Exception to Protecting Life?

What constitutes murder?  That used to be a pretty simple question with a pretty simple answer: if you kill somebody, it’s murder.  Somewhere along the line somebody started blurring the definition of who a “somebody” is.  Eventually we got to the point of Roe v. Wade in 1970 that the Supreme Court deemed abortion legal on a federal level.  It’s been an uphill battle ever since in the protection of life for the vulnerable and helpless unborn children.  Because of that, we tend to celebrate every small victory that we get.

If you’ve been reading what I’ve written recently, you’ll know that I have been following the Presidential race lately.  I watched the Vice Presidential debate last night.  While I had many issues with what Joe Biden said, I had very few issues with what Paul Ryan said.  I’m going to make an issue out of one of those things, though. 

The moderator asked Joe Bide and Paul Ryan what part their faith played in their views on abortion.  Ironically both are Catholic and they gave two completely different answers, but that’s not the point right now.  Paul Ryan identified himself as pro-life.  I was happy at that point.  He said himself and Mitt Romney will fight abortion.  I was very happy at that point.  Then he said they make exception for rape, incest, and cases that endanger the mother’s life.  What. 

I’ve heard this kind of thing said before by people who identify themselves a pro-life, but it never ceases to amaze me.  Allow me to take you through some logical conversation for a moment.  Defining life can be a very difficult task, especially when getting technical, but it’s not as difficult as it seems.  So you have this thing inside the mother’s uterus.  If left alone it is born a human being, which we accept as being life.  Is a toddler any less alive than a teenager?  No.  So it does not matter how far along they are in the process.  Does location make a difference in whether something is life or not?  No.  So why does it matter whether a child is inside or outside of the mother?  It doesn’t.  That is the logic behind being pro-life.  It’s a simple answer to a simple question: a baby is a somebody.  Therefore killing babies is killing someone, that is, murder.  It’s as simple as that.

Now, back to the issue: Paul Ryan says that life should be protected, except in cases of rape, incest, or situations in which the mother’s life is in danger.  In the above paragraph, when did the definition of life ever include how the life came to be?  It didn’t.  And it never will.  Normally I try to celebrate the small victories, and normally I am excited to see someone standing for pro-life values.  Not this time.  Because it is our duty to protect life no matter how the life came to be.  It is awful that incest happens.  It is horrible that women get raped.  But guess what?  That’s no excuse to murder a child.  Take an unapologetic stand for life.  Below is a video of Rick Santorum on Piers Morgan doing an excellent job of showing how we should respond to this.