Cal Thomas on Abortion

Thomas is correct. Twelve-year-old Carrie Walker’s science project of real fetuses in bottles is close to the truth, but not close enough. In addition to showing fetal development and abortion methods, she should also have shown the kind of life many of these fetuses would have been born into and the devastating effects an unwanted birth has on the life of the mother.

This school project shows the reality of abortion, but it also demonstrates the consequences of an inadequate knowledge of sex. Many of the children who adults think are too sensitive to confront such issues will become sexually active in a few very short years. Whether the aborted fetus is a human life or just a bunch of human tissue is irrelevant; the real issue here is sex education to prevent unwanted pregnancies.

Are these children too young to confront the issue of sex? The truth, it appears, is that it is adults who cannot confront the issue. The kids already know about it. Just listen to the jokes they tell in the schoolyard. What they don’t know is the breadth of its consequences. That fact is evident from the statistics: The majority of abortions are the result of teen-age pregnancies.

The need for sex education today is critical, and if parents cannot provide it, then the schools must. If we are to prevent abortion, sex education must become part of the school curriculum, and Carrie Walker’s science project should be displayed in sex education classrooms.

Rather than forbid abortion, we should prevent it by providing sex education in school. Let’s not fool ourselves believing that what children don’t know won’t hurt them. They need to know the truth of why the baby is in the bottle.

JOANNE BERGENER

Chatsworth