when you discovered you were pregnant, what did you see as your options?'
'Objection,' Ron said. 'Counsel must restrict himself to ar-eas covered in direct examination.' Johnson snorted and looked at Lyang. 'Counsel for the plain-tiff is trying to restrict me a bit too much. He did cover her choice to get an abortion.'
'Overruled,' the judge said flatly.
'What options did you consider, Ms. Dalton?'
Valerie sat admirably still. Inside, she wanted to shake free. 'I had no option besides abortion.'
'Did you consider giving birth? Raising the child?'
'We weren't ready for that. I wasn't ready.'
'That's fine,' Johnson said in a calm, accepting tone. 'Lots of people have abortions. It's legal. It's relatively safe. Were you aware at that time that abortion was the only known method of pregnancy termination?'
'I certainly didn't know about transoption, if that's what you mean.'
'It is indeed.' Johnson put his hands back in his pockets and strolled around with a meditative air.
'Did you know that abortion entailed the killing of the fetus?'
'Objection,' Czernek said. 'To use the term `killing' in re-gards to abortion implies that a first-trimester fetus is a living human being, something denied by every major court deci-sion of the past thir-'
'Sustained, Mr. Czernek. I am familiar with the law.'
Johnson smiled. Right where I wanted you, you litigious bas-tard. 'Allow me to rephrase the question. Did you know when went in for an abortion that the individual cells in the tissue removed from you during the abortion would, one by one, cease to function after said removal?' Valerie shook her head. 'I don't understand the que-'
'Surely, Ms. Dalton,' Johnson's voice rose, 'you can com-prehend that when a piece of living tissue is deprived of its source of nutrients, it won't survive long. Did you know that extraordinary measures are taken during organ transplants to keep a heart or a liver viable-alive'-while being trans-ported to its new host?'
'Yes. I guess I-'
'Did you know that once aborted, your fetus would soon cease to be a fetus and become a mass of nonfunctioning tis-sue?'
'Well, yes. Of course.'
He turned to her. 'So you didn't really consider it alive to begin with?'
'No. I mean, not in the sense of it being a person. That's the way I learned it.' She sounded more confident.
'And if you had lived in the South a century ago and had `learned it' that blacks weren't human, you'd believe that, too, right?'
'Objection!' Czernek shouted, Johnson mouthing the word in perfect synchrony.
'Sustained.' Judge Lyang leaned slightly forward to address Johnson. 'Your analogy is totally prejudicial. The difference between a fetus and a human is far greater than that of mere skin color. And may I remind you that the Supreme Court has long ago recognized the humanity of all races.'
'At one time it had not,' Johnson replied. 'Just as at one time it had not considered children to have human rights.' He stared at Lyang. 'Or women.' Before the judge could react, he immediately said, 'I'll retract the question, of course, and ask Ms. Dalton if she did not in fact sign a waiver of claim to the non-living bit of tissue she wanted removed. Did you?'
'I signed something.'
Johnson reached into his briefcase. With a flourish, he placed a transparency on the overhead projector and threw the switch. On the screen opposite the jury box glowed several pages of typescript.
'Would this be the contract?'
