by Jennifer Hartline – The No-Spin Zone is once again in need of some actual truth. I tuned in on Friday night to hear Bill O’Reilly read a letter from a viewer in New York who asked him why he keeps referring to the fetus as a “potential human being.” This viewer reminded Bill that as a Roman Catholic, he should know better! How absolutely correct. O’Reilly, however, responded this way:
“I’m absolutely factually correct when I say a fetus is a potential human being and no one can deny that. I respect your opinion but until you become a Supreme Court Justice, it remains your opinion, your belief. I can’t run this program based upon my religious beliefs, so I try to put up arguments based on facts and I believe we are successful in doing that.”
Bill, in that one small paragraph you have gone so very, very wrong in so many ways.
It is not “factually correct” to say that a fetus is a “potential human being.” For starters, it isn’t scientifically correct. The fetus is an unrepeatable, unique human child, created from the joining of a woman’s egg and a man’s sperm, possessing a brand new DNA never before seen in the world. Human beings can only make human beings. The fetus is never anything other than human. The child is never a plant or animal. This seems so obvious as to not need pointing out, but clearly, the obvious must be stated.
O’Reilly’s reasoning is unfortunately, a favorite of the abortion peddlers – that the fetus is not fully human, but only potentially human and therefore, extinguishable without moral wrongdoing. It’s not actually a person being killed, they say, but only tissue that at best vaguely resembles a human.
The humanity of the unborn child is inherent from the first moment of conception
Those who perpetuate this false argument justify it by placing subjective value on the child based on the stage of development, health, and ability to survive outside the womb. But none of those things has anything to do with humanity. The humanity of the unborn child is inherent from the first moment of conception, simply because the new person is an unrepeatable human being, endowed by their Creator with the right to life. Humanity is not a function of utility! Humanity is not merely an expression of size, ability, quality of health or even intelligence.
Every child in the womb – whether in existence for one day or fifty days or 200 days – is fully human, not “potentially” human.
This is not an insignificant distinction. It’s not semantics. It reveals the heart of two very different philosophies; one diametrically opposed to the other; one true and one false. Those who refuse to acknowledge the full humanity of the child in the womb will eventually deny the full humanity of any person whose life becomes too inconvenient, too expensive, too unproductive to justify within their limited and selfish definition. It is inevitable. Once a human being can be justifiably eliminated at one stage of life, he can be eliminated at any stage. Once the sanctity of life is put up for grabs, no one is safe. Sooner or later, we are all vulnerable. To declare the child in the womb only “potentially human” is a false, de-humanizing tenet that leaves no life at all sacred.
Every child in the womb – whether in existence for one day or fifty days or 200 days – is fully human, not “potentially” human.
It’s distressing that Bill continues to subscribe to the lie that this is merely a “religious” belief and not a knowable, undeniable truth. He fails to see that abortion is the ultimate human rights issue, not simply a personal opinion based on cozy theology. He tells his viewer that the only opinions that matter in the U.S. are those of the Supreme Court Justices, and anything else is relegated to “religious beliefs” that carry no weight and hold no value where laws are concerned.
In this he not only helps the cause of the abortion vendors but also those who insist that religious beliefs and principles have no place in the public square.
Bill asserts that he can’t run his program based on his religious beliefs, but instead must present facts to support his arguments. Well Bill, the good news is that you never need to check your faith at the door in order to do your show and present the facts, especially when it comes to abortion. And since you brought it up, what are those religious beliefs?
Since you are Catholic, I assume you accept Church teaching regarding the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death. I assume you accept the fact that every abortion kills a human being and is therefore always morally wrong. I also assume that you understand your obligation to God’s revealed truth and the duty each of us has to live our faith authentically out in the world (even on television).
each of us who claim to follow Christ must defend the revealed and knowable truth of the sacred humanity of every life, from conception to natural death.
This means that each of us who wear the name Catholic and claim to follow Christ must defend the revealed and knowable truth of the sacred humanity of every life, from conception to natural death. We have only just celebrated the most incredible event in human history – the Incarnation, the Word made flesh. Our God came to inhabit our humanness in every way, declaring it sacred.
Christ began his human journey the same way each of us did – as a child in the womb. From the moment the Holy Spirit overshadowed the Virgin Mary, Jesus was fully human in order to fully redeem our humanity. If it were not so, then His coming and His death gained us nothing. This is the core of the Catholic Christian faith, Bill! This is the heart of the faith you profess! Would you yet insist that Jesus was only “potentially” human in Mary’s womb?
Your passion for a solid argument is admirable, Bill, but in this case your pursuit of what you call “facts” is not leading you to the truth. You needn’t be a Supreme Court Justice to defend the truth of the sanctity of all human life.
When the law of our land violates the revealed truth, when it violates the fundamental right to life that every human being must be granted, then our law is wrong and must be changed. …
HT: Catholic Online
Potential is a function of being, not the other way around. The unborn child has human potential because it is human. The fact it has human potential confirms its humanity rather than denies it.
Fr. Jacobse put it very well.
I would add that in spite of all our advances in science, we are slowly disintegrating when it comes to the humanities, and have lost simple reason and common sense. It is ironic that this comes near Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Should his beliefs be dismissed as religious opinion? After all, his central tenet was that all men have inalienable rights and equality in the eyes of God. Maybe it was just his “opinion.”