The pornography of abortion

By Tom Quiner

Larry Flynt, pornographer

America’s best-known pornographer calls for the destruction of Downs Syndrome babies.

In a recent interview, he said:

“Sarah Palin is the dumbest thing. She did a disservice to every woman in America. She knew from the first month of pregnancy that kid was going to be Down’s Syndrome. It’s brain dead. A virtual vegetable. She carries it to all these different political events against abortion, she did it just because she didn’t want to say she’d had an abortion. How long is it going to live? Another 12, 15 years? Doesn’t even know it’s in this world. So what kind of compassionate conservative is she? I don’t think anybody will want her near the White House.”

Notice Mr. Flynt’s characterization of Ms. Palin’s child as an “it.” Just as he sees people as objects in his line of work, so he sees Down’s children as “its.”

He suggests that Down Syndrome babies, pre-born or otherwise, are undeserving of life because of their flawed condition, as he views it.

In other words, they are not fully human, thus his characterization of them as an it.

Downs children tend to have lower IQs and shorter life expectancies than the general population.

Nonetheless, they know how to laugh, to cry, to love. I know, because my nephew has Downs Syndrome. His “love gene” is more developed than anyone I know. He loves people, whether family, friends, or strangers. He loves God and prays more robustly than I.

Using Mr. Flynt’s standard, one might ask Larry Flynt if HE is deserving of life in light of his own impaired condition. He is barely able to hold up his neck or communicate due to paralysis.

People of most political persuasions would affirm Mr. Flynt’s right to life, despite his impairment. However, those on the political left would likely agree in characterizing a preborn Down’s baby as an “it.”

Here is the question: is the definition of what is a person flexible, subject to the whims of the age?

Pornographers view humanity threw a skewed prism. All are objects, whether it is their clientele who consume their product, or their casts who perform before the camera, only to be discarded when Father Time renders their bodies as undesirable.

But what about the political left? Are they any better? After all they, view the object in the womb as an object from the moment of conception until birth, an object  to be discarded at the whim of the mother for any reason at all.

At least you can understand the pornographer’s motive: it’s all about the money.

There’s no doubt that abortion is big business, too. But that’s not the driving motive for the rank and file leftist. They are unable or unwilling to see the humanity of the baby in the womb.

That is the ultimate obscenity of abortion.

And yet the challenge mankind has had to face throughout history is to do just that: to see the humanity in his neighbor. When we let our prejudice and the dark side of our nature prevail, we end up with Holocausts and Slavery.

And Abortion.

The stakes are high. An entire group of human beings are on the verge of extinction. I’m talking Down Syndrome babies. Nine out of ten parents with a prenatal Downs diagnosis choose to abort their child.

I am sympathetic to the challenges of raising a Downs child, having watched my nephew grow up. It’s not always easy. Most people would not make the choice. But those that do seem united in their decision: it was worth it.

God bless them.

These so-called “impaired” human beings, these Downs children, seem to have an amazing capacity to make the word a better place.

Can Mr. Flynt say the same?

***

Pascal Duquenne, French movie star with Downs

[Today’s subject brings to mind a French movie worth viewing: The Eighth Day, starring Pascal Duquenne. It’s a story about a “normal” middle-aged man who doesn’t discover his own humanity until he is befriended by a young man with Downs. You won’t see a film like this very often. Watch it and tell me our brothers and sisters with Downs are subhuman. I dare you!]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UddCQaylBHc]

3 Comments

  1. Lisa Bourne on May 31, 2011 at 6:26 pm

    Thank you Tom for a wonderful blogpost. God bless you.



  2. Rhonda Phillips on June 1, 2011 at 10:52 am

    Great Article, Tom. Although we must not generalize and paint all “left-wing” thinkers as rank and file pro-abortionists (please, there must be some who are not) it does appear that , for the most part, their moral and ethical philosophies tend to be driven toward a humanistic world view rather than toward God the Creator of all life.
    On a side note: I was listening to Janet Metcalf a few weeks back and she poised the question: Does it seem that the Catholics are more on the front lines of the abortion issue than the Evangelicals? I called in and actually made it on air! I said, “Yes indeed, as an Evangelical I can say unequivocally that the Protestants have dropped the ball, if they ever had it, on the abortion issue. The apathy, however, on both sides is appalling”. After all, where is our ‘Tea Party”? I don’t know what is will take short of Jesus’ return to stop the insanity. But, trust me when I say, “God is not amused with the politicking and the drive to entertain ourselves that trumps our fight for the right to life. We must ask ourselves why, after nearly 39 years of slaughtering our unborn, are we still having this conversation?



  3. Lynda Collins on August 26, 2011 at 7:40 pm

    My freinds daughter with Downs saved a babies life this summer who drowned, if it were not for her he would have died, this stupid guy calls people like Annie an “it” an it? If she is an it, what do we call God who made her?