Published: June 11, 2009 10:58 am      

Abortionist’s murder: Two wrongs don’t make a right

Editorial

Recent surveys have shown 52 percent of Americans now say they disapprove of abortion. This is a healthy increase from the last time the question was posed and the first time those against abortion have outnumbered those in favor. It would seem the times they are a changing, as Bob Dylan might say.

It is a great step in the right direction. Abortion is America’s great abomination. Biology more and more testifies to the fact that Dr. Suess’ Horton and his heartfelt assertion that “A person’s a person no matter how small,” could not have been more correct, or prescient.

A baby is a baby right from the start, and the only justification for aborting him or her comes from bowing down at the altar of pure selfishness in the form of convenience. Having sex is convenient. Having a baby often isn’t.

The world knows Dr. George Tiller, sometimes known as “Tiller the Killer” due to his commitment to aborting babies even in late term, was gunned down at the hands of an anti-abortionist.

This too is an abomination. Two wrongs, the trite but true saying reminds us, does not make a right. We are a nation of laws. If one of them is bad, that law must be changed. But that is no excuse for breaking another law, the one disallowing murder, in an attempt to correct the situation. If that became America’s pervasive attitude, the fabric of our nation would be torn asunder.

In the end, Dr. Tiller’s murder may have the unintended consequence of turning the tide of public opinion once again. People correctly recoil and are repulsed at an antiabortionist taking the law into his own hands. If this is how those against abortion are perceived in general, then perception may become reality and the next survey could see a corresponding change in the opposite direction.

If so, then the one step forward in public attitudes will be replaced with two steps backward at the hands of someone with the misguided notion he was doing a great thing for his cause.

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Loné Beasley writes for the Ada (Okla.) Evening News.