life & death - the detail

Before conception
What about contraception?  It reduces the probability of intercourse resulting in an independent adult from one in thirty to close to zero. That's the whole point I hear you cry! One in thirty may not sound very high, but it's infinitely greater than zero... To put this in concrete terms, a couple who marry in their mid 20's and subsequently have three kids and then use contraception would statistically have ended up with seven independent adults had they not used contraception. Thats four more independent adults than they actually have. Now none of us would gun down four seventeen year olds to prevent them reaching adulthood, but by using contraception the result is the same. Four adults who would in all liklihood have existed, now don't.

Before birth
In our heads we have persuaded ourselves that we are terminating this thing called a foetus. It has no feelings, it might look a bit like a baby, but it isn't. It hasn't developed - and there's always the chance that it wouldn't have made it anyway. But here's the truth - there is a small chance that tragedy might intervene between now and their 18th birthday. But it is statistically very unlikely. By far the biggest risk to it becoming an adult is the decision to terminate the pregnancy - to kill the potential. In all probablity, what we are terminating is in 18 years time, an independent adult.

We might argue that ending the process to protect the mother whilst this potential adult is in the womb is an acceptable, if difficult trade. But what about the child who's behaviour threatens the mother's mental health a few years later? Of course there are other options by then - foster care or whatever. But what if there weren't? What if the choice was either the mother's health and safety or the child's? Where is the difference? In the first instance the safety of the mother is deemed to over-ride that of the life that is dependent on her. Yet no-one would argue that the same applied in the second case. Why? 

Childhood
Now, I occasionally hear distraught mother's shouting at their kids 'If you do that one more time, I'll kill you' but very few people would advocate that as an actual form of discipline... In fact, no matter how inconvenient, disruptive or risky they are to parental health, no one suggests the execution of the child as a solution. Yet stopping the natural growth process at any point after two weeks has statistically the same outcome. Instead of a 98+% chance of becoming an adult, it now has zero chance.

Research
What about embryo research? Isn't every conception, however caused, statistically a potential adult? I know how important stem-cell research might be but aren't we taking what would otherwise have the potential to be an adult and deciding on its behalf that it will not become one? Created, not to become an adult but to serve those who had the privilege of becoming adults. Does it not sound like that old prophecy: 'One man, for the sake of the people, must die'

These aren't easy issues. We are not anti-abortion and we are not against contraception! What we want to encourage is a debate on why these are acceptable and under what conditions - in the full knowledge that adult lives do not exist as a direct result of these choices.