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A2-Wednesday, September 3, 1980 - North Shore News

A Strictly personal

by Bob Hunter

Frankly, I think abortions are handed out too

easily.

There’s no doubt in my mind that a human

foetus is “alive.”

And there’s no doubt in
my mind that the people
running North Vancouver's
Pro-Life organization are
highly spiritual, righteous
people, deeply moral, and
on the right track with their
talk about the sacredness of
life.

When I think about
abortions, I have to look at
my oldest son, now 16, who
was the result of an un-
wanted pregnancy. His
mother and I —since
divorced — did the “right
thing” and got married, but
only after half a dozen at-
tempts to have him aborted
failed.

Supposing things had been
different. In the early 60s, a
woman had to risk death or

permanent imjury to rid
herself of an unborn child.
We males risked nothing, of
course, except the chance of
getting rid of unwanted child
and girlfriend all in one
blow.

Had abortions been as
easy as they undoubtedly are
nowadays at the Lion's Gate
Hospital, my son wouldn't be
alive today. Put bluntly, the
truth is that his mother and I
once conspired to “ter-
minate” him with “extreme
prejudice,” as they say in the
military, and the only reason
we didn’t succeed was that
the laws of the time worked
against us.

Could I kill my son now?

The temptation is to joke
and say, “Well, sometimes,”
but the truth is it’s still
murder whether committed
against him when he was six

reedom to kill

years old or three months
old or minus-six months old.

Once they're conceived,
they're alive. I don't see how
you cam argue against that,
especially in view of the fact
that there is a _ vigorous
debate going on today
among lawyers and scientists
about how to define death —
whether when the heart and
lungs stop, or when the brain
stops.

By any definition, life
begins at the blastular stage,
immediately after con-
céption.

Having said all this, let me
add that I am _ personally
opposed to the attempt by
the Pro-Lifers to politicize
the abortion issue, and I
have one good reason for
opposing them, which has
nothing to do with the
fundamental biological truth
that “life” starts when the

female egg is fertilized by a
male sperm.

It's simple. The abortion
issue is a religious issuc.
That's why everyone is so
passionate about it. It’s the
believers versus the un-
believers and you can argue
about il forever.

I feel sorry for people
whose awareness of life ts so
dim that they fail to see the
sacred light burning inside
all that exists, but I'm
damned if I'm going to force
my religious behefs on them.

In my parucular belief
system, all life is sacred, not
just human hfe, but at the
same time I don’t believe in
death after fife. You cannot
really kill anyone's spirit or
soul.

You wouldn't want me to
pass a law forbidding you to
kill pigs or cows or sheep,
would you? Or a law
preventing you from eating
plants or wearing leather. or
taking action to “murder” a
bacteria, which, after all, is
also “alive.”

I firmly agree with the
woman who wrote to The
North Shore News, saying
that no man “had any right
whatsoever” to tell her that
she must bear a child she
doesn't want.

$100 fine for driving while suspended

A 19-year-old North
Vancouver man who ap-
peared in North Vancouver
Provincial Court with both
legs and an arm im a cast was
fined $100 Wednesday after
pleading guilty to driving
while under suspension.

Craig Hutchinson, of 728
East 21st Street, was charged
July 16 after an RCMP of-
ficer recognized him as a
person whose licence was
under suspension, while he

was driving.

Crown Counsel Mary
Paruk said Hutchinson's
licence had been suspended
after he was convicted for
driving with a blood alcohol
level over .08.

Hutchinson said he was
“drivmg home from work”
and said he had “no ex-
planation” for driving while
he knew his licence was
suspended.

He appeared in court on

Double Burger
and Fries

Wed. Thurs. & Fri.

crutches and said he had
been badly injured after he
“fell off an apartment
building.”

Judge K.D. Page said he
would impose a smailer fine
that usual because Hat-
chinson said he was not
gettmg compensation and
had po means of support.

Page fined Hutchinson
$100 and warned him that he
would face a jail term if the
offence was repeated.

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But I would add: It's
funny, the faceless foetus
that you are convinced right
now will ruin your life can
have a way of turning imto
one of the most important
pillars of your existence
later, almost as_ though,
indeed, there were higher

forces at work, and youn
with them at your peri}
Religion has its role in the
life of the community
we all know what madness
set loose when the ayatollal
take over.
Freedom is the
casualty of holy war.

ot

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