Right before us, if we're willing to see.
This morning, the biggest outrage on my mind was Hillary pretending not to know what "wiping a server" meant, when discussing her email and national security.
Boy, did that change.
The latest video about Planned Parenthood is out.
I have a confession. I haven't watched any of them. I ought to. I am scared. I don't want to look and see, even though I already know it's wrong. I can't bear to watch, to confirm for myself. I was once in a situation where, if I'd asked, doctors probably would have agreed to such a thing "for the safety of the mother". I remember praying all night, unable to sleep in an ER bed, telling God that whatever He decreed, I'd live with it. The baby was in His hands, because I didn't trust myself to make that decision then.
Oh, God, have mercy on us. How many women face those moments, and have nobody to help them?
The next day, I got to see my second child on an ultrasound. Eight weeks gestation, an age where few people even try to protect them. His heart beat. He kicked. He had a head and legs and arms. Eight weeks.
With my first pregnancy, I was sick enough one day that my OB/gyn ordered an ultrasound to make sure everything was okay. At 13 weeks, the technician guessed he was a boy. She was right.
The abortions we discuss these days include victims who are 20 weeks, the stage when many parents get their first (and often only) ultrasound. Some of them are even more developed.
I was pro-life before having children. Indeed, the decision to have children at all was part of it. The gift from two high risk pregnancies is that I was allowed to see how my babies grew long before they were born. I could witness their life for myself.
After the reassurance of seeing them, of hearing their heartbeat, how can I watch somebody else tear similar lives apart? Do they not know what they throw away? How precious those lives are, how dear every heartbeat?
We have technology that can sometimes save the life of a premature baby at only 23 weeks. I have marked the days, waiting for that milestone. I have counted weeks and prayed for just one more, because every week meant a better chance for my child. By 27 weeks, survival is the norm. A few weeks can change everything.
Each life is dearly bought. No birth is guaranteed. We fight so hard for the health of baby and mother. We have programs to ensure nutrition. We fight against monsters that have plagued mankind for centuries. There's the March of Dimes. The Preeclampsia Foundation. There are women who struggle to carry to term, who spend hours online with other women, sharing stories and discussing hormones and blood pressure and mysterious symptoms and when to go to the hospital and when to wait at home. There are women who mourn children who come and go too soon to even be called premature. They hunt for solutions, for a way to make it just a few more weeks this time.
And then, there's these videos of people who end healthy pregnancies. They casually destroy what others would give everything for. They tell the mothers that it's not really anything important, even as they estimate the value of the remains. Not worth a burial, but worth selling.
The videos show the lie. Because I love the truth, I should watch them for myself. But I shudder away, because the truth hurts. Like an abolitionist who can't watch a slave auction, I can't actually look at the process I know to be awful. I can't bear to witness the completion of such tragedy.
God have mercy.
Please, have some links:
"There Is No Pro-Life Case for Planned Parenthood" - http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/08/05/there-is-no-pro-life-case-for-planned-parenthood/?_r=0
"Why the States Did Not Prosecute Women for Abortion Before Roe v. Wade" - http://www.aul.org/2010/04/why-the-states-did-not-prosecute-women-for-abortion-before-roe-v-wade/
A Map of health clinics that could take the place of Planned Parenthood - http://dailysignal.com/2015/08/17/planned-parenthood-loses-government-funding-heres-map-health-clinics-take-place/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=thftwitter
Mourning and Forgiveness for women who have had abortions and suffered - http://www.nationalreview.com/article/421624/planned-parenthood-brutal-pain
A clinic that focuses on understanding a woman's body, not just covering up symptoms - http://www.nationalreview.com/article/422607/FEMM-womens-health-care-goes-green
Boy, did that change.
The latest video about Planned Parenthood is out.
I have a confession. I haven't watched any of them. I ought to. I am scared. I don't want to look and see, even though I already know it's wrong. I can't bear to watch, to confirm for myself. I was once in a situation where, if I'd asked, doctors probably would have agreed to such a thing "for the safety of the mother". I remember praying all night, unable to sleep in an ER bed, telling God that whatever He decreed, I'd live with it. The baby was in His hands, because I didn't trust myself to make that decision then.
Oh, God, have mercy on us. How many women face those moments, and have nobody to help them?
The next day, I got to see my second child on an ultrasound. Eight weeks gestation, an age where few people even try to protect them. His heart beat. He kicked. He had a head and legs and arms. Eight weeks.
With my first pregnancy, I was sick enough one day that my OB/gyn ordered an ultrasound to make sure everything was okay. At 13 weeks, the technician guessed he was a boy. She was right.
The abortions we discuss these days include victims who are 20 weeks, the stage when many parents get their first (and often only) ultrasound. Some of them are even more developed.
I was pro-life before having children. Indeed, the decision to have children at all was part of it. The gift from two high risk pregnancies is that I was allowed to see how my babies grew long before they were born. I could witness their life for myself.
After the reassurance of seeing them, of hearing their heartbeat, how can I watch somebody else tear similar lives apart? Do they not know what they throw away? How precious those lives are, how dear every heartbeat?
We have technology that can sometimes save the life of a premature baby at only 23 weeks. I have marked the days, waiting for that milestone. I have counted weeks and prayed for just one more, because every week meant a better chance for my child. By 27 weeks, survival is the norm. A few weeks can change everything.
Each life is dearly bought. No birth is guaranteed. We fight so hard for the health of baby and mother. We have programs to ensure nutrition. We fight against monsters that have plagued mankind for centuries. There's the March of Dimes. The Preeclampsia Foundation. There are women who struggle to carry to term, who spend hours online with other women, sharing stories and discussing hormones and blood pressure and mysterious symptoms and when to go to the hospital and when to wait at home. There are women who mourn children who come and go too soon to even be called premature. They hunt for solutions, for a way to make it just a few more weeks this time.
And then, there's these videos of people who end healthy pregnancies. They casually destroy what others would give everything for. They tell the mothers that it's not really anything important, even as they estimate the value of the remains. Not worth a burial, but worth selling.
The videos show the lie. Because I love the truth, I should watch them for myself. But I shudder away, because the truth hurts. Like an abolitionist who can't watch a slave auction, I can't actually look at the process I know to be awful. I can't bear to witness the completion of such tragedy.
God have mercy.
Please, have some links:
"There Is No Pro-Life Case for Planned Parenthood" - http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/08/05/there-is-no-pro-life-case-for-planned-parenthood/?_r=0
"Why the States Did Not Prosecute Women for Abortion Before Roe v. Wade" - http://www.aul.org/2010/04/why-the-states-did-not-prosecute-women-for-abortion-before-roe-v-wade/
A Map of health clinics that could take the place of Planned Parenthood - http://dailysignal.com/2015/08/17/planned-parenthood-loses-government-funding-heres-map-health-clinics-take-place/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=thftwitter
Mourning and Forgiveness for women who have had abortions and suffered - http://www.nationalreview.com/article/421624/planned-parenthood-brutal-pain
A clinic that focuses on understanding a woman's body, not just covering up symptoms - http://www.nationalreview.com/article/422607/FEMM-womens-health-care-goes-green