University of Virginia Library

Precious Sex

I could answer Ms. Phillip's
questions about the male
chauvinistic nature of
Charlottesville Right to Life rather
pointedly, but that would be
avoiding (as Ms. Phillips did in her
Oct 14 reply) the essential
question, i.e., is the unborn child
human life or not? As in any
situation there are circumstances to
consider, many of them
extenuating. However, no matter
how extenuating one cannot justify
taking a human life to relieve the
problem. The life in question is
totally innocent and defenseless,
and to call murdering the child "a
very reasonable remedy," as Ms.
Phillips does, is to open the way to
a myriad of "reasonable remedies"
such as eliminating blacks so there
would be no race problem,
eliminating the poor so there would
be no welfare problem, and maybe
forbidding Ms. Phillip's very
precious sex act so there would be
no population problem.

As far as the man's
responsibility for a child he has
fathered, it is just as great as the
mother's. The fact that he doesn't
accept this responsibility and
furthermore gets away with
means that the laws are sexist and
unjust. This is a related and very
important problem, but if society
continues to offer abortion as an
"out", moral responsibilities of any
nature will disappear and set the
tone for relaxation in other areas.