Fertility issue is tied to abortion battle

Regarding Barbara J. Muehlhausen's letter of Jan. 22, "Why don't abortion foes target fertility?" For her information, the Roman Catholic Church has opposed in vitro for the very reasons she suggests, because millions of fertilized eggs are discarded. Most pro-lifers agree with this position.

One big mistake she makes is to suggest our opposition is solely on religious grounds. Our position doesn't require belief in God to make the case. But such belief reduces the need for the argument in the first place.

She refers to a May 2004 issue of Discovery magazine, which she believes settles the argument in her favor. It doesn't.

In this issue, it highlights the work of one fertility researcher who at the start of the article feels certain a woman seeking pregnancy has no chance based on his expert opinion. Somehow, the leap here is that this somehow puts the humanity of the embryo in doubt. But it more naturally relates to death by natural causes, as does any other point in the pregnancy where the development stalls prematurely.

What Muehlhausen fails to point out. is that by the end of the article, this "expert" is surprised to hear that the woman in question is indeed pregnant after all, and his prediction was only an educated guess at best. It seems Almighty God, or nature, or whatever else one believes, had other ideas for this child that superseded the expert's "expertise."

Muehlhausen finally resorts to charges of class warfare in this debate, but it is she who shows little class. This is not a wedge issue for people of class, compassion, honor or love for one's fellow man.

It is the ultimate concern for "the least of these."

Art Casper

Palatine