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WH1TBY, FREE. PRESS,,WE.DNESDAY, FEBRUARY,3, 1988, PAGE 7 PAGE SEVEN i ABORTION It's with some trepidation that I tackle a subject as contro- versial asabortion - is anybody listening anymore? Let me say" at the -outset that I- think that the Supreme Court nmade the right decision -'so ail the Right-to-Lifers may as well stop reading night now. The issue is basic, fundamental and unresolvable. On the one extreme i s* the belief that. an. embryo becomes a human being at the point of conception and bas the right to be born. To these people, abortio n je murder. At the other extreme is -the belièf that the fetus je part of thie mother who has as much r'ight to haveit aborted.as to have an appendectomy. The Supreme Court unequivocably chose the rights of the mother over those of the fetus. The Catholic belief that a fetus ie a separate human being je a matter of faith - it cannot be resoived by'Parliament or the, courts or even by science. It is unprovable because it depends on defining the undefinable - the uniquenese of the human organism - what Christianity calis the soul. Killing in itself'is flot wrong - we ili animais every day. Killing humans je botb a sin and a crime. When does a fetus become 'buman'? When does it acquire its soul? Prove it. Through virtually ail of history, pregnancies took their natural course. Spontaneous miscarriages, stillbirths, and infant deathe were many finies higber than today. In strictly biological ternis, it was survival1 of. the fittest - - unless' a child was ' perfectly> formed, its chances of living were lini. It was nature's way (and one couid easîly argue, God's Way) of ensuring a healthy vigorous race. But the twentiètb century has seen phenomenal leape in man's ability to override nature. Medicine has become heavily interventioniet. As -Science's ability to conceive babies in test tubes coalesces with its ability to keep increasingly prernature babies alive in the artificial womb of a hospital iricubator, it ie inevitable that in'the nçt too distant future, it will be possible to conceive and grow babies entirely outside of the mother's womb. ile.s.this partofGod'grand design? Will such babies be 'human'? Will «they have souls? Will the Pro-life movement move its attention to the laboratories and demand that every fertilized egg has the constitutional right to be 'born"? Absurd? Maybe ... and maybe not. VAWile science and medicine are advancing headlong into the twenty-first century, religion je standing stili. Wihile scientists are creating human life in test tubes, the Catholic Church and its allies have failed to grasp the need to find new definitions. .Anti-abortionists support their opposition to abortion with images of active living fetuses captured on video by scientists using cameras implanted inside the mother's womb, but they fail to grasp the profound changes science has produced in the equation of life and death. In a world where life can he greatly extended far beyond its 'natural' limits at both ends of the spectrum, the Church has failed to balance the quantity of life against ite quality. Bringing.an unwanted child into this worldi is an affront te the compassionate principles of Christianity. I find it impossible to understand why any religion which preaches eternal salvation, pute such great.emphasis on this brief mortal interlude. Although Right-to-Life maintains that the battie xc far froni over, it is highly unlikely that the federal government will ever again enact legisiation te restrict abortions. Until last Thursday, aborti on. was. a. criminal offense - now it is5 purely a matter of faith and medicine. Despite a statement froni the Minister of Justice that the federal government would act with leadership in the matter, don't hold your breath - our politicians have been avoiding this issue for fifteen years - with ever increasing polarization, they've. got more sense than te get involved now. Bland statements'of "we're stili studying the Supreme Court decision", "investigating the options", and "offeing leadership" wiIl be the order of the day - nothing will actually be done. The real pressure will be on the provincial governiments. Since abortion je now a health matter it comes under provincial juriedliction. Although the provinces have no authority te stop abortions, they also have no obligation te allowr payment for it under medicare, nor do they have any obligation te license free-standing clinice euch as Dr. Morganthaler's. Those are the new battlefronts of the abortion issue. But what remains je merely rearguardmanoeuvres. The miain battie je over. The victoioue general je Dr. Henry Morganthaler, a man who bas to be admired even by hie opponents. Regardiese of people)s opinions of hie personal ethice, histery will regard hini fa.rtoo bot te handiee vout WH[ITBY JUNCIION STATION IN 1906 The Whxtby Junction Station was built in 1903 where Byron Street met the CNR railway tracks. It served as a station until 1969 and in 1970 was moved to the corner of Victoria and Henry Streets and converted inte an art gallery. An unsolved murder occurred in thie station in December 1914. WhitbyArchives phoito 10 'YEARS AGO, from the Wednesday, February 1, 1978 edition of the WHITBY FREE PRESS 0 A violent enow storni on Jan. 26 killed a woman at Myrtie, ripped the roof off a fatoiry. andl blew a house off its foundation.., a Town Council has approved Whitby'e second co-perative housing project, to be built at Aiiderson Street and Manning Road. aDr. J. O. Ruddy General hospital received a 30 per cent response to a public ýsurvey on its services. The average response to such ý;urveys is6 per cent. 0 The hamlpt of Ashburn may twin with the community of Ashburn, Georgia, U.S.A. 25 VEARS AGO froni the Thursday, January 31, 1963 edition of the, WHITBY WEEIKLY NEWS *Whitby'e barber board has decided not to develop Whitby Harbor for pIe sure craft. *The new Sklar Furniture plant will be in full production next week. *A 14-rooni addition te Anderson collegiate should be completed by March 31. *Donald Wilson was presented with a plaque for his services te minor hockey in Whitby. 100 YEARS.AGO from the Friday, FQbruary 3, 1888 edition of the WHITBY CHRONICLE a A telephone line bas been set up between David A. Brown's general store and* Wfllia m*S. Park's blackàmith shop in Myrtle. aFarmers are hauling blocks of ice froni Lake Ontario. ýThey are so clear, one éan cee th rough a block two feet thick. " It being Leap Year, young ladies can invite gentlemen te the Firemen's Bail on Feb. 10. " John Bail Dow was unanimously elected Chairrnan of the Whitby Board of Education.