by Reg Wilcox
My ears have heard the sounds (the untrained voice) of a 1 pound 15 ounce Human Infant.
My eyes have seen the form and features of a 1 pound 15 ounce Human Infant.
My hands have held a very tiny Human Infant once the NICU Medical Staff said that this was safe.
The three senses of hearing, seeing and feeling have undeniably and forever convinced me that this Human Infant was a completely Viable Human months before his scheduled arrival among us.
Any individual who can propose a law which specifically denies human viability before the moment of birth may be sincere, but he or she is completely disconnected from reality. That person has to also think, that I am an uneducated individual without knowledge of the medical facts concerning human development, if he or she expects me to support his or her thinking.
Vermonters have a very sad history of accepting extreme laws which do not pass the test of time. Our ancestors worked from 1912 until 1931 to pass a eugenics law in Vermont, the 26th state to do so. Some Vermonters worked for nineteen years just to pass this tragic law!
UVM issued an apology in 2019 for its involvement in the eugenics program. Now, some ninety plus years after the Vermont Eugenics Survey was initiated and the law was enacted, many Vermonters and our legislature have issued an Official State of Vermont Apology to those families harmed by this law.
Let’s return to our marvelous story of a 1 pound 15 ounce infant. The Human Infant that we met a moment ago has now grown up to become a senior at a well known business college in CT. He is a Dean’s List student and has a very bright feature ahead of him. His Mom and his Dad love and cherish him.
One “problem” with the 1931 Eugenics law was that it was reversible, not enshrined in the Vermont Constitution. In response, some “wise” Vermonter’s have now progressed to the belief that extreme laws such as Article 22 must be enacted through Constitutional Amendments.
The authors of the very carefully crafted Article 22 proposal to the Vermont Constitution seek my support to add this into the Constitution so that it is unlikely to ever be reversed.
The Article 22 proposal is written in very appealing and benign language promising Freedom for All, but it excludes all mention of the intended purpose of this Vermont Constitutional Amendment.
Article 22 promises Freedom for All, but in fact it will also deliver death to some very precious viable souls, like the 1 pound 15 ounce Human Infant, now a 21 year old Human Being, we met moments ago.
It is now popular to say, “Oh, it is simply my (or our) choice to destroy another, before you can see him or her.”
A popular text, The Holy Bible, very carefully explores: a brother destroying his brother, a fight which destroys an unborn human being, and a King destroying of his lover’s husband. God’s answer to each is simply: “Thou Shall not Kill.”
This existing proposal needs many very significant updates to protect viable Human Infants from certain destruction in Vermont, a state we all consider the safest for life in the country.
I consider it extremely disrespectful for anyone to present the Article 22 proposal, containing very appealing, but actually half truth language, to me in the form of a Constitutional Amendment and expect me to accept it.
I will not vote in the affirmative for this proposal.
I will also ask our readers here, “PLEASE, THINK for YOURSELF,” as you consider your response to this extreme proposal.
The author is a Cambridge resident and retired engineer and U S. Army officer.