April 27, 2003

Now that we in Lawrence are so Truly Progressive that we can say the word ‘vagina’ without blushing, let’s move on. Surely we are grown up enough to tell a real Vagina Horror Story without censorship. Picture this: a fully formed, viable infant is making her way from the ‘security’ of a womb into the waiting hands of a ‘health professional’. She’s been turned so as to emerge feet-first. Her tiny head follows perfect little chest and shoulders and, before her first breath, she is stabbed just below her skull so that a tube can be inserted to vacuum out her brains. The ever popular vagina has just been witness to the greatest betrayal of trust and responsibility that a human being can participate in. Perhaps its owner will want to dress it up in black, or discuss with it the meaning of the words ‘vulnerable’ and ‘tragedy’. Society is likely to turn a deaf ear toward including such a dialogue in future editions of vaginal road shows. It might make the audience uncomfortable. People who have never seen their genitalia as anything but toys might have their eyes wrenched open to a New Reality. The old wounds of women whose ongoing grief over their aborted children has been silenced might be opened and threaten the politically correct consensus that they are better off barren. Too much for True Progressives, I imagine.

Here’s some words I’ll bet local sophisticates won’t be paying to hear : Birth Canal.

January, 1998

I applaud the Journal-World's recent series on child safety, which helped educate the public about possible dangers to children in the context of their work. I could not help noticing, however, the irony of juxtaposition when this series was joined by an article on the booming abortion business in Kansas.

Abortion advocates would have Kansans proud to be providing 11,000 abortions annually in defiance of the scruples of neighboring states where such services are more limited. If any child labor practice resulted in the deaths of 11,000 children per year, wouldn't the JW raise a cry of alarm and attempt to be a force for good in shutting it down? There is clearly no sweatshop, farm, or factory as dangerous for a child to be in as an abortuary!

I, for one, am not proud that Kansas is home to the hard-to-find third trimester abortion, which attracts so many across our state lines. I am, perhaps, acutely sensitive on this score - feeling my third trimester baby kick, hiccup, and somersault every day as I thank God for this new life. I am not convinced that thousands of women per year are in mortal danger from their unborn babies and must kill them in self-defense. Hundreds of people could be found to care for every one of these children regardless of defects. Now THAT would be something to be proud of : saving 11,000 lives per year in Kansas!

December, 1997

Once again the erroneous proposition that scarcity of abortion services is a function of suppression by the religious right has surfaced in a recent letter from the Dukes. Allow me to make readers aware that there are many non-religious reasons for an anti-abortion stance.

Consistent civil liberties advocates are against abortion on the same grounds that they are against any re-definition of some human beings as non-persons, or persons outside the protection of law. Certain homosexual groups are against abortion because they fear the possibility of genetic identification of homosexuality could result in abortions of children based on their apparent sexual orientation. Some feminists stand against abortion because of the demonstrated disproportion in gender selective abortions of females. Women who have had abortions are often glad to see the practice less available when they find themselves undergoing severe emotional distress, or experiencing difficulty conceiving in later years due to scar tissue. Doctors whose patients include the pre-born are often unable to make the mental leap of logic necessary to include killing the pre-born in their practice; especially those who have actually performed in-utero treatment for such patients prior to their births. Non-religiously-motivated spokespersons from the black community have decried abortion, because of the tremendous disproportion in numbers of babies of color killed this way, as a racist practice with its roots in the grisly eugenics Hitler counted on for the creation of his master race. Breast cancer researchers are increasingly opposed to abortion based on the clear connection between today's 'choice' and tomorrow's deadly disease.

We must not let pass the simplistic notion that abortion provider scarcity is due to one little obnoxious and ignorant religious sector of society. There are, in fact, a great variety of sound reasons why many otherwise disparate groups of people find themselves linked intelligently in their efforts to make abortions rare.

March, 2001

Tuesday’s article about Kansas’ booming abortion business was an exercise for my children in critical thinking. We observed that although 12,363 unborn children were killed in Kansas last year, not once was the word ‘baby’ used in the article. We discussed the bias of using the terms ‘abortion rights supporter’ and ‘abortion opponent’ (instead of ‘prenatal citizenship opponent’ and ‘child rights supporter’), and the illusion of unbiased journalism. The kids wondered who chose the quote about the abortionist’s willingness to risk his life instead of quoting statistics that demonstrate the immediate and long term risks of abortion to women.

We explored the recommended Internet sites together. The Tiller site says his clinic is able to perform abortions until the fetus is viable, so we had to face the fact that no one is required to tell the truth on their web sites. It seems that if he were actually proud of providing abortions into the ninth month, he would be more forthright. We studied the KDHE booklet, “If You are Pregnant” with delight, though my children couldn’t understand how mothers could see these pictures of teeny babies and still let their own be vacuumed away. I had to look elsewhere (www.prolifeinfo.org - who knows why JW didn’t include this excellent resource) for diagrams of the actual procedure in which healthy, viable babies are terminated inches away from a chance at life.

We drifted into politics (children don’t get representatives, especially unborn children; the president can veto the majority opinion against infanticide), history (slaves used to be considered non-people, too, but reason finally prevailed); and medicine (viability, operations on unborn patients). I pointed out that an instance of violence against Dr. Tiller was included without any mention of the overwhelming pro-life abhorrence of such violence, or of the many women who have died at the hands of abortionists in recent times. “Not fair!” they cried, as children wisely do. “Life is not fair”, I replied, as parents sadly must.

I suppose I should thank the Journal-World for being a great educational resource, but somehow my heart is just not in it.

February 13, 2002

On Valentine's Day we recall old love stories and do the romantic, silly, wonderful things for our loved ones that make new memories. My favorite Valentine's Day was the one I spent curled up around my newborn son Michael. If you've never fallen in love with a baby, I wish you this precious experience! I had begun to love him the instant I knew he existed. I could almost feel his heart beating deep beneath my own. By the time I could play with his feet, rub his back, and feel the knuckles of his tiny, clenched fist, I loved him with a passion. I had sung to him, prayed for him, treasured him for months before taking him home in my arms. I felt such tremendous longing to see and know him that I was impatient for his birth. When he finally came - the finest Valentine's Day gift ever from me and my husband to each other - my joy knew no bounds. I hope everyone who is given the gift of a child will give him, in turn, the gift of life. May you have joy like mine in the exchange!

January, 2002

Permit me to address only the Christians of Kansas:

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, I am sure you noticed the news of the recent abortion give-away. One quote was particularly chilling because of its nearness to truth.

Tiller gloats: "Jesus says, this clinic stays open" ('cause his button told him so, presumably). Where's the 'truth' in that bald-faced lie, you may be wondering. To paraphrase the late Francis Schaeffer: Every abortuary in America should have a sign above it that reads, "Open, by permission of the people of Christ." Am I agreeing Christ is content that babies be torn violently from the safe haven in which He knits them together lovingly? Heavens no! But I am saying that, as His representatives on earth, we need to speak up more about what He does want. This holocaust could be stopped if all who call Him Lord refused to bow down to the gods of political correctness, offering babies as sacrifices to someone's good opinion of us.

Do you work in His name for peace and justice, but deny the justice of citizenship and the peace of prenatal development to the least among us? Do you champion racial equality, religious freedom, and cultural diversity in the name of Christ and then ignore the civil rights of the unborn? Then I beg you to consider how He loved and defended the children near him, asking His followers to suffer their dependent and inconvenient presence with tender compassion. Jesus taught that a religion that does not help the helpless, save those bound for death, and give to the lowliest as to the Lord is a dead religion in complicity with death itself

You are hoping, as I am, to live with our Lord in endless eternity, presenting our lives, our works, our sufferings as an offering at His feet. How can we approach that holy throne with the blood of over 1000 infants per day on our hands? This so dwarfs everything else we may work for in our lives that we must address it courageously. I pray you will let Tiller and his followers know that you, for one, cannot remain silent while they accuse Jesus Christ of complicity in the murders they are committing.