What Killed Jessie Studevent? (reference link)
Silent Scream (reference link)
I am touched by what this woman, her daughter, and hundreds of thousands like them must have felt. It makes a person want to reach out to comfort them. And yet, I grieve mostly for the unborn children denied their right to life. They were, after all, the only innocent participants in these scenarios. There is a stronger reaction on my part to these stories though. I weep for a human whose fear of society's ridicule is stronger than their respect for human life. That is a sadness that not only runs deeper, it makes strong revelations about the values of that human society.
It is not the 30's any longer. Birth control is easily avaliable anywhere. Most aborted babies are killed simply because two careless and/or unresponsible humans chose to risk pregnancy to satisfy a momentary human need. Yes, it might be hard and take a lot of character to have the child and raise it, but millions of women did exactly that. Millions of women were helped and encouraged by many of their neighbors and their family. Many, many wonderful and gifted people were born out of wedlock and have contributed much to our society. Among them John James Audubon, Alexander Hamilton, Leonard da Vinci, Jenny Lind, Jack London, Steve Jobs, and Oprah Winfrey. The list includes thousands of scientists, doctors, artists, authors and ministers as well as ordinary people who lived kind and truly compassionate lives helping others.
When a woman weighs her embarrassment or convenience against the value of the life of an unborn child and decides to take the innocent child's life something is very wrong indeed. To choose being comfortable by avoiding anyone finding out that they made a CHOICE to partake in unsafe sexual activity means that something is very, very wrong with that woman's values and the values of the society she lives in. When we make responsibility for our choices easy to avoid, we do nothing for the character of the individual or the society we live in. In fact, we do the opposite.
Even worse are the economic reasons given for abortion. When there are hundreds of thousands of couples who want to adopt infants and there are so few available, the economic arguments fall apart.
Yes, there have always been abortions. Yes, there will always be risks to them. In many places in this country a school nurse cannot give your child an aspirin without calling you. They can, however, tell her how to find an abortion clinic without your being told of that. Abortions, even in modern, clean and legal clinics are a surgical procedure that carry risks, both physical and psychological.
There are choices to make in life and there are prices to pay for all our decisions. We cannot change that no matter what we do. What we can do is foster change in how and what we teach by our choices. What we can do is teach all the facts about the risks of abortion to the mother and to the society we live in. A society without respect for human life is one that will sink into attitudes that will diminish, if not threaten, the lives of all in it. What we can do is teach our children that they will be held responsible for their actions and not just on this issue alone.
I once heard a woman talking about abortion say that even if it was murder, she would rather murder the child than to give it up for adoption. That is the most inhumane, ignorant, selfish and self-serving attitude I have yet heard.
I decry human suffering. I am grateful to say that I have tried to put my money and my time where my mouth is on issues of human suffering. I am not hypocrite enough to be able to justify the taking of an innocent life in the name of compassion. arti319