The Right to Choose What?

This week, as the Democratic National Convention meets in Charlotte, more has been made of the abortion issue than in past years, all under the guise of a "woman's right to choose."

As you consider all the issues in play this November, let me encourage you to remember something:  "I believe in a woman's right to choose . . ." is only half a sentence. What you and I must ask is "the right to choose what?

Let's fill in the blanks, shall we?

"I believe in a woman's right to choose to carry a concealed firearm under protection of law, for her own self-defense."  I'm guessing most attending the DNC would disagree with this statement.

"I believe in a woman's right to choose to invest her Social Security contribution into a private account, since the money belongs to her anyway."  Again, I'll go out on a limb and conjecture that this statement will NEVER be worked into the Democratic Party platform.

"I believe in a woman's right to choose the school her children attend, based on her own assessment of the best educational environment for her children."  Yeah, this one isn't going be affirmed either.

"I believe in a woman's right to choose to purchase and drive a Hummer."  No way the environmental wing of the DNC is going to allow this statement to be codified into official Democratic dogma.

Of course, the Democratic Party has every right to believe that the above choices should not be a "right" for a woman, and they may very well have legitimate reasons for denying those rights.  That isn't my point.  My point is that to get at their meaning, you have to complete the sentence, and where the "pro-choice" lobby is concerned, there is only one way to finish it:

"I believe in a woman's right to choose to terminate the human life that grows inside of her body, even if said termination requires the burning of that human being with saline solution, or the live dismemberment of that human being while still inside her."

THAT is a complete sentence.  And its a sentence that should make anyone shiver when one considers how abortion has actually been celebrated in Charlotte this week.