"Must I argue the wrongfulness ofabortion? Is that a question for any political party? Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation, as a matter beset with great difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to be understood? How should I look to-day, in the presence of Amercans, dividing, and subdividing a discourse, to show that men have a natural right to life and freedom? Speaking of it relatively and positively, negatively and affirmatively. To do so, would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven that does not know that being injected or otherwise imbued with poison or having his head torn off or having his brain sucked out at the point of birthis wrong for him."
Red text is mine, and I can really relate to Douglass' frustration. For a decade I have been trying to explain to the "blob of tissue" crowd that biologically speaking (fact v. opinion), the gestating person is both human and alive.
The fact that a gestating human is human has been genetically established. And as to life, s/he consumes oxygen and metabolizes nutrients in order to grow. I don't know how to explain it in simpler terms, and trying to find them borders on ridiculous. I guess I'll have to leave the patois to the experts, as the following is something that even an abortion-supporting Harvard grad can understand:
