Abortion

To the Editors of The Crimson:

I am writing to alert the members of the Harvard community that there is an undergraduate organization that openly promotes, encourages, and applauds the killing of human beings as a means to attaining its ends. This group is the Radcliffe Union of Students (RUS). A week ago RUS sponsored a "teach-in" and "discussion" (but there was no discussion) on abortion, during which the proponents of abortion openly admitted that an abortion kills a human being, but said that abortion must nonetheless remain legal. One woman said "I believe abortion is no different from infanticide. But I'm pro-choice. Women must be allowed this choice, otherwise they are slaves to their biology." She was applauded. (I wondered: has she never heard of contraceptives?) Another asserted: "Yes, we all know that abortion kills human beings. But without it, we women cannot plan past our next menstrual cycle." She too was cheered.

In the '60's, "free love" was promoted with the argument "Whom does it hurt? It's fun, it's loving, and it doesn't harm anyone." Now in the '80's, we hear: "I must have my sexual freedom (read: irresponsibility) and my career, and I will kill to get it."

I feel sorry for these women. Here they are, in the prime of life, in an affluent society, at a great university. Blessed with all of these benefits, one would think they would be happy, hopeful, cheerful, and smiling. Instead, they are grim, without humor, without simple hopes or simple joys. They are "un-women" who can, without blinking, with words that outwardly have the cloak of moral rhetoric but inwardly express selfishness and auger, that they will kill their own children to get their way. Michael Pakaluk   Teaching Fellow in Philosophy