I have been thinking about why abortion seems to me to be such an important issue in our democracy.
I think it comes down to human dignity.
Democracy only works if we believe that every human being has value. Not because they are strong. Not because they are useful. Not because they are intelligent. Not because they are independent. They have value simply because they are human.
As a Christian, I believe there is a reason for that. We are made in the image of God.
That means our value does not come from the government. It does not come from a court. It does not come from a vote. It does not come from whether someone else wants us or needs us.
Human dignity is not something we achieve. It is something we already have.
In the language of our Declaration, we are endowed with it.
Our abilities may develop, change, or decline, but our human dignity does not.
That is why abortion gets to the heart of this question for me.
The real disagreement is not whether the unborn child is alive. He is. The disagreement is over whether being human is enough to give him the kind of dignity and protection we give to other human beings.
That is a very important question.
If human dignity depends on consciousness, intelligence, independence, self awareness, viability, or usefulness, then those things become part of the measure of human worth.
I think that is dangerous ground.
Human beings possess those abilities in very different degrees.
A newborn baby is not independent.
A person under anesthesia is not conscious.
A severely disabled person may never have the same mental ability as someone else.
An elderly person may lose almost all of his independence.
Yet we do not believe those people have less human value.
Why?
Because dignity should not be something we earn.
It should be something we already possess.
That is why I believe abortion is such a basic question for our democracy.
The unborn child has no vote. He has no money. He has no power. He cannot speak for himself. He cannot argue his case.
So the question becomes very simple.
Does his dignity come from what he is, or from what the rest of us are willing to recognize?
Those who support abortion rights would say that the dignity, liberty, health, and bodily autonomy of the mother also have to be taken seriously. I agree that they do. That is part of why this is such a difficult issue.
But even then, we still have to answer the first question.
What is the unborn child, and what kind of protection does his humanity require?
If democracy means anything, it has to mean that the strong do not get to decide which weak human beings are worthy of protection simply because those human beings cannot speak for themselves.
The majority cannot be the source of human dignity. If it is, then the majority can also take that dignity away.
That is not really dignity.
That is permission.
A healthy democracy has to begin with something deeper than voting. It has to begin with the belief that human life has a value that exists before the government recognizes it.
For me, abortion brings that question into the clearest possible view.
Does a human being have value because we recognize it?
Or do we recognize that value because it was already there?
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