Boston Legal on abortion

One of the better shows on television these days is "Boston Legal." Grant it, "Boston Legal" is an hour propaganda piece for the far-left, and it was completely in the tank for Barack Obama during the last election cycle. That being said, the show is funny and has an amazing array of talent. Wiiliam Shatner as Denny Crane is the eccentric Republican, James Spader as Alan Shore is the liberal's liberal and Candice Bergen plays the typical pro-choice feminist attorney.

Last night's episode was especially good. It brought to light the issue of abortion and parental consent. This is especially apropos for us Californians since, for some unknown and asinine reason, we struck down a proposition, (proposition 4) that would have allowed parents to be notified 48 hours before a teenager has an abortion. This was the second time we struck down this type of proposition.

Boston Legal takes place in Massachusetts so I am presuming that they have a parental consent law and a teenager can go ahead with an abortion without parental consent upon judicial review. This at least was the case in "Boston Legal."

The story begins. A 15 year old Chinese teenager enters the office of James Spader and wants him to provide her with his legal services so she could have an abortion without parental consent. William Shatner of course begins to spar with Spader's character and James Spader in typical "Boston Legal" style hurls one of his usual monologue tirades about choice to a nonplussed Shatner. Candice Bergen is conflicted because she once had an abortion, and she remembers the trauma. Spader wants her on the case, but Bergen wants to recuse herself because after talking with the mother, she understands the emotional turmoil that the girl would endure for the rest of her life. The drama and the conflict between mother, daughter and attorney were especially well done. In one instance, Candice Bergen was actually looking at photos on the computer of a fetus in all stages of life.

The plot twists and turns even further to discover the true reason the Chinese teenager wants an abortion. She wants a male child. Because of China's one child policy and the desire to carry on the family lineage, it is customary to abort the female fetus. The judge in the judicial review process still grants the teenager's request even in light of this new found discovery.

Of course Roe v Wade comes up, and William Shatner at one moment in the episode looks at James Spader and says, "I think you need Roe v Wade because you cling to that position for moral validation for a position you are not entirely comfortable with." The culmination of this episode ends with James Spader and William Shatner on the balcony as usual puffing on their cigars contemplating the day's events. James Spader concedes that abortion does weigh on him and thus comments to Shatner "I am very pro-choice but from a scientific and human perspective, it's hard to argue that life doesn't begin at conception."

I was impressed with the way "Boston Legal" dealt with the subject and all the emotions involved. This is what I took from it. The science tells us that life begins at conception. We know the emotional trauma that many women have after an abortion. It is obvious that the mother understands her 15 year old child better than the child understands herself. But none of it matters; the judge makes the decision to let the child kill her child anyway. Sure this was fiction, but it did reflect the state of affairs in which we find ourselves.

Should we not err on the side of life and leave the decision up to God?