Abortion is not miscarriage
On Tuesday, Ralph Nielsen shared his idea that the word “abortion” is equivalent to the word “miscarriage.” He cited the National Library of Medicine’s website.
Even if we accept that equivalence and we are all survivors of “abortion,” then Mr. Nielsen still overlooks Miss Jessen’s unique experience: She is the survivor of an attempted murder. Sure, we all may cheat death every day, but not so many of us have survived the intention of another person to cut off our life. And fewer still have managed to do that as a newborn. It is authentically rare to do it as one of the unborn, without a voice.
The word abortion conveys more than the word miscarriage: It means another person purposefully intended to prevent another human life. It necessarily includes the desire to negate the existence of a child. In that light, abortion itself is a euphemism — it doesn’t sound as bad as murder or manslaughter. But it really is the opposition of life, an affirmative human action that is meant to destroy an inconvenient version of the future.
So scoff at Miss Jessen’s life if you want to, but realize that surviving an attempted murder is an empowering experience for her, and her faith has given her the strength to overcome the rejection she faced from her own mother.
-Jaron Robinson
UI Law student
Class of 2013
Illegal immigrants not oppressed
The members of the “Movimiento Activista Social” claim their “struggle” has something in common with that of African-Americans in the Civil Rights era. What an insult to African-Americans, who were brought to this country against their will as slaves, and subject to very real race-based laws for centuries. Modern illegal immigrants, on the other hand, come to the United States illegally by their own free will, reap the benefits of this great nation, and then groups like the MAS claim illegal immigrants are being “oppressed.”
The supposed racial aspects of laws like Alabama H.B. 56 exist only in the fevered imaginations of these activists, except for the fact that the vast majority of illegal immigrants are of Mexican/Central-American origin. Nor is it Alabama’s fault that our Federal Government refuses to adequately enforce the immigration law, probably for political reason. I applaud Alabama, Arizona, and all other states that take steps to curb the illegal immigration problem, and hope that Idaho will one day follow suit.
-Alexander Rowson
UI junior
Electrical engineering
Clarification of terms
This clarifications seems really unnecessary, but in case there is someone who thinks surviving an abortion is the same thing as surviving a miscarriage, I refer that reader, and Ralph Nielsen, to the opening statements of the article he quoted:
“A miscarriage is the spontaneous loss of a fetus before the 20th week of pregnancy. (Pregnancy losses after the 20th week are called preterm deliveries.) A miscarriage may also be called a “spontaneous abortion.” This refers to naturally occurring events, not medical abortions or surgical abortions (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002458/).”
I welcome intelligent discussion on the subject of abortion survival, and I offer lunch on me for anyone willing to have that discussion.
-Rusty Olps
Moscow