During the last decades of the 20th century, the BBC presented several popular television series. One series was titled The Living Planet. The series, created by biologist David Attenborough, was broad in its historical scope, highlighting many features of life on Planet Earth. Its was heavily ecological in its theme, emphasizing the environment and the protection of nature for which humanity is responsible. We stress its description of Planet Earth as The Living Planet. Attenborough holds current humanity responsible for the proper care of the environment. Emphasis on humanity’s concern for earth’s living creatures is noteworthy and commendable.
However, while studying the lengthy Wikipedia entry on the biological genius of Attenborough, it is evident that one of the most surpassing issues of our day—the sanctity of human life (homo sapiens)—takes a distant back seat to environmental and ecological issues. Examples: planetary biodiversity, limiting human population growth, switching to renewable energy sources, mitigating climate change, reducing meat consumption, and setting aside more areas for natural preservation.
Why is the meaning of our current blog title: Abortion on a Living Planet—an oxymoron? The description “Living Planet” may characterize our tiny planet more aptly than any other. LIFE is present on Earth to an incredible extent. Over 8.7 million separate species including homo sapiens have been identified, but many more exist yet unclassified. So far as known, of the billions of exoplanets existing in our home galaxy and the quintillions of exoplanets in the entire universe, only Planet Earth possesses life! The human race has devised many barbaric means of terminating human life during pregnancy. This is a tragedy of our times.
Abortion on a Living Planet—an Oxymoron? In what sense is the term abortion an oxymoron?
This term is defined by most dictionaries as “a figure of speech in which contradictory words or terms appear in conjunction.” A better term may be “paradox:” the opposition of ideas or themes. We list several examples how the term “abortion” is presented in positive terms. Some describe oxymoronic language as a “fluffy euphemism” in which we learn to accept the “unthinkable.” Many pro-life citizens perceive abortion as a pejorative term for murder. It is easy to perceive abortion as murder of an innocent, helpless, immature human being, especially when brutal methods of abortion have been described in the literature. There have been 63 million children in the USA since the Roe v Wade decision of 1973 whose lives were terminated by abortion.
We present several examples of cherry-picking language terms in order to mislead. (1) Abortion is a matter of “a woman’s right to choose.” We might ask what could be negative about “a woman’s right to choose?” If the choice is between choosing death over life, there is much to be perceived as negative. (2) Abortion exemplifies a “woman’s right to privacy.” If the outcome of a private action results in abject harm to another developing human being, the answer is clear. In such cases abortion rights are not tantamount to the right to privacy. (3) Abortion tissues are referenced as “the products of conception.” However, avoiding the use of terms such as zygote, embryo, fetus, or baby and instead using a phrase such as “the products of conception” misrepresents biological truth.
The Creator has initiated life on Earth, in particular, human life. In the last 70 years the discipline of developmental biology has become well known. Biologists have unlocked many secrets of life processes from conception to the birth of newborn children. We have often cited scripture from Psalm 139:13-16 as a devotional and scientific description of human development before birth.
God is the Author and Creator of life. It is unthinkable that many humans would seek to destroy a human life created by God. In the past week many pro-choice abortion activists have defiantly rejected the truth that God is the Creator of life itself. They have elevated their “right” to end a human life by abortion over preserving and protecting the miracle of life itself. Human life is a monumental divine gift. The impact of defiantly terminating a developing human life in the womb is grievous to the Creator beyond our ability to understand.
