Among the God-given “unalienable rights” recognized in the Declaration of Independence and in the Due Process Clauses in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments is the right to life. I realize that access to abortion is a very divisive issue. This issue continues to be framed as a moral evil by one side and a reproductive “right” by the other, and is therefore in need of a common denominator. It was Edmund Burke who wisely observed that there are no rights without reason. Rape, incest, and the life of the mother are reasons, beyond which the argument for abortion quickly becomes untenable. That is because “rights” give way to “wrongs” and not infringements upon personal liberty. Our position, as a nation, ought to accommodate both the sad realities we face as well as our consciences with which we must live.
Paid for by Rusk for Legislature. P.O. Box 531, Corvallis, MT 59828. Republican.