Dear Editor:Muriel Schuerman's concern was that if we outlawed abortion what would we do with all the unwanted babies. In the U.S. there are over 3,000 abortions every day. That is a staggering number. But adoptive babies are in demand. Some adoptive parents wait 2-8 years to get an infant. Some get babies from other countries to shorten the wait. Ms. Schuerman, however, wants to set aside the argument of whether it is a child or not. You can't really do that. You have to first realize that the unborn child is a human being. If it is a human being, it deserves all the rights and privileges. The baby in the womb is as much a human being as the toddler. In that sense can we take the lives of toddlers when orphanages get too full? Can we take the life of a toddler to spare it from a difficult life? Sadly, many young pregnant women think, "It is only a baby if I want it." As we consider the issue of abortion, each of us needs to answer the question, "What is it?" Everything flows from that. It is not OK to reason that I don't know what it is but I am going to kill it anyway. What would we think of a hunter who saw something stirring in the bushes and decided to shoot whatever it was? There is almost complete agreement that when an abortion is performed, something dies. If your little boy or girl comes up behind you and says, "Daddy/Mommy, can I kill this?" Without turning around what is your first question? Your first question is, "What is it?" If it's a spider or snail, you probably don't care much. If it is the family pet, you certainly would be concerned. What if it is a little brother or sister? We seem to care a lot more about animals than we do the unborn. It is illegal to destroy the egg of an eagle. WE seem to know where eagles come from and what an eagle egg is. PETA and the SPCA do a great job of showing us the cruelty we perpetrate on our pets. If I were to show you pictures of aborted babies you would be appalled. Why don't PETA and the SPCA get exited about the cruelty shown to the unborn? The Internet is a great resource for both good and bad information. Use it to resolve in your own mind what the unborn is. Russell Johnson Downey

********** Published: September 27, 2012 - Volume 11 - Issue 24