Query:

We are allowed to remove the typical parasites from our bodies because of the harm they cause.  Some argue a child is a parasite inside the mother's body.  It takes away nutrients from her and treats her body as a host.  The child brings no benefit to the mother when it is inside her body.  So if it is okay to remove a parasite, why is it not okay to perform an abortion?

Reply:

When you say “some argue” this, do you mean that you might be attracted to the argument too?  Please reconsider.  Mothers and fathers naturally love for their babies, care for them, and desire to sacrifice for them.  If we find it plausible to view unborn children as parasites, I suppose that we must also find it plausible to view born children as vermin.  Should we be attracted to this view too?  Are toddlers something like rats, creeping around their parents’ houses and eating up their food?  We may be coming to think that way.  More and more, children are viewed as disposable.  But do you want to go there?

You seem to assume that the interests of mothers and children are naturally opposed, but by nature, their interests are in harmony.  Do you think that when you were developing in your mother’s womb, safe and protected, preparing to enter the world, you were no more than a tapeworm to her?  Did she think you were a disease?  Were you a disease?  Something is dreadfully wrong if we can think of children like this.

Since nobody “chooses” to host a real parasite, if we did view babies as parasites, we would eradicate them.  Your generation would be the last.  You would die, alone, unmourned, because you would have prevented the birth of all those whom you might have loved and cared for, and who might love and care for you in turn.

Besides, the womb is the place nature intended the baby to be.  It is the temporary natural home of every human being.  Providing such a home is the only reason women have wombs at all:  So that babies can be in them.  It’s true that babies steal into our hearts, but they belong there too.  We welcome them in, as you were once welcomed in.  You were not a heartworm, but a precious child. 

Think of all that you must work not to think about in order to forget all these things.

And if you have had an abortion yourself, please don’t be afraid to remember these things again.  There is no surcease from the accusations of conscience in putting our fingers in our ears.  Instead, acknowledge wrong, turn away from it, and seek forgiveness from the merciful God of all life, including yours.