My Reply (rejected/unpublished)

Letter to the Daily Tar Heel

submitted about 3/22/14

A more representative title for my March 18, 2014 letter to the editor would be “Abortion could be considered genocide.”  Perhaps the Daily Tar Heel’s imperative, “should,” prompted misunderstanding contained in the March 19 reply, “Abortion letter was ignorant and hateful.”
 
But if abortion is genocide (or if it’s murder) how are we to regard women who participate in taking the lives of their pre-natal children?

Every genocide has aspects in common with other genocides, but every one is different. Women have been deceived into believing abortion is good for them.  The reality of abortion being a violent act that will destroy their child is suppressed or withheld.  They’ve grown up in a culture that believes sexuality can be separated from reproduction, and it is legal and okay to destroy their offspring.  If a comparison can be made, it would be like German young people who grew up in the 1930s. They bear a degree of responsibility for their actions, but they are also victims of those who allowed the killing to be legitimized.

The UN and other definitions of genocide do not refer to hatred. Impassive calculation is enough, because the definitions turn on intent “to destroy in whole or in part.” There are groups, national and international, campaigning to destroy all unwanted children.  Planned Parenthood with its slogan “Every child a wanted child” is an example.  And often people involved in genocide are motivated only by self-interest.

With genocide, and in any widespread killing, dehumanizing language makes it easier.  “Fetus,” commonly used by abortion-choice advocates, refers to any mammal, when the human-specific term is “child.”

For perspective, watch the introductory video at www.abortionNo.org.  How can such violence be healthy for women?  Abortion is anti-women.  Not only does it harm mothers, half of the pre-natal children killed by abortion are girls.

I would encourage readers to examine the facts (including gruesome images of the victims of abortion), ignore the petty insults and personal attacks, consider the arguments, and come to the best conclusion.  What word describes abortion better than “genocide”?

by Meredith Hunt

The photo is a GAP brochure that we handed out on 4/1 2014 on the campus of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.  Someone lit it on fire.  Not only was my reply rejected, the Daily Tar Heel did not allow me to post any online comments.

Abortion letter was ignorant and hateful

Published in the Daily Tar Heel, 03/18/14 11:24pm

TO THE EDITOR:

Yesterday’s letter to the editor titled “Abortion should be considered genocide” is ignorant, hateful and dangerous. The author, Meredith Hunt, runs an anti-choice blog that publishes names, cars and photos of pro-choice advocates in Asheville, NC.

There is no reasonable, informed argument linking abortion to genocide. First, the comparison implicitly says that women who choose to terminate a pregnancy are equivalent to Young Turks, Nazi soldiers and Hutu extremists. This assertion is ludicrous and prejudiced toward women.

Second, the comparison is factually absurd. Hunt’s clumsy primer invoking Raphael Lemkin and Samantha Power is nothing more than a poorly written Wikipedia paragraph. In order for abortion to be considered genocide, there would need to a group of mothers campaigning to kill all unborn children and each abortion would have to be carried out because of hatred toward the fetus. In reality, there is a network of compassionate advocates and supportive medical professionals solely looking out for the health of women.

Anti-choice advocates are free to make whatever claims they would like, but it’s worth noting their implications. Creating an anti-choice narrative involving genocide means creating an anti-woman narrative. It bolsters a right-wing policy agenda to which our governor and Republican legislators subscribe.

This summer’s “Motorcycle Safety” bill proves that people like Meredith Hunt, Pat McCrory and Thom Tillis will stop at nothing to curb women’s’ rights, even if it means comparing smart, reasonable women to a bloodthirsty killer.

Reject Meredith Hunt’s argument by supporting women, facts, and history.

Sean Langberg ’14
Global Studies
Geography

Here is a link to the original article.

The photograph is of "protestors" of our 3/31-4/1 2014 GAP display at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, home of the Tar Heels.  Note my reply, not published by the Daily Tar Heel, in a following post.