Nebraska Attempts to Restrict Abortion

The State of Nebraska has imposed a limit on abortion to twenty weeks, on the grounds that it is at that point when the fetus begins to feel pain. Whether this is a step forward or not, is difficult to tell.

Simple reason tells us that human beings have human babies. On that point alone it should be obvious that abortion is a moral evil. Yet seeing as the political and moral climate of our land is not likely to change anytime soon based on even that simple and easy to understand concept, then any restriction on abortion perhaps should be hailed as a step in the right direction.

But as to whether the ability to feel pain is what makes us human, well, that seems weak on its own merit. Certainly feeling pain, as with feeling empathy or emotion of any sort, is part of what makes one human. Still, mere animals can feel pain, and arguably at least even some form of sympathy. The question is, do we want to view humanity in the manner in which we view animals?

If we are defending human life merely on the grounds that people feel pain, are we really saying anything valuable about it at all? It just seems, on a certain level anyway, shallow. If this is an idea of the Right to Life movement, then it seems as though they are falling into something of a trap: the idea takes the value of human life out of the metaphysical and moral and into the mere animal. What are we really supporting when we do that?

Any step which may limit abortion is, one hopes, a positive one. This law will surely be challenged, so that it may not serve a purpose anyway over the long haul. And so far as it keeps the abortion debate stoked there may be a good served by it. Still, there are far greater reasons for disallowing the practice. When we effectively step into the pro-abortion arena on the terms of the pro-abortionists, who see human life as nothing more than another aspect of our world, have we won any ground at all?