes hove become evident.
UPI
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