And I am so glad the Supreme Court upheld it’s ban.
I am tired and emotional, and not quite sure what to say, but feel that I must say something. Elena was on the floor, playing, generally being adorable, Nancy was in the chair behind me, catching up with Facebook, and I was reading John Piper’s response to the Supreme Court ruling which is excellent. I must warn you, however, not to read the description of a partial birth abortion from a nurse’s perspective unless you have a very strong stomach. I read it, and thought of delivering my daughter, which I got to help with (mostly I stood by and watched Nancy and the midwife work, but I was still blessed)… I read this, thought of that time, and wept… a lot. I picked Elena up and gave her a hug and prayed and swore to protect her at all costs. I felt, for some reason, that she is in danger. I know she is. We are in a war. A spiritual war over our souls. We have an enemy that is trying to kill us. But I digress.
I’ve always thought, intellectually that abortion was wrong, and honestly, can still be sympathetic for the subtle gray areas of early term abortion in cases of rape. However, philosophically and logically, it is impossible to pinpoint a beginning point to human life at any other time than conception, and I believe that ending a human life, except in war, is murder. (I also happen to believe that war is a horrible reality of our human existence.)
I’m not sure I can say much more right now, and I’m not sure I’ve made sense, so bring on the flaming, but to you “pro-choice” folks out there, I echo John Piper’s words, and recommend you read the .pdf he links to.
This use of catch phrases is surely tired. “Right to choose.” “Equal rights for women.” The grandchildren of the sixties are waking up to the vagueness and danger of those phrases. Right to choose what? Anything? All laws that protect children limit the rights of moms (and dads) to choose. You can’t choose to starve them. You can’t choose to lock them in closets for three weeks. You can’t choose to abandon them. You can’t choose to strangle them five minutes after they are born.
And “equal rights for women”—equal with whom? Equal with the irresponsible dad. Dad has sex and bears no responsibility for the baby. Mom should be equally able to have sex and bear no responsibility for the baby. Young people are looking at this and saying: Something is wrong with this picture. Maybe our lives are as broken as they are because our parents have twisted their hearts and minds so deeply to justify equality in irresponsibility.
I wrote this three years ago, and it means more to me now than it did then.
this is my anthem
this is my prayer
for thirty-nine million friends
who will never feel the air
and this is my song
this is my battle cry
that one for every three of us
had to die
Is it true what they say?
Was there no other way?
This is my dirge
this is my moan
for the millions and millions
who never saw home
And This is my call
This is my dare
four thousand among us
won’t see today
It’s not all about you
or what you have to do
there’s another one to think of
who matters too
just give them a chance
April 25, 2007 at 10:09 pm
I have a lot more to say, but I’ll just show my political stripes for now and say that everybody that voted for Bush and/or senators committed to confirming judges that are not activists in their rulings should at least feel that their votes saved lives through this ruling, and that those votes have the potential to save many more. I don’t have a great deal of faith in the process, but these kind of rulings keep me from thinking the world has gone too mad. Of course, the fact that at least 4 people out of 9 (much less 300 million) disagree with me is somewhat less encouraging, so my lack of faith seems reasonable.
April 26, 2007 at 7:35 am
After just recently seeing the birth of my son, I too was nauseated by the nurses description of the procedure. A couple days ago I was reading that at work and I got to the part about the fingers clenching and unclenching and couldn’t finish. It is one of those things that sends your emotions into a sad rage where you can’t decide about being mad or really sad.
April 26, 2007 at 8:10 am
Dan, that is exactly where I broke down as well, and experienced the same emotion…
April 26, 2007 at 2:05 pm
Sometimes I feel like our country is overly concerned with individual rights… and totally in disregard for the individual! Abortion is not only killing a baby, it also has a terrible affect on the mother. It is emotionally and physically detrimental, and no woman comes through it unscathed. It is all around a terrible thing… and I see it as a major weapon of deception for the enemy!
April 26, 2007 at 4:40 pm
Heck, I’m still trying to figure out why among the first question the doctors at University of Iowa hospital ask my pregnant wife when she first sets an appointment is if she plans to keep the baby. My, how this world has fallen…
April 26, 2007 at 9:57 pm
I appreciate you blogging about this, Matt. I have mixed emotions about the ruling, because on one hand for the first time a specific procedure for abortion has been outlawed, but on the other hand there are 3 or 4 other procedures to take its place. It’s like ruling that it’s inhumane to execute someone by electrocution, so big deal… you can just use lethal injection. Without question, though, God is a God of life and even a baby step in that direction is a good move.