God and the dignity of man.'
'For the purpose of such an ethical position, where would you say human life begins?' Czernek realized that he was on shaky ground. Anything Decker might accidentally say attack-ing abortion could redound to the detriment of Valerie's char-acter. He had discussed the problem with Decker, who had agreed to stick to lambasting transoption. Ron, though, re-mained alert and ready for anything. Decker smiled. 'Life begins at conception. Most people as- sume that because a preborn grows inside the mother, it must be part of the mother. Not true.' He settled in, folding hefty arms across a stout belly. He nodded toward Dr. Fletcher and smiled sardonically. 'I'm no medical expert, but I believe it has been confirmed that the preborn actually creates a bar-rier against the mother, which is called the placenta, out of its own genetic material. The placenta filters the mother's blood and only permits certain nutrients through into the preborn's own bloodstream. The placenta is Checkpoint Charlie for the fetus.'
'And what is your conclusion?'
'A fetus is a human being with full human rights' Decker made an expansive gesture with his hands.
'And a doctor has no more right to relocate a fetus-by force-on an adult's whim than a government has to relocate its citizens by force. No sur-geon should be allowed to play pharaoh.'
'Who then, has the ethical right to claim motherhood of the baby named Renata?'
'Without a doubt, in the name of God and morality, she is the daughter of Valerie Dalton, though stolen even before in-fancy.'
'Thank you, Pastor Decker.' Ron returned to Valerie's side. 'No more questions.'
'Well,' Johnson said, rising to his feet, 'I have a few.' With controlled eagerness, he walked over to the witness box and leaned forward.
'You told the court little about your organization. Does it not in fact advocate the right to life of preborns?'
'Indeed it does, sir.'
'And you take a rather zealous approach to opposing abor-tion, do you not?'
'What do you mean?'
'I mean,' Johnson said, striding to the jury box, 'that you picket abortion clinics, lobby for legislation banning abortions, and counsel pregnant women against having abortions, cor-rect?'
'All true.'
'Has your rage against abortion ever led you to engage in illegal activities?'
'Objection!' Czernek shouted. 'Counsel is asking the wit-ness to incriminate himself.' Judge Lyang sustained, but Decker raised a hand.
'I'd like to answer that at length, if I may.'
'As you wish,' Lyang said, her dark eyes observing the man with curiosity. She held up a finger of caution. 'However, bear in mind that what you say becomes part of the public record and you are not under a grant of immunity.'
'My life,' he replied, 'is part of the public record.' He shifted about to lean against the wooden rail before him.
'Your Honor, members of the jury-I understand what Mr. Johnson's question attempts to wrest from me. If the defense can show that I have ever broken the law in my opposition to abortion, then Dr. Fletcher and the Chandlers could jump on the coattails of my moral position to prove that they were acting in the best interests of the child. I have never broken any law in my quest to outlaw what I and God consider to be mur-der in the first degree. Some supporters of the cause have bombed abortuaries and physically assaulted abortionists. If you encountered a man or woman who freely admitted to hav-ing murdered thousands of defenseless babies and merely shrugged their deaths off as the removal of unwanted tissue, you'd be shocked and moved to violent outrage, too. I mean, how did the Jews feel when confronted with doctors who treated them as little more than experimental animals? Imag-ine our rage and understand our reactions.'
He sat up straight, hands on his knees. 'But none of us has ever assaulted a pregnant woman. None of us has ever wrenched a living baby from inside a woman and claimed that we were saving it. And that is what separates the sometimes illegal actions of a pro-life activist from the unconscionably evil actions of this mercenary doctor and her child buyers.'
Decker stopped, leaning back. Johnson said nothing for a moment, merely looking the minister in the eye. Now what? he thought.
'An interesting point of view, in that it reveals a good deal of bias on your part.'
