Upon the waters

If abortion--the ending of a fetus' life before it comes to full term--is murder, then shouldn't all miscarriages be investigated as possible homicides?

Or manslaughter or negligent homicide?

By right, shouldn't cities be hiring detectives to comb hospital records and track down the (crocodile?) tearing would-be-mothers?

NIH numbers show "among women who already know they are pregnant, nearly 15 percent will have a miscarriage," so there would have to be a lot of detectives.

'Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you a few question. About your diet, level of exercise, work habits. Also, as in any other police investigation, I'm going to need contact information for your husband/parents/neighbors/coworkers.'

I think like much that is ugly in our society, the rhetoric of strident pro-lifers is made possible by perceived distance and a worldview of us/them.

As Christians, they've always been uncannily comfortable leading, teaching and--ultimately and always--in frustration proscribing for heathens the world over.

They're raised clear-eyed on their hill, grounded by faith and guided by the book. How else could 19-year-olds become missionaries and tell 91-year-olds (often through interpreters) the life they and all their ancestors lived is dead wrong.

This sense of us: grace/you: dark is sometimes tested for pro-lifers when a daughter or fellow church-goer chooses to have an abortion.

But if pro-lifers start inviting the government into their bedrooms whenever their wives or daughters miscarry, they could put to rest charges of hypocrisy a lot more frequently.

There's plenty of room in the ark, come on in.

Painting is from the Zubdat-al Tawarikh miniatures, via Dr. G’nsel Renda of Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey.