Tibor G. Balogh FETUS IS A BABY What is a fetus? What is the meaning of this word, which is surrounded with so much controversy and emotionally charged political debate. Today when you hear this word, you almost instantly feel your stomach turn uncomfortably. If it comes up during a conversation with someone, you try to navigate your way off the subject and find something more pleasant to talk about. One way or another everyone has an opinion on the meaning of the word fetus. In this paper I will try to define what a fetus is and hopefully have my readers rethink its definition. In my 2200+ page Websters New Universal Unabridged Dictionary fetus is defined as: "the offspring in the womb from the end of the third month of pregnancy until birth". This word originates from Latin in which it plainly means a human baby. I believe the translation of this foreign word to english lost its real meaning which is a human baby. Furthermore I believe that a fetus is a baby from the day of conception and not just a medical term like zygote. A fetus is not just a living tissue, or some sort of other fancy medical term. It is life. I want to rise in defense of the many thousands of little defenseless lifes that are thrown away each year in our modern American culture. I want to address the abortion issue. This is what an abortion does, it kills human beings. The word FETUS is conveniently substituted in place of a baby as the name of the victim. When an abortion is imminent it is easyer for everyone involved (including the doctors) to refer to the victim as a "fetus". This word somehow does not seem to leave as much guilt behind after killing it. By using this alien sounding word it distances the connection between the victim and the human race. As every good argument, this one has two sides to it. I will try to expose the weaknesses of both sides and leave it up to you, the reader, to decide who if anyone is "right". On one side, you have the PRO-LIFER's who are referred to as the right wing extremists by the folks on the left. These are the people who are against abortion. They believe that life is sacret and they are not gonna kill babies. If they could they would ban others from killing babies to. They assume their beliefs from long standing and I might add well meaning religious teachings and moral values. They are accused of trying to enforce their moral standards on the rest of those who don't have any, or just simply differ from theirs. On the other side, you have the feminist crowed on the left who are sometimes refereed to as the liberal wacos. Radio personality Rush Limbaugh calls them "feminazis". These people are fanatically for abortion. They believe that woman have a free choice in terminate a pregnancy anytime. They argue that this is a fundamental human right which should not be reduced or legislated in any way. If this right would be taken back, away from women, then they would feel less powerful and perhaps even as second class citizens for they would have lost control of their bodies and the content of therein. Both sides of this hot political issue are doing all they can to convince people that they are right. The liberated women of america represented by NOW, are a powerful and strong organization. Many write letters and publish essays for the support of abortion. I will take an exert from an essay which was published, and in my opinion supports abortion. This essay was a required reading assignment for one of my college classes. The fact that this essay was a reading assignment is proof that the liberal point of view is well represented in toady's colleges. However it is not all so easy for the left to defend their cause on abortion. I see a contradiction a lie, and in a moment I will share it with you. I want to illustrate to you where the apparently strong feminist argument in the paper which I read falls apart and crumbles under logical analysis. Putting emotions aside for a moment, the opening paragraph and the first sentence of the essay "MORAL AMBIGUITY" written by Barbara Grizzuti Harrison and appearing in the book "75 Readings an Anthology" states: "The main thrust of the feminist movement, in all its historical manifestations, has been to recognize the value and to enhance the dignity of human life." Boy that sounds so believable, and politically correct! Lets see what does this statement really means. It means that the value of life, and its dignity, is what the feminist movement is striving for. Can this be true? If it is true, then they cannot possibly be supporting abortion because abortion kills human lifes. The unborn humans are part of life which the feminist hope to protect and restore the dignity of. AHHH but the truth is that they are for abortion and everyone knows it, they represent open season <=>(choice) on killing baby's before birth. As I promised to you my dear reader, I did expose some weakness in both arguments. It is up to you to decide who is right, or decide nothing and then someone else will decide for you. I think the argument made against the pro-lifers is a good one, they do want to force their moral values on the rest of us. After all society has many rules, you can't kill, you can't steal, you can't do many things. With more and more things you can't do added to the law books each day. The choice is clear to me, I believe abortion is no different than killing a human life, therefore it is wrong. It matters not if that life was six months old, or six months to go before birth old. The question is not women's rights, the question is of right to life. The conflict revolves around the crucial definition of life. From what point in time does a new life enjoys the basic protection under the existing laws of the land which protects the rest of us? Is it acceptable to kill a person before they are born? Think about the possibilities of denying the gift of life to future national heroes. People like John Lennon or John Kennedy or Mother Teresa would not have had a chance to fulfill their roles in life if they were never born. Were would we be today if their mothers would have aborted them before birth for the sake of their choice? A civilized western society like ours can do better than this. The alien word fetus ONLY comforts those involved in an abortion by distancing the victim from the definition of human life.