Stop rationalizing on abortion

In a recent letter to the editor, Mr. Frankel suggested that if abortion was prohibited by federal law based on religious grounds, it would be unconstitutional per the 1st Amendment. His reasoning is faulty, but more importantly, Mr. Frankel is focusing on the wrong issue.

Abortion is not a religious issue but a civil rights issue, like slavery. Atheists who are pro-life testify to this. It is a civil rights issue under the Declaration of Independence, which states that we all have been created equal and have been endowed with unalienable rights of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. The issue then becomes, is the unborn a human being protected by the Constitution?

We must then ask ourselves, is the unborn a human being at conception or perhaps at six weeks when a heartbeat is measured? Is it human at six months when it is viable outside of the womb?

Some pro-choice folks would tell us that the unborn is not a human being while still in the womb. To those one would ask what happens in the case where the unborn is removed from the womb, for example, to perform heart surgery? Is it human while undergoing surgery and loses its humanity when it is placed back in the womb? We sometimes use a process when faced with the truth but would rather not acknowledge it. It is called rationalization.

Make no mistake, abortion is a civil rights issue. We must ask ourselves, Is the unborn a human being protected under the Constitution? If so, abortion, like slavery, is unthinkable.

Richard Kaiser

Elk Grove Village