Abortion and Frog Jumping

This may kind of blow your minds, but I want to write in this column about frog jumping contests and abortion.

Let me be honest by saying that I am filled with ambiguity about both issues. I do feel sympathetic to the pain of little frogs, but I have generally favored the Fourth of July frog jumping contest. When forced to declare whether I am pro-choice or pro-life (a false choice if I ever did see one), I’m pro-choice; however, I view the number of abortions which take place in our society as abominable.

The genesis of this particular weird column was last week’s issue of the Chenango Valley News. Page five contained two letters to the editor under the headlines, “Ethical treatment of frogs at issue in Hamilton” and “Rogers Conservation says stop frog jumping.” If you turn the page to page seven of the same issue their was a long article on the recent pro-choice rally in Washington. The proximity of the two blew my mind. What does this say about us? I wondered how many might be both pro-choice and pro-frog. I can believe that the life of a born person has more intrinsic value than the life of a human fetus. But which is of greater value, a human fetus or a frog? What would a Martian think of our morality if he read this issue of the Chenango Valley News? What would Another Visitor from Beyond think? I don’t really have an answer, but it is a question worth asking, don’t you think?

I believe the direction to an answer lies in the position taken this past summer by the Lutheran Church of America. It declared that neither the right to life nor the right to choose is absolute. It also declared that it is the responsibility of society to delineate both those rights? Like it or not we are in the process of doing so. May God give us all wisdom.

C. David Hess