Dear Lance, I still remember the time, when you were about 5 years old, when the priest talked about abortion at Sunday Mass.

You were still innocent and had no idea what abortion means. All you knew was that the priest said it was a very bad thing. When we got home, you asked Mom what abortion means. She explained that it is when a mother decides she doesn't want her unborn baby and has a doctor destroy it.

You were very upset. We had some hugs and reassurances of how much you are loved. I was sorry that this upset you so much.

At the same time, I was glad that you realized how evil such an act is. How about that? Five years old and you already had a better moral sense than lots of lawyers, doctors, senators, representatives and several recent presidents of the United States.

So many people in our society have lost sight of right and wrong. They think it is okay for a woman to have an abortion.

In fact, they think abortion is a positive thing — something women have a right to do, part of personal freedom. Instead of calling it killing, they call it the right to “choose.”

What a pleasant-sounding, positive euphemism. At least we understand that words can be powerful.

An attorney of the female persuasion explained to me that, technically speaking, an abortion isn't murder. It's killing. She explained that murder is a legal issue and only if the killing is illegal could it correctly be termed murder.

Hmm. In Hitler's Germany, it was legal to put Jews and Catholic priests into gas chambers. Was that killing but not murder? I don't think so. But I suppose that, either way, millions of people ended up dead.

And, legal or not, millions of babies are ending up dead.

Another female legal eagle explained to me that — technically speaking, of course — a fetus and a baby are not the same thing. So, is a fetus a baby that hasn't been born or is a baby a fetus after birth? When does a fetus graduate to babyhood?

Actually, for a partial-birth abortion, a baby (or is it a fetus?) can be about 90% born before it becomes illegal to kill him or her. What if the doctor slips and the baby is fully born before he has a chance to murder (er, I mean kill) it?

What if a baby is born a couple of months premature? It couldn't survive without medical help, so is it still a fetus? Come to think about it, how many full-term, healthy babies could survive on their own?

Just when does a fetus become a baby? When does life begin? There is only one logical answer: Life starts at conception, at the time the genetic matter of mother and father come together and God breathes life into the child.

You can call it a fetus, an embryo or a baby — but it is a human life. It is growing and developing. Growing and developing are things humans continue to do after birth — at least, until they get old like me and start shrinking and wearing out.

But I'm just telling you something you already knew at a very young age. God's natural law told you right from wrong. And God continues to tell you, which I expect is why you were among the pro-life marchers in Washington the past couple years.

When our next national election occurs, you'll be old enough not only to march but to vote for life. You are one of the reasons I continue to have hope.

Jim Fair writes from Chicago.