Democracy for embryos is frozen

I am responding to Barbara Muehlhausen's letter by explaining the value of a fertilized human egg.

If given a mother, a fertilized egg will not become a fish or a goat. It will become a human. Its cells spontaneously multiply. It grows. It is alive. Therefore, many believe it is "human life."

As an illustration, let's look at the different values assigned to one of those fertilized eggs, depending in which womb it resides.

Have you ever seen the grief of an expectant mother when she has lost her child due to miscarriage or attended the funeral of a stillborn child? This enormous grief can only be explained by the loss of something of great value.

What if this very same child had been in the womb of a mother who did not want the child? In this mother's womb, the child is labeled an "unplanned pregnancy" or an "unwanted child," and may be terminated for any or no reason at any stage of development. How could the actual value of the baby's life change between these two scenarios? It can't. The baby didn't change.

The life whose loss we would wail and mourn over has zero protection under the law. Can you now see why some people are passionately pro-life, looking to save lives any way they can in an environment where true democracy has been frozen like an embryo by Supreme Court decisions?

Intuitively, I think you know that all human life has intrinsic and inherent value. It's how you respond to that knowledge that makes all the difference. Do we believe life is an inalienable right endowed by our creator, or is it based upon the luck of the draw, depending solely upon whose womb you're in?

Eric Carver

Palatine