Today’s blog is brief and without pictures because I am working from my laptop in beautiful Key West Florida. Also my editor is in the shower, so please forgive my errors.

Flights. This week, I had two flying experiences I had never had before. First, I flew home from visiting my brother in Nashville. As usual I flew through Atlanta. When we landed after the brief flight the plane went to Gate B9. When I got off the plane, I checked the monitor for my flight to Mobile. My plane was leaving from B9. In all my years of flying through Atlanta. I counted myself blessed if I was just on the same concourse. I never had the privilege of landing and leaving from the same gate.

I double checked with the young agent to make sure. His remark was “You need to play the lottery.”

The second occurred on Monday. Our good friends had extra space at a time share in Key West. They invited us and we needed a few days of R and R. We flew from Pensacola to Atlanta without a problem. On the flight from Atlanta to Key West, we were half-way there when we had to turn around and return to Atlanta. The runway in Key West was damaged. Since there is only one runway, we had to wait for it to be repaired. We spent the night in Atlanta courtesy of Delta.

We made it the next day and are enjoying the famous Key West sunsets and the fellowship of good friends.

Two unusual adventures — one I hope happens again and one I could do without.

Abortion Lexicon. Today I want your help with a serious issue.  When we returned from our trip, one obvious item of big news was the Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade.  I have thought a lot about abortion. I do not find all aspects of the topic to be as easy as many other people. For me the first step to clear thinking is to develop all possible options for an issue.

Since I had never done that for abortion, I decided I needed to develop a list of the issues surrounding the topic. I am asking for your help in that task. Extra eyes and other minds have helped me think clearly in the past. I am hoping it will happen again.

My biggest concern for this list is not a particular position on abortion, but rather a clear statement of all the issues. I would appreciate your help in the development of the list. Again, outside eyes always help me see more clearly.

If you anything I have overlooked, please let me know.

If you disagree with any of my statements, please let me know.

Again, I know most of you have your established views on abortion. I am not seeking a particular position; I am trying to have a list of all possible issuess.

  1. The farthest position on the right is the position that the prevention of conception is morally wrong. Contraception is a sin.

Jeny and I faced this first hand with Shane’s birth. We wanted her tubes tied in order to prevent conception. We only wanted three children. A Roman Catholic doctor did not want to perform the procedure. Jeny had to go before a panel to argue her case. She won and during her Cesarean procedure her tubes were tied.

2. The farthest position to the left is a newborn child can be killed.

According to the documentary One Child Nation, an award-winning film by Nanfu Wang and Jailing Zhang, this policy has been practiced in China, even in recent years. 

3. The next view on the right is a woman should not be able to kill a life under any circumstance. She should not even be allowed post-sex abortion pills that are given in the possibility of conception.

Note my language. I believe I need to be honest about what is happening. By definition when a sperm enters an egg, conception has occurred and a life is begun. Not a viable life but a life. Therefore, abortion beyond conception is killing life.

If life does not begin at conception, then a new definition of what a zygote and fetus are must be developed.

I have another concern about terminology. I do not understand the idea that the Supreme Court decision affected a woman’s reproductive rights. Reproductive rights are rights to reproduce. Abortion is not reproduction. Unless I am missing something, nothing about the Supreme Court’s decision prevents a woman from reproducing. The Supreme Court decion was about when is it legal to take life. I think the term reproductive rights is used in the abortion discussion because people do not want to acknowledge the idea that life is being taken.

Sterilization, not abortion. affects a woman’s reproductive rights.

4. The next position on the left is that a woman has the right to kill life at any time she wants until the child is born.

The decision may be for convenience, welfare, problems with the child or several other reasons.

At this point a critical concept is choice. I believe two choices are crucial. First whether or not to have sex. Second is whether or not to have protected sex.

If two people choose to have unprotected sex, one possible consequence is pregnancy. If two people choose to have unprotected sex and the woman gets pregnant, an abortion is failure to accept the consequences for a choice.

5. Choice is critical for the next views. If a person does not choose to have sex, then some people believe abortion is acceptable. In other words, the victim of rape, incest or other form of coercion is entitled to take a life. As previously stated, others believe abortion should never be allowed.

6. The health of the mother is the next consideration. One position is a woman has the right to take a life in order to save her own.  The second position is a woman does not have the right to take life no matter what the circumstances.

7. The final set of views is based on viability of the life. Some people believe taking life is acceptable until the life is viable. In old days it was called “quickening.” There is a point in every pregnancy when the woman knows she no longer has to make decisions about herself alone. Any decision is about her and a viable child.

As a way to underscore this critical concept, I have been around numerous pregnant women. At the point the baby moves or kicks, I have never heard a woman say – “I have to stop kicking myself.” They understand they have a separate life living within them.

I have never known a pregnant mother at that point to believe she had the self-control to stop the kicking and movement. Every mother knows a second human being is alive inside her. At that point her decisions are no longer about her but about them. Both have rights.

I look forward to your help on this important topic.

Good News

7-Year-Old Saves Choking Classmate With Heimlich Maneuver (sunnyskyz.com)

Cave Explorers Accidentally Find Elderly Dog Missing For Two Months (sunnyskyz.com)

Kids’ Lemonade Stand Raises $3,500 For St. Jude (sunnyskyz.com)

One final tidbit — One of the golfers on the University of South Alabama golf team is from England. He told me that he converted the cost of gas in England from liters to gallons. He said, if his calculations were correct, when he left England gas was $13 a gallon.

Peace

Jerry

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