THE SEX REBEL OF JESUSLAND, chapter 136

136. ADAM AND EZRA DISCUSS ABORTION

“You don’t think abortion is the murder of an unborn child?”

Ezra shook his head. “Quite frankly, the idea of an unborn child is a fiction. Until the child is born, there is no child.”

“What is the unborn child then? It has the shape of a child. It is ready to breathe.”

“Yes, it is. But there is also the time when it’s just a collection of growing cells, and totally unrecognizable as a human being.”

“So when is it a human being?”

“Certainly not before it has lungs and a heart and a brain.”

“This is a highly novel theory.”

“Well, it’s mine.”

“How many of these theories do you have?”

“You’d be surprised.”

Ezra looked at Adam challengingly. Adam wasn’t sure he wanted to take up the challenge. He had enough to think about already. And his ribs hurt. Ezra reached down and helped Adam up.

“So you don’t think Eve deserves to be executed, Ezra?”

“Not at all. It’s wrong to criminalize abortion. Even if abortion is immoral, we shouldn’t call the mothers criminals.”

“What can we do about what’s happened to Eve?”

“What do you think we can do about it?”

Adam thought. All his life he had shied away from any act of physical courage. He believed he had mental courage, and some moral courage – after all, hadn’t he led the fight for the teaching of Creationism? – but he knew even then that his crusade did not skirt a single iota of physical danger. In fact, he knew going in that he would win, because he had that powerful backer. All his life it had bothered him that he had never displayed physical courage, like men who were soldiers, for example, who volunteered to risk their lives in war.

“Let me tell you something very personal, Ezra. I’ve never been the kind of guy with natural physical courage.”

“You mean like a criminal.”

“I mean like a soldier,” said Adam. “Someone who puts his body on the line.”

“A protester. Or a member of the underground Brotherhood.”

“The Brotherhood? They’re cowards.”

“They put their bodies on the line. They are outlaws, and misguided, but surely not cowards. Would you call Gay Rectal Revenge cowards?”

“Be that as it may, at the end of the day I’ve always been a physical coward.”

“You took a swing at me. That’s physical.”

“A total exception. First time in my life.”

“Progress.”

“I’ve lived my life like most men do, without committing an act of physical courage. That’s what life has devolved into for men in a civilized country. Men don’t live lives of physical courage anymore.”

“So what about it?”

“Eve’s plight calls for physical courage. She should be rescued. I would volunteer for any mission to do that. Not to put too fine a point on it, I would risk my life.”

“That would be totally against the law. Against the whole society. Just saying it is Non-Sanctioned and illegal.”

“This is the woman I love.”

“For the sake of love you would break the law? You would choose your love over your society?”

“Absolutely.”

“You would choose your love over the Bible?”

Adam hesitated. “Over this interpretation of the Bible.”

“You’re evading my question.”

“I’m not. The Bible is being misinterpreted. The Bible has nothing to do with this. These are the laws of men, not the laws of God.”

“Our new constitution says these are the laws of God. The Men of the Gospel decided them.”

“They are wrong.”

“If they are wrong in this case, might they be wrong in anything else?”

“It’s possible.”

“You talk like somebody from the underground,” said Ezra.

“It’s about Eve, not the underground. I’d like to blow up the prison and carry her out of there in my arms.”

“Hmm.”

“What do you mean, hmm?”

“If I got hold of a bunch of helicopters, and got some men together to fly into the prison and get Eve out, would you want to be part of the mission?”

“I would want to lead the mission.”

“You would? You swear?”

“I swear.”

“Well, then, let me think about it. Why am I rich if I can’t use my money to do things for my friends?”

“You talk like someone from the underground yourself.”

Ezra laughed. “Like you said. She was my life. I’ve always loved her.”

Adam didn’t believe him. “Not as much as me.”

“You’d be surprised.”

“I know why you want to do this, Ezra. For sake of the footage, not for the sake of Eve. You want to video this. A dramatic rescue. Great TV. Like the trial. Great stuff. It’s all the same to you. The highest good is the highest TV ratings.”

“She will be executed in a month’s time.”

“What are we waiting for? You want your TV ratings, I want Eve. Let’s get going.”