It has already been a few days since I read with disgust Dr. StormoGipson’s (Dr. SG) “opinion” and attempts to rationalize life’s beginnings in The Press. Really, Dr. SG, I think you have been rattled by a man who is brave enough to speak the truth — especially as your profession is one of science … although it used to be one of morals too. I would like to know if doctors are still required to take the “Hippocratic Oath,” swearing to “never do harm” — yes, even to the unseen babe in his mother’s womb.

Firstly, in defense of Rick Santorum (RS): he has never said that if he were president he would ban birth control. Dr. SG was arrogant to assume that RS did not know there is life before conception. While the cells are alive, the new being formed by fertilization is unique and has its own life.

Here are some actual words of RS: “The advocates of abortion … teach you that if you have to say anything about what is in the womb you should use dehumanizing terms like ‘product of conception,’ ‘embryo,’ and ‘fetal tissue’ … they have turned the child in the womb into a NOBODY, and therefore ‘NOBODY gets hurt’.” Dr. SG says RS “can’t know that a fertilized egg is the equivalent of a living, breathing, thinking human being.” Well, who is Dr. SG or any other activist for the culture of death to say that you can or can’t know? Sure, the babe in the womb is not able to think like my 9-month-old or my 2 year old. But not my baby, 2-year-old, or 3-year-old can actually reason yet — are they persons? Where do we draw the line? Are we going to kill the baby as he exits the birth canal or even at a year because he is not ‘thinking’ as we do? How is it that hidden in the womb of his mother it seems so easy not to think of him as a human being? Size and maturity seems to be the hang up. Yet science knows in substance that this being is human. If by “personhood” we actually mean “the soul” which is what comprises the will, reason, and emotions, is it not logical to believe that as the unique being is formed (conception) — this is what constitutes his humanity?

Let’s consider these facts left out from Dr. SG’s science lecture: The sperm will die if not used. This goes for the mother’s ovum as well. However, by the time sperm and ovum are completely united (conception/fertilization) a totally unique being has been created. This being is already either male or female. Nothing is ever added, except nutrition and oxygen, to this human life until he dies. Then incredible, fast growth takes place, the most in his entire life. For nine months this new life lives safely (unless cut to pieces in an abortion clinic) in his mother’s womb, totally dependent on her for food and shelter. This incredible being doubles his cell 45 times during his entire life — and 41 of those times are in the womb! An infant is not an adult ... yet no one denies his “personhood.” Why does development change what they are? Well, the fertilized ovum (the uniquely new being) is in substance who he will be forever. It is only size and maturity that differ.

This human being is real and deserves the same basic human rights as we. His little heart (seen beating at 22 days!) simply accepts his mother as chief protector. The same fingers (that can hold objects by week 11) would grasp his mother’s breast if possible not just for her mother’s milk, but for her love and comfort. This new life is said to be devoid of human rights, of the right to life — even a mother’s love.

The last sentence brings to mind Dr. SG’s other disgusting statement concerning his friend’s ability to be alive thanks to her mother’s “ability to choose.” Wow! Aside from it being a leap in logic to say she lives because of the available choice of her mother to murder or give life to her babe; well, I would pity a friend whose birth was based on conditional love. Yes, Baby continues to grow and be born as long as she is no danger to her mother. Otherwise, woe to this child! The selfish mother will choose her own life, not her child’s. By three weeks a child’s nervous system is in formation and by 12 weeks Baby can experience pain. An unwanted baby is torn limb from limb and ripped from his mother’s womb. It is bloody. It is brutal. This baby is the same individual in utero as at 5, 15, etc … He is just small and cannot speak (neither can my 9-month-old). Yes, Dr. SG, ignorance is dangerous especially for those women falsely led to believe there is neither human life within them nor that abortion is murder.

This “friend’s” mother was not a mother. Mothers are not debased creatures ready to do what even the animals will not. She does not murder her child for her own sake. Mothers do not take life but give it. Mothers know that self-sacrifice is synonymous with motherhood – even if it be the laying down of her life for her child. What a privilege to a true mother!

Abortion, destroying the fruit of one’s womb, is a despicable act against nature itself. Oh – if only the child could speak! If the woman could see the small hand reaching up and out in one last desperate grasp as it pulls back to avoid its demise. About to be silenced forever by the doctor’s “safe abortion” instruments this child would have said: “Mama, save me! I just want your love. I want you.” How can anyone who has ever stared into an infant’s eyes after he emerges from the birth canal and eagerly seeks his mother’s breast, how can anyone stomach abortion — even for a mother’s life?

Stephanie Murphy is a Post Falls resident.