Abortion is not murder

Justin P. Hill, before you go insulting half the student body by calling pro-choicers uneducated and comparing abortion to the slavery of African Americans, you should focus a little more on educating yourself. First of all, conception does not exist in a vacuum. Your entire argument that “life begins at conception” is based on the premises that conception is “the first step” and that “it cannot be skipped.” Now Justin, I hope you’re sitting down for this because it may come as a shock, but there is something that comes before conception: It’s called intercourse. For conception to occur, an ovum must be deposited, and sperm must be ejaculated. These are both steps that come before conception and they both cannot be skipped. By your logic, this would actually mean life begins with the formation of gametes. This would make masturbation or the use of a condom equivalent to murder because life begins with the sperm. Similarly, you would have to outlaw menstruation because of the loss of an unfertilized egg. Good luck with that. Judging by this column (“Anti-life” – April 7) and the one on the Kinsey Institute (“Oversexed” – March 3), I’m going to guess that your view is heavily influenced by the Christian religion. This is totally fine with me, but if you’re going to use that as your source of wisdom, you might as well know what you’re talking about. In Exodus 21:22, we are told that if two men fight and one accidentally strikes a pregnant woman, causing her to miscarry, then he should pay a fine to her. However, if he accidentally kills her, he is punished for accidental manslaughter. This means that even the Judeo-Christian God does not equate a fetus with a human that has been born. Abortion is not murder. Justin, I respect your opinion that abortion is wrong. However, I strongly disrespect your ignorance and your third-grade like oversimplification of an extremely complicated and debatable issue like the moment life begins.