It's important to know what to say to people about the tough questions surrounding abortion. But it's also important to know what not to say. Avoid "the Beethoven theory" because it takes focus off the two most important points. It is always wrong to kill an innocent living human, and in nearly every case, abortion kills an innocent living human. This is how it goes from very well-meaning people who recognize that human lives are ended by abortion. They begin with some sad scenario where the parents are facing medical issues, are buried in debt, and are staring at monumental challenges in their lives. Another child will only add to those burdens. Our well-meaning pro life person will say something like, "What if this unborn child could have grown up to find the cure for cancer?” They might continue with, “What if abortion was readily available when Beethoven’s mother was pregnant? What if she couldn’t afford another child? The world would have missed the genius of Beethoven.” This opens the door for the abortion industry loyalist to ask us another question. They will present an example of a monster from history and ask “What if his mother had access to abortion? Many people would have been spared from his violence.” Everywhere, it is always morally wrong to intentionally kill an innocent human person. Whether they might grow up to be a genius or a morally questionable individual is not the criteria for deciding if it is acceptable to kill them in the womb. We don’t know how anyone will turn out or what they will contribute to the world before they are born. Using the Beethoven theory only gives oxygen to distractions from the facts which are, it is always wrong to kill innocent living humans and nearly every abortion kills a living human. Here is part of a column from the New York Post, written in 1982. This will give you an example of how we can unknowingly open the door to media confusion. It was title “Lost Genius.” “Lost Genius And so we live in a world denied its rightful geniuses, and it is sad how wantonly we squander them, and it's good to have the antiabortionists reminding us of how cavalierly we ignore the genius shortage. I am sorry they can't get beyond Beethoven though and persuade people to mourn for all the great composers, writers, artists and statesmen who would have made the world so much more beautiful and wise but whose names we will never know because their mothers or potential fathers were terminated suddenly by bullets, bombs and bayonets. On the other hand, thinking too powerfully along these lines leads to moral dilemma. Of course abortion is sad when it leads Mother Beethoven to deny us Ludwig. But suppose it is Mother Hitler denying us Adolf? Genius, alas, also has its dark side.” Remain calm and stick to those two facts. There is little debate about the humanity of the unborn anymore. There is still plenty of debate about the moral value of the unborn.