Another Year, Another Million and a Half Dead Babies

Thirty-seven years ago today, the Supreme Court of the United States legalized murder.

Since that day, more than 50 million American babies, disproportionately minority, have been killed in the womb.

As every year, pro-life organizations and individuals are marching in Washington to call for an end to the legal murder of unborn babies. 

We must end this abortion abomination now.

I have in the past compared abortion to slavery. Recently I wrote in a book review at Goodreads for Am I Not A Man? The Dred Scott Story:

We have gone from a ruling by the Supreme Court of the land that Negroes were less than human with no rights whatsoever to a Constitution with amendments that guarantee freedom and equal rights to blacks. We’ve gone from a country where a black man didn’t have control over his own body or the ability to care for his family to a country that elected a black man as president.

The story of Dred Scott gave me hope that one day soon we will see the same turnaround in recognizing the humanity and life of unborn children. One day Roe v. Wade will be overturned like the Dred Scott decision was overturned, and as the slaves were freed, the lives of unborn babies will be saved from murder in the womb. One day people will look back and wonder how we could stand by and allow babies to be killed, just as today we look back and wonder how people could stand by and allow black people to be enslaved.

Added 1/23/10: I wrote this in reply to a comment and wanted to add it to the post:

Many people who are pro-choice also see themselves as the champions of minorities, the poor, etc. That doesn’t quite compute … but that’s the way it is. They probably would say they would not have been quiet and tolerant of slavery. But being in favor of slavery is pro-choice in the same way being in favor of abortion is pro-choice: the slaveowner (or the mother) has freedom of choice but the slave (or the baby) doesn’t.

This year, for the first time, those of us who can’t march in person can join the virtual march online.

Only a few years after the infamous Roe v Wade decision, someone close to me (I’ll call her June to protect her privacy) became pregnant. She and her husband, an enlisted man in the Army, had three children already, and the youngest child was profoundly handicapped. Doctors tried to convince June to have an abortion. They couldn’t explain why her two-year daughter was born with multiple birth defects, and they suggested another child might have similar handicaps.

The doctors pressured June to have an abortion. After all, it was legal now, and she had her hands full with a small child in a wheelchair who required constant care plus two older, active youngsters. June, naturally, was worried about her family’s ability to care for another handicapped child, but she had strong religious beliefs about the sanctity of human life at every stage—from conception to natural death. Although she went through extreme emotional distress in making the decision, she refused the abortion.

Thanks be to the God, her son was a completely normal baby, and today he is a completely normal adult. He’s not rich. He’s not famous. He’s not a political leader or a brilliant scientist. He’s not necessarily considered successful by the world’s standards. But he is a man with a family and friends who love him, a man who works and pays taxes and lives an ordinary life, like most of the rest of us. And he deserves to live his ordinary life as you and I deserve to live our lives.

I have wanted to write a novel about a woman going through similar emotional turmoil as June went through all those years ago. I have a half-finished manuscript that I started several years ago, but I wasn’t mature enough as a writer to tell this story effectively at that time. I’m working on a new manuscript (albeit very slowly) about Bonita, a secondary character in Dream or Destiny, who will face the challenge of a pregnancy as a result of rape.

Life is the the most basic human right. Abortion is a tragedy, as powerfully described a post about the people who never lived because of abortion.

Although I’ve never been in the situation myself, I can understand how difficult it would be for a woman to make the decision to carry to term a baby conceived by rape or diagnosed with a severe disability. Yet I believe that is the only possible decision for a Christian.

The Bible is clear in the following passages:

Before I was born the Lord called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name. ~ Isaiah 49:1b

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart. ~ Jeremiah 1:5a

You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb. I praise you, so wonderfully you made me; wonderful are your works! My very self you knew; my bones were not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, fashioned as in the depths of the earth. Your eyes foresaw my actions; in your book all are written down; my days were shaped, before one came to be. ~ Psalm 139:13-16

I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. ~ Deuteronomy 30:19b-20

Find more Scriptures about the sanctity of human life at Anglicans for Life.

Prayer to End Abortion (from Priests for Life)

Lord God, I thank you today for the gift of my life,
And for the lives of all my brothers and sisters.
I know there is nothing that destroys more life than abortion,
Yet I rejoice that you have conquered death
by the Resurrection of Your Son.
I am ready to do my part in ending abortion.
Today I commit myself
Never to be silent,
Never to be passive,
Never to be forgetful of the unborn.
I commit myself to be active in the pro-life movement,
And never to stop defending life
Until all my brothers and sisters are protected,
And our nation once again becomes
A nation with liberty and justice
Not just for some, but for all,
Through Christ our Lord. Amen! 

Added 1/30/10: Here’s the prayer delivered at the National March for Life Rally by Bishop Martyn Minns, Missionery Bishop of the Convocation of Anglicans in America.

 

The babies that are never born aren’t the only ones who are damaged by abortion. This video reminds us that mothers who abort their babies suffer regret, guilt, and pain. Let’s end the pain and let the babies live.

Added: Statement of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America on the Anniversary of Roe v Wade

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