by Victor Koman
"No. Dr. Fletcher insisted that we have no contact with the donor."
"Did you know that the donor was unaware of the use to which her aborted-I'm sorry." He nodded at Dr. Fletcher. "I mean her transopted fetus. That she was unaware of the use to which it would be put?"
"No. She never really discussed the source with us. Just that embryos were available."
"Where did you think the embryo must have come from?"
"An abortion," Karen replied. "I mean, that was pretty obvi-ous, don't you think?" Several spectators laughed in a nervous sort of way and al-most immediately shut up.
"Was it your intent to become pregnant simply to enjoy be-ing pregnant?" Karen shook her head, an inadvertent smile crossing her face. "Pregnancy isn't something you do for fun. David and I wanted to bring a child into the world. To raise it with love."
"Did it make any difference to you that the donor was totally unaware that her child would be transopted?"
"No."
The muttering increased. People nodded to themselves and one another. Karen continued, staring squarely at the jurors. "I had no uncertainties. I knew that I wasn't taking a child from some-one who would miss it. It's not as if the donor had an abortion just to provide me with a fetus. I knew that I was saving a child from absolutely certain death." Looking out at the spectators, she saw and heard dozens of people arguing with one another. Some expressed astonish-ment at her blatant statement; others spread their hands in reluctant agreement with her logic. She glanced down at Valerie.
The plaintiff lowered her head in an attempt to hide her tears. Unsuccessful, she grasped Ron's shoulders and clung to him.
"Please, Val," he said. "I've got to stand up to object." He stood, letting her arms slide down him.
"Objection!" he shouted. "The defendant's personal opinions are of no conse-quence here."
"Sustained," Lyang said. She looked down at the court re-porter. "Strike the last question and answer from the record. And counsels will please approach the bench."
Czernek and Johnson stepped over to the base of Judge Lyang's dark wooden tower. She looked down at both of them and whispered.
"What is going on here? This is a custody lawsuit we're hear-ing, and neither of you has addressed the issue of the best interests of the child." She pointed a dismissive hand at Czernek. "Well, maybe you have, perfunctorily. Neither of you, however, has bothered to raise questions of financial resources, parental fitness, personal habits, or any issues of fact that I would normally hear in this court."
"Your Honor-" Johnson glanced hesitantly at Czernek. "This case is not one of divorced parents deciding on custody. That is why we all agreed to forego the discovery phase. This is a case of two sets of parents, both well-off, who dispute the-I don't know how to put it-the parentship of a child, who dispute its maternity. That is an issue of fact. I am of the opinion that the standard criteria for determining the best interests of the child are superfluous here and that once we determine whether or not transoption is a legitimate medical procedure, the answer to the question of Renata's custody will follow ipso facto." Czernek frowned at his adversary. "I'm afraid I have to agree," he whispered to Lyang. "The entire question of cus-tody hinges on whether or not Dr. Fletcher kidnapped my daughter. If she did so by performing an illegal operation-"
"If the question is one of legality," Lyang said, "I can end this trial right now by taking judicial notice of transoption one way or the other. Transoption is not on trial here."
"The contract is," Johnson said. "Whether Ms. Dalton's con-tract is legally enforceable-"
"Or fraudulently induced," Czernek muttered.
"-determines what claim Dr. Fletcher had to the fetus after its removal. That's the impasse we encountered at the manda-tory settlement-"
"All right," Lyang said in a harsh whisper. "So both of you think we'll be creating big precedents here. Fine. Just remem-ber that the law is what the judge says it is, and don't either of you be so eager for headlines that you abuse these women." She nodded at Johnson. "You may resume."
"I have no further questions, Your Honor," he said to the court at large.
"Does counsel for the plaintiff wish to redirect?"
"No, Your Honor," Czernek said, "I would now like to call on expert testimony. Will Pastor Avery Decker please step for-ward."
The minister hefted himself out of his seat next to his assis-tant, James Rosen, in the first row of the spectator's area. Karen looked at the large man in his fine dark brown business suit, light blue shirt, and silk rep tie. She stepped out of the witness box, passing him as she returned to her seat.
"Is that the man you interviewed?" she asked Johnson.
The lawyer nodded in annoyance. "You're about to hear the self-proclaimed pro-life stance on saving Renata's life." He poised his pen over his legal pad, ready for anything.
"Do you swear," the clerk said, "that the testimony you are about to give shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?"
Decker pressed his palm lovingly on the Bible. "So help me God," he said with pride, "I do." Czernek strode over to the witness stand. "Please state your name for the record."
"Avery Hamilton Decker."
"What are your qualifications as an expert witness in eth-ics?" Decker eased back in the wooden chair, which creaked un-der the load. Looking at Dr. Fletcher, then at the jury, he said, "I'm a minister in the Universal World Christian Church and president of the Committee for Preborn Rights. I have a Doc-torate of Div-"
Johnson stood quickly to interrupt the recitation of creden-tials. "The defense stipulates that Pastor Decker is qualified."
Czernek smiled. He stepped closer to the witness. "What, Pastor Decker, are the ethical problems with transoption?"
Evelyn looked over to Johnson, waited, then scrawled a hasty note and slid it under him. He read it. No objection?
He wrote at the bottom and handed it back.
Let Decker braid his rope. I want to hang the SOB on cross.
Fletcher read it and smiled. Karen tapped her arm to see. When the younger woman read it, she frowned.
"The problem," Decker said, "simply stated, is that transoption is an unwarranted intrusion into the bodies of two separate women and a threat to the life of the preborn. There can be no justification for such interference with God's plan." He smiled cordially at the spectators, recognizing Jane Burke in their midst. "Or, to those who refuse to acknowledge God, interference with the functioning of nature."
"Isn't it ethically proper," Czernek asked, "to bring more children into the world?"
"Outlawing abortion outright would be a far greater step in that direction," Decker replied. "If even one preborn died as a result of transoption, it's reason enough to forbid the entire procedure. At the very least, it is an unnecessarily risky proce-dure, since the real mother could always have given the child up for adoption after birth. At the worst, transoption is nothing more than kidnapping, child abuse, rape, and murder. It is an offense against 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."
"Is it biased," Decker asked with an astonished tone, "to reach an ethical opinion and then act upon it?"
Johnson smiled. "No. The evidence is clearly demonstrat-ing that Dr. Fletcher did just that." He resumed his stroll around the courtroom, hands in pockets. "So, your group seeks to pre-serve the life of the preborn?"
"Yes. And its right to be born according to God's plan."
"And you seek to outlaw abortion. At least until people come to their senses and never choose it as an option."
"Correct," Decker agreed.
"And do you acknowledge that simply by outlawing abor-tion, you will not put an end to the practice?" He stopped to stare at Decker.
"You'd certainly cut down on-"
"Just yes or no, Pastor."
"Yes."
"So even with laws forbidding it, women will still seek abor-tion, and preborns will still be murdered-at far greater risk to the mother from botched, illicit abortions. Correct?"
"They'd get what they des-"
"Yes or no?"
"Yes. Women will break the laws of the state and the laws of God." He shook his head. "The curse of Eve."
"Curse or no, Pastor, if you so highly value the lives of these preborn babies, why are you opposed to the only technique that gives them a fighting chance for life?"
Decker jabbed a finger into his palm with emphatic force. "Leaving the preborn alone gives it an even better chance for life."
"Does it?" Johnson stepped over to the jury box without look-ing toward the jurors. "Are you aware of how many pregnan-cies end in spontaneous abortions and stillbirths?"
"No." A small laugh erupted from his depths. "It must be small or we wouldn't have overpopulation problems."
"The answer is about fifty percent."
"Objection," Czernek said.
"Sustained." Lyang gazed down at the defense counsel. "A lawyer's statements are not evidence, Mr. Johnson."
Johnson paused to rephrase his question. He was surprised at how he considered each objection to be a personal affront. It hadn't seemed that way in law school. After a moment, he asked Decker, "I you knew it was fifty percent, would transoption be less ethically objectionable?"
"No."
"You mentioned that the preborn builds a barrier against the mother. Did you know that from the point of conception onward, the mother's immune system wages an unrelenting war against the embryo?"
"I've read about it." Decker smiled wryly. "The curse of Eve again."
"You didn't know, however, that most pregnancies abort spontaneously-miscarry-within the first month?"
"No." Decker shifted restlessly in the chair.
Johnson turned toward the jury. "All those actual human beings with rights to life, all dying without the mothers even knowing they're pregnant." He turned back toward the pas-tor, raising his voice. "Where, Mr. Decker, did you receive the godlike ability to determine who shall live and who shall die? Or do you simply resent the idea that a woman can have her freedom of choice without any moral complications?"
"Objection, Your Honor." Czernek's voice boomed with stern force. "The witness's personal opinions do not affect his ex-pert testimony."
"On the contrary," Johnson countered. "It bears heavily on the issue of bias."
"Overruled."
The younger lawyer nodded thanks toward the judge. "Is it not ethically superior for a woman to terminate an unwanted pregnancy without becoming a murderess?"
"Not," Decker said angrily, "if she becomes a party to kid-napping."
"Do you feel that you have lost a little of your moral high ground to Dr. Fletcher, who labored for years to find a way to protect the rights of the preborn while you just pushed for laws to make pregnant women a new criminal class?"
"Not at all."
Johnson shrugged. "You said that if just one preborn were lost in a transoption, that was reason enough to forbid the pro-cedure entirely. Would you say the same for prenatal heart surgery? I submit that if transoption saves even one preborn that might otherwise be lost to abortion-as it has-then Dr. Evelyn Fletcher is closer to the spirit of God than you or any-one in this room!" Turning his back on the minister, Johnson looked trium-phantly at Czernek and said, over his shoulder, "No further questions."
Czernek, annoyed at being upstaged by his opponent, glow-ered at the tangled-haired young man. Looking up at the judge, he said, "I wish to call Ms. Jane Burke to the stand." Burke arose, catching the attention of the courtroom cam-eras not simply because she was the next witness. Years ago, Jane had realized that it did her movement no good for their proponents to look and dress like frumps. Men and women, it turned out, rejected the feminist message from women who looked as if they spoke through a mouthful of sour grapes. She had lost weight, t
oned up, and dressed for the public eye. Look-ing more like someone from the cover of a fashion magazine than someone from a politically active organization, she wore a white-and-mauve business suit with broad shoulders, nar-row waist, and a skirt that ended a few inches above the knee. She clasped a thin, matching mauve notebook in her hand. Striding gracefully past the bar, she nodded cordially to the departing sour-faced minister.
"Do you swear," the court clerk said in sonorous tones, "that the testimony you are about to give shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?"
"I do," she said simply, and sat in the witness seat.
She inadvertently cringed at the warmth left by Decker's corpulent flesh, as if both his girth and his philosophy might be contagious. She suppressed it almost instantly, though, sit-ting up with composure and elegance. Her walnut-hued hair possessed a fashionable wave, and she left her glasses in her purse.
"Please state your name for the record," Czernek said, ap-proaching her casually.
"Jane Harrison Burke."
"And what are your qualifications as an expert in reproduc-tive ethics?" She touched her Sisters Network pin unconsciously and said, "I am the president of Women for Reproductive Freedom. I have a Ph.D. in-"
"Defense stipulates she's qualified." Johnson knew the breadth of her education and did not want the jury to hear it.
"Ms. Burke, as an expert in reproductive ethics, tell the court your observations concerning transoption."
She sat back, straight in the chair, like a queen on a throne. "Ethically, transoption is a dehumanizing abomination."
Czernek nodded toward the jurors. "Could you tell the court why?" She turned toward the jury. They watched her and listened, some with admiration, some with cautious distrust. "Over the past decade, advances in reproductive science have been made in an absolute moral vacuum. Purely in the interest of male genetic narcissism, doctors have labored mightily to devise ways that a man can have a child-usually a male child-in spite of a woman's inability to conceive. Transoption is just another part of the mosaic."
