In the last blog post I mentioned my nice (and brilliant) but boring Biology professor. Now I tell about Dr. J.W. Tubbs, my Constitutional Law professor and Jurisprudence professor at Virginia Tech. Dr. Tubbs was one of my great professors. Normally students hardly mentioned professors outside of class, but he was a professor who made such an impression at Tech that people would exchange rumors about the guy. One of the rumors was he had earned a perfect score on the LSAT, which I never could verify. One rumor I did verify, since I got the truth from him in person, is that Dr. J.W. Tubbs had read every Supreme Court decision ever written. He had a muscle disease, and sometimes he would lose control of his muscles. There was an occasion when he was seriously hit by the problem, and he was in bed for an entire year. During that time, he read every single decision!!
Dr. Tubbs employed the Socratic method in his teaching. He rarely even gave his own personal opinion, rather he would ask hard questions, and then debate with the person who answered the question. He would argue both sides effectively. In my second quarter of Constitutional Law at Virginia Tech our class studied Roe vs. Wade. There obviously was much discussion, though surprisingly not over-heated, with students taking both sides. We spent a ton of time on that one case. When we were about to wrap it up after a few days of much intellectual law debate, a bold student ask Dr. Tubbs his view on abortion. Dr. Tubbs seemed to get more personal for the first time. He asked, "How is it determined a person is dead?" The answer was when a person's heart has completely stopped beating. He said then if a fetus had a beating heart, then he considered her or him to be alive. No one had any rebuttal.
As a follower of Jesus, I have been made aware of the sacredness there is to human life, since God has made human beings in His image. Applying the lesson from that class, my question is: When does the heart of a soul start beating? I do not know. Therefore, I think that zero chances can be taken, and that no abortion is appropriate, unless if the mother's life is in danger, since she has a better chance of living.
Being an uncomfortable topic, the best thing I can do is tell people about a friend from my church back in 1998 and 1999. His name is Brad. Brad's mom was in Canada back in the 1960's. She became pregnant and made the decision to get an abortion. The doctors worked to abort the child, and out came the fetus, and he was alive. That child would latter be named Brad, and his birth weight was one pound, eight ounces. Due to that failed abortion attempt, Brad has brain damage and birth defects which he still has to deal with to this day. In knowing Brad, I could truly understand the reality that abortion is wrong.
If you have ever had your baby aborted, know for real that forgiveness is available from Jesus. If you talk with Jesus, and express to him that you are sorry, He will forgive you. Abortion is an American tragedy. Jesus loves even those who have done tragic things. Jesus loves you.
Hunter Irvine
