When Rick Warren asked Barack Obama when a baby is entitled to human rights (a very well-crafted question, for which I give Rev. Warren credit), the presidential candidate said that the answer was “above my pay grade.” That answer–flippant, condescending, and disingenuous–irritates me greatly.
Obama is running for the highest office in the land, so the figure of speech is especially inept. So he doesn’t have an opinion on the matter? He certainly has other opinions that he wants us to accept. He has made plenty of votes on abortion that suggest he has views on the subject. At any rate, if you don’t know when life begins, doesn’t that mean that you need to safeguard the fetus at all stages just to be safe? The fact is, there is no real uncertainty among scientific experts, who recognize the unbroken continuum from conception through childhood. The only arguments that a fetus is not a baby hinge on unverifiable philosophical assertions (such as, a fetus becomes a child only when the mother wants it).
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