I Cannot Understand

I recently received a message in my junk e-mail with the following headline: Take Action To Save Baby Seals Today. Now, I normally don't bother with opening junk mail, but I knew the sender was considered safe (just unwanted...I don't even know how or when I got on their mailing list), so my curiosity got the better of me. The following is the text of the message:

In the past 3 months more than 320,000 baby seals have been horrifically slaughtered in their natural habitat of Canada. Why? The fashion industry has created a new demand for seal pelts in countries like Russia and China, and the Canadian government has responded by allowing more seals than ever before to be slaughtered for profit.

Celebrities like Pamela Anderson, Paul McCartney, Bridget Bardot and Martin Sheen have joined the campaign to stop the hunt while hundreds of thousands of individuals around the world have banded together in protest.

Yet as we speak, the killing continues. And now, the Canadian government has taken action to extend the season for the hunt. Sign the petition now to stop the seal hunt.

Okay, on the surface, there's nothing with which I disagree. I don't think anyone truly needs to wear a seal pelt for any reason, in any climate. There was a time when furs were worn to stay warm, and that was fine. As a fashion statement, however, I think designers could find a suitable substitute.

What made me very sad and angry is that I am quite certain there will be news stories about the plight of the baby seals, about how they are being murdered for convenience, about how horrific and inhumane their murder is, about how many hundreds of thousands are being killed each year, about the selfless, good-hearted celebrities who will not stand by and watch this happen.

While it is sad and, in my humble opinion, unnecessary, I cannot understand the logic behind the indignation here. After all, according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, each year, approximately 1, 370, 000 human babies are aborted. This is just in the United States alone. The reasons given for having the abortions? Over 90% of the women who had abortions gave some variation of the same answer: the baby was inconvenient. Here is the breakdown of the answers given:

Abortion Statistics - Decisions to Have an Abortion (U.S.)
· 25.5% of women deciding to have an abortion want to postpone childbearing.
· 21.3% of women cannot afford a baby.
· 14.1% of women have a relationship issue or their partner does not want a child.
· 12.2% of women are too young (their parents or others object to the pregnancy.)
· 10.8% of women feel a child will disrupt their education or career.
· 7.9% of women want no (more) children.
· 3.3% of women have an abortion due to a risk to fetal health.
· 2.8% of women have an abortion due to a risk to maternal health.

Let's follow this through:

The original e-mail mentioned the words "horrifically slaughtered" in reference to the killing of baby seals. There are no details included as to how the seals are being killed, but apparently it is not considered humane. Contrast this with the millions of babies aborted each year in the U.S. who are literally sucked out of the womb, ripped apart limb from limb, stabbed in the base of the neck and then the skull crushed (all while still alive with a beating heart) and this is considered legal and in some cases, humane. Where is the logic?

Then the crowning moment of the e-mail...celebrities have "banded together" to protest the killing of baby seals. Ahhh...how nice. Yet these same celebrities will stand up and publically fight for the right to allow women to brutally kill their unborn children, as many times as they want, for any reason, no questions asked. These same celebrities will applaud the courage of the woman for exercising her "rights" instead of applauding the woman who chooses to take responsibility for her actions and be a mother to her child. The logic is insane. There is no logic here.

Finally, the e-mail encourages the reader to sign a petition to stop the killing (of baby seals) and make the action illegal. If the situation was reversed, this same e-mail sender would undoubtedly be urging readers to sign the petition to make the act of abortion widely available, at no charge, and completely legal at any time during pregnancy. It makes no sense.

According to data from the CDC, more than 43 million abortions have been performed in the U.S. alone since its legalization in 1973. That's more than 43 MILLION human babies, dead before they had any chance. What did they have to offer the world? Without a doubt, each and every person aborted had something of far greater value than a pelt of fur to offer to humanity. Their very lives were of indescribable worth, if not to their parents, then to countless men and women who would give anything to adopt a child, to have a chance to show a child love. Their lives are of immense worth to their Creator and that is enough to make abortion despicable.

I cannot understand the double standard here. I cannot understand how the very same people who would cry over the unnecessary killing of a baby seal (or any animal) would proudly support the unnecessary killing of a human baby. I have personally known women who struggled with severe infertility problems who, when they finally experienced the miracle of pregnancy, knew in their hearts that they were carrying a baby (not a fetus, not an embryo, but a human baby with unique characteristics and, often, a name) from the moment they saw the positive pregnancy test. Yet I have also heard these very same women champion the cause of abortion. Of course, they always say that they don't think they could make that choice anymore, having experienced the miracle of life, but other women should be able to "choose". What an amazing double standard. What complete and utter insanity. What an unbelievable absence of logic. This, I simply cannot understand.