Such carrying-on. Not just now, but for decades. Not just the U.S., but Europe as well. Such anger, such passionate conviction. I certainly don’t mean to imply that the topic is unimportant, but I do mean to state outright that most of the passion doesn’t identify what the fight is really about. Quite the opposite, in fact.

When my freshmen discussed topics for debate, one of the first suggestions was always abortion. I refused to allow it, not because I feared outbreaks of violence in the classroom, but because the topic itself is inarguable. Why? Because: If a child/fetus (call it what you will) is part of the mother’s/woman’s (call her what you will) body, then—so what? So’s a wart. If, however, it’s a child, then it’s a human being, and no one has a right to kill it except in self-defense. (Is the baby trying to attack you? Really?) So, the real question is: At what point does life begin? If it begins at conception, then abortion is nothing else but murder. Questions such as, am I ready for it?, will it be loved?, am I mature enough to raise a child? are all utterly irrelevant. We’re talking homicide here, infanticide. Is that a “decision” anybody has a right to make?

So (as I said nearly every semester), you see, students, the thing is a misnomer. (Look that up.) Is it a human life? Or is it an unwanted growth? That’s the question. The only question. And it is truly either/or. All the rest is a lot of the self-righteous posturing noise that the red herrings always make. Red herring? Look that up, too. Page 47. Read it aloud, Betty Sue.