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Life and My Party
By Jeb ByrneTuesday, December 31, 2002; Page A17
I've been a committed Democrat since reaching adulthood. I was attracted to the party because of my perception that it was liberal, egalitarian and life-affirming. Although a rank-and-filer rather than a party bigwig, I've served as political appointee in Democratic administrations on state and federal levels. Moreover, in one hectic presidential election campaign, I worked directly for the Democratic National Committee on behalf of the presidential nominee.
But I have a problem with my party these days: I cannot reconcile its traditional liberalism, egalitarianism and life-affirming qualities with its current love affair with the nihilism of abortion.
Some of my fellow Democrats will no doubt ask: Why focus on such a divisive subject, when there are so many other issues to be considered? And why call abortion nihilism?
True, there are many other issues to be considered. But a political party's take on what is life, particularly human life, is kind of basic. And why do I equate abortion with nihilism? Simply because it snuffs out an ignited life, makes nothing out of a "being" that has begun.
Clearly, I'm not a woman, have not experienced the trauma of childbirth. But as a father, I've held newborns in my arms. Like other newborns, they were intent on ingestion, digestion and ejection. No instant Einsteins. Given life, they had grown, developed and been born. They would continue to grow and develop. Human life is a continuum with a beginning and an end. We are talking, with regard to abortion, about a being that is at an early stage in a living journey.
