By Bonnie Finnerty, Education Director
Photo by Oleg Sergeichik on Unsplash
Democratic Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg may know a lot, but there is one fundamental truth he doesn’t know…when human life begins.
In a recent interview, the Mayor of South Bend, Indiana referenced the Bible in defending abortion up to birth, surmising that life begins at first breath. Interestingly, he ignores other passages, such as Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you,” Psalm 139:13 “For thou didst form my inward parts; thou didst knit me in my mother’s womb,” and Psalm 127:3 “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.” Additionally, he ignores the fifth commandment “Thou shalt not kill.”
Pete is proudly “pro-choice”, choosing to invoke only those parts of the Bible that seem to suit an indefensible agenda.
He also chooses to ignore science, specifically embryology, which confirms that a genetically unique human life is present from the moment of conception.
The American College of Pediatricians recognizes this fundamental fact. Issuing a statement in 2017, this group of medical experts
…concurs with the body of scientific evidence that corroborates that a unique human life starts when the sperm and egg bind to each other in a process of fusion of their respective membranes and a single hybrid cell called a zygote, or one-cell embryo, is created.
But Pete doesn’t seem to know this, or perhaps doesn’t want to know.
Does he know that many infants born prematurely, like my first son, have lungs incapable of breathing on their own? A respirator and oxygen tube become their lifelines. Does he really believe babies dependent on these for breath have no right to life? That their human life hasn’t yet begun? That they can be killed?
Sadly, there is so much more that Pete Buttigieg doesn’t know. His ignorance leads him to dehumanize the most vulnerable and innocent among us, attempting to justify a horrible act of violence against them.
Pete doesn’t know the whirling sound of a child’s in-utero heartbeat, or the utter amazement of seeing your own baby in his first home via ultrasound.
He doesn’t know the tickle of a tiny human tumbling within, or the firm kick later in pregnancy that can make a mother gasp.
He doesn’t know the rhythmic beat of a pre-born babe’s hiccup, rocking the belly at predictable intervals.
He doesn’t know that the worry, the sickness, the labor pain, and all the sacrifices involved in bringing forth the life already created, that all those melt away when you lay skin-to-skin with your own flesh and blood for the very first time and fall in love.
Pete doesn’t know. He doesn’t know that he was a living human being from the moment of his conception, long before he drew his first breath.
Presidential candidate Pete Butterieg, who seeks to lead a nation founded on the promises of life and liberty, should know better.
