Abortion - Part 1 On January 22, 1973, the greatest slaughter of humans was made legal in United States. Since that time, over 30 million people have been legally murdered. This is more than the entire population of the entire nation of Canada. This slaughter claims more lives every two week than was lost during ten years of combat in Vietnam. The number of live births in America is so low that if it were not for immigration, United States would be a shrinking nation because there are not enough births to maintain the population. Other industrial nations who kill their young are also slowly dying. Germany is dying the fastest. If the trends continue that were in progress before East and West Germany united, western Germany's population will fall from 57 million to 38 million in 50 years. Of all the Western European countries, only Ireland has a birth rate above replacement level. Abortion is a gross violation of "Natural Affection". Within men and women should be a "natural affection" for their children. In Romans 1:31, God's Word condemns the gentile world for being "without natural affection." The meaning of the Greek word indicates that these Gentiles were not concerned with family love. They were living such selfish lives they were not concerned with the welfare of their parents, children or their brothers and sisters. All they cared about was the gratification of their lusts. Unfortunately, this can be said more and more of the society we are living in today. Solomon recognized this natural affection that people should have for their families. When two women claiming the same baby were brought before him, he understood the real mother would rather lose custody of the baby than have it killed (1 Kings 3:16-28). If this affection is "natural", then why is it not being exhibited in our society? Romans 1 reveals more of the character of those who purged natural affection from their lives. They professed to be wise but became fools. They knew God but glorified Him not as God, instead, they worshipped the creature rather than the Creator (Rom.1:20-23). Leaving God out of their thinking, they committed every form of evil (Romans 1:24-32). Anytime man forgets God, the same results will follow. When a society forgets God, wickedness increases; love, mercy, and kindness are forgotten as men and women serve themselves above anything else. There are many aspects of Abortion that need to be understood. 1. We must understand what the Bible says about life in the womb. 2. We must understand the difference between the "sanctity of life" view versus the "quality of life" view and their logical conclusions. 3. We need to understand the arguments used to justify abortion. 4. We need to know the historical evidence of what happens when man ignores God's teachings and decides to play God and determine who will live and who will die. Methods of Abortion 1. Dilation and Curettage or Dilation and Evacuation This method is commonly called "D and C" or "D and E"). For this method of abortion, a curette, a tiny hoe like instrument, is used to scrape the lining of the womb. The baby is cut in pieces and is scraped out. This method is being used by some abortionists up to the ninth month. 2. Suction Abortion During a suction abortion, a tube is inserted into the womb and the baby and placenta are torn to pieces and sucked up a tube, like a vacuum cleaner. The pieces are sucked into a jar and parts of arms, legs, feet, hands, head can often be recognized. Over two thirds of the abortions in U.S. are performed in this manner. 3. Saline or Salt-Poisoning This method is used in later pregnancies (after 13-16 weeks. A long needle is inserted into the womb and a strong salt solution is injected in the amniotic fluid. The baby breaths this solution and is slowly poisoned. The outer skin is burned off by the high concentrations of salt. The effect has been compared to napalm victims. It takes about an hour to kill the baby and there is considerable kicking and movement before death. The mother goes into labor about a day later and has a dead shriveled baby. Some babies have survived this method and were born alive. In January, 1977, Dr. William Waddill, an obstetrician in California was indicted for strangling a baby girl born alive following saline abortion. A nurse testified that he tried to strangle the girl at birth but she did not die at first. She was put aside and had a regular pulse of 60-70 per minute. Later, he came back and strangled the baby successfully. Nancy Jo Mann, founder of Women Exploited by Abortion described her Saline abortion: "I went in and I asked, "what are you going to do to me?" All he (the physician) did was look at my stomach and say, "I'm going to take a little fluid out, put a little fluid in, you'll have severe cramps and expel the fetus." I said, "Is that all?" He said, "That's all." It did not sound too bad. But what the doctor described to me was not the truth. Once they put in the saline, there's no way to reverse it. And for the next hour and a half I felt my daughter thrash around violently while she was being choked, poisoned, burned, and suffocated to death. I didn't know any of that was going to happen. And I remember talking to her and I remem ber telling her I didn't want to do this, I wished she could live. And yet she was dying and I remember her very last kick on her left side, She had no strength left, I've tried to imagine that kind of death, a pillow put over us, suffocating, In four minutes we'd pass out. We'd have that gift of passing out and then dying. But it took her an hour and half just to die. Then I was given an intravenous injection to help stimulate labor for 12 hours. And at 5:30 AM on the 31st day of October, I delivered my daugh ter, whose name is now Charmaine Marie. She was 14 inches long. she weighed over a pound and a half. She had a head of hair and her eyes were opening. I got to hold her because the nurses didn't make it to the room in time. I delivered the girl myself. They grabbed her out of my hands and threw her, threw her into a bedpan. Nancy Mann learned the hard way what abortionists already know but do their best to conceal. Abortion is the destruction of another human's life. 4. Hysterotomy Hysterotomies are performed in the last trimester of pregnancy. It is just like a regular Cesarean section except the baby is killed instead of kept alive. The umbilical cord often is clamped so the baby suffocates. Sometimes the baby is left alone until it dies of neglect, or it may be killed by strangulation or suffocation in a sealed container. In the Supreme Court case Markle vs. Abele, the brief contained a list of 27 live births of babies who survived this abortion procedure in New York during 1971. This was the first year that New York had liberalized its abortion laws. Some of these "products of abortions" were later adopted. 5. Prostaglandin Abortion During a prostaglandin abortion, chemicals sold by the Upjohn Pharmaceutical Company are given to the mother. These chemicals cause the uterine muscles to contract and mother goes into labor and pushes out the developing baby. Upjohn put in it's literature concerning this method what that one the "complications" is a live birth. This "complication" has been so common that one representative recommended that it should be used only in hospitals with certain intensive care facilities. If the baby is dead at birth, it is simply deposed of. If it survives a few hours it must be pronounced dead by a physician and receive both a birth and death certificate. in one study, of 607 of these abortions per formed at Mount Sinai Hospital in Hartford Conn., 45 were live births. All later died. One basic question to the issue of abortion is: Is the "fetus" a separate individual or simply a "blob of tissue"? If they are individuals, then they have rights and should be protected. If they are only blobs of tissue as some claim, then no one should have any objections to abortion. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that they are not individuals. Therefore they do not come under the protection of the laws of the land. Legally, they are non-persons with no rights. In this debate, we need to remember that the word "fetus" is a man-made distinction. It may have some medical purpose but it also serves as a means to depersonalize the baby before birth. This is the same tactic used in the Dred Scott Decision in which the U.S. Supreme court ruled that slaves are not legal persons. The Nazis used the same tactics during this century with their dealings with the Jews. Dr. William Lynch, a gynecologist and obstetrician in Boston, said "You can't have it both ways. Medical scientist claim that they are creating human life in a test tube. You can't have something else in a womb." The heart of the abortion issue is the question of whether the developing fertilized ovum in its various stages is human life or not. Also, what value are we going to put on this human life? Many will admit it is human life, but see nothing worth saving. What does the Bible say concerning this issue? For those of us who claim to believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God, this should be our number one concern. The Scripture speak of what is in the womb as a baby, not a fetus. The use of "Begot" in the Bible. Adam begot sons. Begot is from the Hebrew word "yalad". When it is used of a mother it describes her conceiving, bearing and giving birth to a child. Genesis 4:1-2 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore (yalad) Cain, and said, "I have acquired a man from the Lord." 2 Then she bore (yalad) again, this time his brother Abel... When it is used of the Father in the literal, historical event of human procreation, it always refers to conception or fertilization, since this is the only role the father has in the birth of the child. Genesis 5:3-4 And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot (yalad) a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. After he begot Seth, the days of Adam were eight hundred years; and he begot (yalad) sons and daughters. In Genesis 5, the reference is to a literal, particular historical event that occurred at a specific point in a man's life because we are told how long he lived before and after the event. That which is conceived is a son (ben) or a daughter (bath). These two words are the most common Old Testament words for a child. They are used whether talking about the individual before or after birth. They describe all periods of a child's life. The child is a distinct individual whether before or after birth. The difference in the individual before and after birth is size and place of residence. We can see clearly that we did not come from a baby, but we were a baby. We are still the same person, although we have grown and matured. Adults don't come from a teenager, they were a teenager. We also do not come from a fetus, we were a fetus. It is still the same person. Children in the womb Genesis 25:21-22 Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived. But the children struggled together within her; and she said, If all is well, why am I this way?... Notice the Bible does not say that it was "products of conception" that struggled within Rebekah, but it was children inside her womb struggling. Dr. W. Freud (grandson of Sigmund Freud) observed 10,000 ultrasound visualizations and reported "It looks as if the fetus has a lot of intentionality". He once saw unborn twins fighting. 1st International Congress, Pre and Peri Natal Psychology, Toronto, July 8-10, 1983 1. Through ultrasound, babies still in their mother's womb have been seen to cover their eyes when a bright light is directed toward their mother and put their hands over their ears when they hear a loud noise. 2. Some mothers had to stop going to concerts while pregnant because the babies kicked so much from the noise. 3. They also hold on to objects, suck their thumb, 4. Babies still in the womb have been heard crying when a bubble of air was present. (Abortion - Questions and Answers pg 50-51) Mother of an unborn child Luke 1:43 But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? While filled with the Spirit, (vs 41) Elisabeth addressed Mary as "the mother of my Lord". At the time Mary was expecting but had not yet given birth. cp vs 36 to 56-57 shows this took place early in Mary's pregnancy. (first trimester) Yet Elisabeth called Mary a mother. Numbers 12:12 Please do not let her be as one dead, whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother's womb! When God struck Miriam with leprosy, Moses prayer for God to heal her so she would not be as one dead from his mother's womb. Effect of leprosy on Miriam's skin would make it like that of a baby who dies begins to decompose before it is born. Even when the baby is born dead, like an abortion, the woman is still called a mother. "Mother" is from Hebrew "em" or greek "meter" and has many uses. When the context is referring to human reproduction it ALWAYS refer to one who has procreated or formed another human individual, separate and distinct as an individual from the mother herself. Even if the child dies before birth, the Bible still calls her a mother. She has produced a human individual, that which was conceived was a human distinct from the mother herself. The scriptural term for pregnancy is "With Child". This phrase is used 26 times in the KJV. A woman is not "with fetus", "with embryo," "with blob of tissue," but "With Child". Geber (gheh'-ber) - Man Job 3:1-3 After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day. 2 And Job spoke, and said, 3 Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived. Job distinguishes the day of birth and night of conception. "Man" is from "geber". It is translated "man" all other 13 times it is found in Job. Job 3:23, 10:5, 14:10, 14, 16:21, 22:2, 33:17 29, 34:7, 9, 34, 38:3, 40:7 This word always, without exception, refers to a human individual. This is what Job was affirming that he was the night he was conceived. Owlel (o-lale) - Infant Job 3:16 Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like infants who never saw light? Owlel is used 19x in the O.T. In Job 3:16, it refers to a baby before birth. In all other 18 occurrences, it refers to a baby after birth. It is usually translated "infant" or "baby". The only difference is the location of the baby. Either in the womb or out, it is still an "owlel". Huios (hwee-os') - Son Elizabeth conceived a "son". Luke 1:36 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. "Son" is from the Greek "huios". It is used in different ways, but when the context refers to physical offspring of humans the word always and without exception refers to that which is a human individual separate and distinct as an individual from its parents. Compare Luke 1:36 to 1:57 Luke 1:36 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. Luke 1:57 Now Elizabeth's full time came for her to be delivered, and she brought forth a son. These two verses refer to the same mother and the same son in the same context. One verse describes the conception and the other describes the birth, but both call the child a son. In the United States today, Elisabeth could have legally murdered her son up to the day before he was born, but once he escaped her womb, she could have been charged with murder. Brephos - baby Baby in the mother's womb - Luke 1:41, 44 Luke 1:41 And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Luke 1:44 For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. After Elisabeth conceived (vs 24) but before she had given birth, the life in her womb is called a "babe" or "baby" (brephos). This is the 2nd most common N.T. word for a baby and it is always used for that which is a human individual separate and distinct from its mother. There are no exceptions to this meaning in the Bible. In Luke 2:12, 16, Jesus was a brephos after birth. There is no reason to make brephos in Luke 1 any different. United States has become as guilty as Israel Psalms 106:37-38 They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood. What was the reason for child sacrifice? Desire for personal comfort, personal pleasure, prosperity. If they sacrificed their child, then the gods would bless them. Was not for the child's benefit, but the selfish desires of the parents. Same thing today - sacrifice to the idols of "Career" "Comfort", "Wealth" "Freedom" Israel and Judah were destroyed for shedding innocent blood. What better description of an abortionist? Deuteronomy 27:25 Cursed is the one who takes a bribe to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say, `Amen!' Many want to deny the obvious Editorial in journal California Medicine - 1970 "The process of eroding the old ethic and substituting the new has already begun. It may be seen most clearly in the changing attitudes toward human abortion. In defiance of the long-held western ethic of intrinsic and equal value for every human life regardless of its stage, condition, or status, abortion is becoming accepted by society as moral, right, and even necessary. It is worth noting that this shift in public attitude has affected the churches, the laws, and public policy rather than the reverse. Since the old ethic has not yet been fully displaced it has been necessary to separate the idea of abortion from the idea of killing, which continues to be socially abhorrent. The result has been a curious avoidance of the scientific fact, which everyone really knows, that human life begins at conception and is continuous whether intra- or extra-uterine until death. The writer understands what abortion is, killing human babies, yet is still in favor of it. Because killing babies is still "socially abhorrent", abortionists must use different words to disguise what they are doing. One of the favorites is "Termination of Pregnancy" (every birth does this). Joseph Sobran observed the word KILL was used only twice in Planned Parenthood's Handbook on Abortion. "...once to mention how pregnant women used to kill themselves in the dark ages before the Supreme Court spoke and again in describing the operation of contraceptives to kill sperm...You can kill yourself, you see, and you can kill a little tiny sperm; you can kill an elephant, andy you can kill a bacterium; we even speak of killing cancerous cells. but you can't kill a fetus. You only "terminate" (a pregnancy)". How did abortion become accepted and then legalized in this country? Dr Bernard Nathanson - co-founder of the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws and former director of the largest abortion clinic in the world who has since totally reversed his position told the tactics that he and other pro-abortionist resorted to. "We fed the public a line of deceit, dishonesty, a fabrication of statistics and figures, We succeeded because the time was right and the news media cooperated. We sensationalized the effects of illegal abortions, and fabricated polls which indicated that 85% of the public favored unrestricted abortion, when we knew it was only 5%. We unashamedly lied, and yet our statements were quoted as though they had been written in law." We are involved in a spiritual war. Need to understand what is going on. God has destroyed entire nations for what United States is now practicing. we must be the salt of the earth, light to the world. When Nazi Germany first permitted abortions, and later euthanasia of the elderly, mentally retarded, crippled, very few protested. When they moved to the Jews, Polish, Gypsies, Russian, prisoners, there was still very little protest. Let it not be said the same of the current struggle concerning Christians today. Bury head in sand and pretend not to see, too involved with own personal comfort or Reject teaching of Bible and accept the new ethics of an atheist, Humanistic society Are you in the fight? It is a war of many fronts, many battle lines. bWayne Wells wayneliz@twave.net http://users.twave.net/ncc Abortion - Part 2 Unimaginable events are taking place in our world today. What was once unthinkable has become thinkable, and is actually happening. 1. In June 1981, a woman discovered that she was carrying twins and one of them was handicapped. She went to the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York where a doctor pierced the heart of the handicapped baby and drain half of his blood out. The physician described this as "a very gratifying experience" because of the skill involved to hit the heart using ultrasound. This was praised as a medical milestone by many physicians. 2. In 1982, a baby boy was starved to death in the Bloomington, Indiana hospital. He was born with Down's Syndrome and a deformed esophagus. The esophageal problem was easily correctable by a routinely performed operation. Yet, because their son was handicapped, the parents refused permission to operate. They also ordered that their son be given no food or water. Two Indiana courts upheld their decision. The child's pediatricians pleaded with the parents to let their child live, and to allow them to operate. They pointed out that persons with Down's syndrome had happy and produc tive lives. Other Indiana couples offered to adopt the baby if the parents didn't want him. Lawyers for Baby Doe prepared to appeal to the Supreme Court. As they were on their way to the Supreme Court, Baby Doe died of starvation. Witness said he cried for 4 days and died on the 6th. He died because he was handicapped and in his par ents opinion, his life was not worth living. 3. In England a death pill for the elderly has been introduced. Doctors are predicting it will be available and perhaps mandatory by the end of this century. 4. In Sweden, a doctor announced that he wants to open a "suicide clinic" to help people kill themselves more effectively. 5. In Holland, where euthanasia has been decriminalized, one poll indicated that 70% of the elderly are afraid to see a doctor. They do not know if the Doctor will heal or kill them. 6. In America, we are killing a baby every 21 seconds, 4,000 a day. (100 during a 35 minute sermon) We must understand these issues. Abortion, Infanticide, Euthanasia are not separate issues, but together strike at the heart of our basic beliefs concerning God and who man is. If we can take a life because it doesn't measure up to our standard of perfection, what is to stop us to take any life simply for our convenience. Once the idea of man created in the image of God is abandoned, there is no safety for anyone in society. Our society is rapidly changing. What used to be unthinkable is now thinkable. What Has Caused the Change? Our society was once based on the idea of God is our Creator and His law is the supreme Law. There is a Law above the Law. This view has been replaced by a Humanistic outlook which says: MAN IS THE MEASURE OF ALL THINGS. Laws are what man decides at the moment. There is no other standard. Instead of absolute moral laws, What is right is determined by whoever is in control. SUPREME COURT JUDGE OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES: "Truth is the majority vote of that nation that could lick all others." The Bible teaches that neither the majority nor an elite is absolute. God gives the standards of value and His absolutes are binding on both the ordinary citizens and those in authority. Humanism teaches that, instead of in the image of God, man is product of evolution. He is only a higher form of animal. He is nothing special to be protected. The result is that there are no absolute rights given by a Creator. Human life is only as special as society says it is at any given particular point in time. One of the greatest evidences that many in our society has accepted this view and rejected the sanctity of human life is abortion. In 1973, the Supreme Court made it possible to abort through the 9th month. In 1976 it ruled that if a baby was born alive that was intended to be an abortion, then no medical care was required to help it live. The major part of the issue has been centered on the question: Is the fetus, embryo an individual human being with identity or is it just another part of the mother's body like the appendix or a disease like a tumor? If it is not a living human being, then no one should have any problem with abortion. If it is a living human being, then by all means, every man should do everything within his power to stop the murder. Last lesson, Biblical evidence given to show what is in the womb is a child. Followers of the Bible are not the only ones who understand this. In 1981 a Senate Judiciary subcommittee heard testimony from some of the world's best scientists. The committee had solicited testimony concerning when life begins because it was considering proposed legislation to reverse Roe vs. Wade. Dr. Alfred Bongioanni, professor of pediatrics and obstetrics at the University of PA. I have learned from my earliest medical education that human life begins at the time of conception . . .I submit that human life is present throughout the entire sequence from conception to adulthood and that any interruption at any point throughout this time constitutes a termination of human life . . . I am no more prepared to say that these early stages [of development in the womb] represent an incomplete human being than I would be to say that the child prior to the dramatic effects of puberty . . . is not a human being. This is human life at every stage. Micheline Mathews-Roth, Professor at Harvard Medical School It is an accepted fact that the life of any individual organism reproducing by sexual reproduction begins at conception... No experiments have disproved this finding, So it is scientifically correct to say that an individual life begins at conception... and that this developing human always is a member of our species in all stages of its life... Our laws, one function of which is to help preserve the lives of our people, should be based on accurate scientific data. Dr. Watson Bowes, University of Colorado Medical School The beginning of a single human life is from the biological point of view a simple a straightforward matter - the beginning is conception. This straightforward biological fact should not be distorted to serve sociological, political, or economic goals. Mayo Clinic geneticist Hymie Gordon This is the first time I have found myself having to argue the inarguable. I have never encountered in my reading... anyone who has argued that life did not begin at the moment of conception... There has been no argument about these matters. We can say unequivocally that the question of when life begins is no longer a question for theological or philosophical dispute. Theologians and philosophers may go on to debate the meaning of life or the purpose of life, but it is an established fact that all life, including human life, begins at the moment of conception. Geneticist Jerome Lejeune, Professor of Genetics at University of Paris There is no new revelation we have done in front of you. We are just telling you what is taught in every genetics course in every country... when people say this has metaphysical connotations they are perfectly correct... But the scientific fact that it is a human being cannot be disputed." Pro-abortion scientists who appeared before the committee did not directly refute the testimony of these men. To do so would go against what Professor Lejeune's said "what is taught in every genetics course in every country". Instead, when confronted with the question When does science say that human life begins?" they said: We won't answer that question because the answer is irrelevant to your political judgment. Pro-abortionists, failed to produce even a single expert witness who would specifically testify that life begins at any point other than conception or implantation, Only one witness said no one can tell when life begins. The Senate Report on Senate Bill 158, the "Human Life Bill", summarized the issue this way: Physicians, biologists, and other scientists agree that conception marks the beginning of the life of a human being - a being that is alive and is a member of the human species. There is overwhelming agreement on this point in countless medical, biological, and scientific writings. The Bible and scientific knowledge are in complete agreement that life begins at conception. Without modern technology, people used to say "quickening" was the beginning of life. The Bible taught life began at conception before our technology discovered this. The question is not whether the fetus is a child, this is beyond dispute. The question is, What value are we going to place on this child? In the Subcommittee's report they made this distinction: We must consider not only whether unborn children are human beings but also whether to accord their lives intrinsic worth and value equal to other human beings. The two questions are separate and distinct. It is a scientific question whether an unborn child is a human being... it is a value question whether the life of an unborn child has intrinsic worth and equal value with other human beings. After making this distinction, the subcommittee made this observation concerning those who declined to answer the question of when human life begins: Disregarding the customary scientific definition of human being, some witnesses sought to make "human being" and "humanness" into undefined concepts that vary according to one's value. Because they did not wish to accord intrinsic worth to the lives of unborn children, they refused to call them "human beings." The only federal panel to examine the scientific question of when life begins has concluded that the abortion debate does not involve a dispute of scientific facts, but a dispute of values. What is beyond debate by anyone who will discuss the question honestly is that abortion kills human beings. No question that what is in the mother is separate and distinct from her. From the time the egg and sperm unite, there is an individual different from both parents. New technology can implant fertilized egg into another woman and she will grow it. If one race is implanted into another, the individual remains the race it is. The mother supplies nourishment. Directly before birth, and continues to do so after birth. Many babies are aborted 20 weeks to the ninth month. Yet many who are born premature at this age have survived and grown up into normal children with no problems. Youngest on record is a child born at 19 weeks. As medical technology progresses, that age will drop further. There is nothing magic in the birth process. It is the same individual inside and outside the womb. It is simply growing up. Development of the Child 1. At conception, nothing else is added except nourishment and time. 2. The heart is beating in 24 days. Irregular contractions have been detected as early as 14 days. 3. Brain waves can be measured at 6 weeks. (If lack of brain waves means one is "brain-dead" and can be unhooked from a respirator, then why doesn't the presence of brain waves mean one is "brain alive"?) 4. All body systems are present at 8 weeks. Nothing new to be added. 5. If nose is tickled at 8 weeks the baby will move his head back. 6. At 11-12 weeks, breathing develops, fluid at first, air later. 7. At 18 weeks, the baby will put his hand in front of his eyes when a bright light is shone on the mother and loud music will cause him to cover his ears. 8. At 23 weeks, Rapid Eye Movement has been detected. This is a characteristic of dreaming while asleep. Birth is only the emerging of the infant from the womb, cutting of the umbilical cord and existing detached from the mothers body. The child is no different except he has changed his method of obtaining food and oxygen. If he is born premature, he will be fed through I.V. which is similar to umbilical feeding from the mother. The real issue of abortion centers, not on the Biblical and scientific fact that the unborn is a baby, but what value are we going to place on that unborn child? How are we going to view human life? 1. Are we going to subscribe to the sanctity of life ethic and hold to the idea that all humans have intrinsic value because they are made in the image of God and therefore deserve legal protection? 2. Are we gong to subscribe to the quality of life ethic and teach that if the child is not wanted then they have no value and we are free to kill it? Western Culture has traditionally taught the Biblical idea of Sanctity of Life. Man is created in God's image and each life is of value. There are physical differences in individuals but each one is in the image of God and must be respected as such. No human is to be treated as animals. If they are a different color, different shape, size, it makes no difference. All are in the image of God. Genesis 1:26-27 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 So God created man in His [own] image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Genesis 9:6 Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man. The Quality of Life viewpoint states that if life will not be a happy life then it shouldn't be able to be lived. If a child grows up in poverty, unwanted, physically handicapped, instead of a child in the image of God worthy of being protected, kill it. The "Quality of Life" view is a violation of Agape Love. Jesus severely rebuked the religious of His day for practicing the quality of life ethic. If someone did not meet their standards, they were rejected. Jesus loved all, the widows, poor, orphans, sick, social outcasts, little children. We are called to do the same. 1 John 4:7-8 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:19-21 We love Him because He first loved us. 20 If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. We are not called to love only when it is convenient or easy, or love when we can get something out of the relationship, but to love recognizing no matter what the social or physical condition of and individual may be because they are in the image of God. James 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. Luke 14:12 Then He also said to him who invited Him, When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor your rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. (13) But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. (14) And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just. Job 29:14-16 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban. 15 I was eyes to the blind, and I was feet to the lame. 16 I was a father to the poor... (Shift in March of Dimes policy - from care to kill) The Quality of Life Ethic This teaches if the life does not meet a predetermined standard, it is considered not worth living. Peter Singer, "Sanctity of Life or Quality of Life", Pediatrics July, 83 We can no longer base our ethics on that human beings are a special form of creation, made in the image of God, singled out from all other animals, and alone possessing an immortal soul... Once the religious mumbo-jumbo has been stripped away, we may continue to see normal members of our species as possessing greater capacities of rationality, self-consciousness, communication, and so on, than members of any other species; but we will not regard as sacrosanct the life of each and every member of our species... If we compare a severely defective human infant with a nonhuman animals, a dog or pig, for example, we will often find the nonhuman to have superior capacities, both actual and potential... Only the fact that the defective infant is a member of the species Homo Sapiens leads it to be treated differently from the dog or pig. Species membership alone, however, is not morally relevant. He does not deny the child may be a "living member of Homo Sapiens" but this is not "relevant" to the morality of abortion or infanticide. The abortion debate is not over when life begins, but a conflict between two views of human life. The Biblical view is that man is in God's image and therefore has value. Since the unborn child is human his or her life has value. The quality of life ethic regards human beings valuable only if society thinks them valuable. Severely handicapped newborns are not valuable, nor are unwanted fetuses. THIS IS HOW THE NAZIS BEGAN. WHEN YOU CAN ELIMINATE ONE GROUP THAT IS NOT WANTED, THERE IS NO STOPPING TO ELIMINATING ANY GROUP OF PEOPLE. Disability and unhappiness do not necessarily go together. Some of the most unhappy children are normal physically and are in affluent families. while some of the happiest children have borne burdens which most of us would find very difficult to endure. Who knows what constitutes "happiness" for another person? What about the rewards and satisfactions that come to those who succeed in rehabilitating other-than-perfect children? Stronger character, compassion, deeper understanding of another's burdens, deeper family bonds all can and do result from the so-called social burden of raising a child with a congenital defect. Instead of practicing the selfishness of the world, we need to understand the rewards of sharing love. IS NO LIFE BETTER THAN ONE OF "LOW QUALITY"? The person to ask is an individual who has a disabling birth defect. ASK THEM WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE HUMAN RACE? pg. 34-36, 44-45 Arguments always begin with a few difficult and emotional extreme cases. (Rape, incest) (Roe vs. Wade was argued as a rape case, although later the woman involved admitted she lied concerning the rape) Once it is granted in the few cases it becomes an everyday practice. Infanticide is following this pattern. It begins with those who have a so-called vegetative existence. It then follows a tendency to expand to allow for the elimination of any child who is not wanted. Same thing is happening now with euthanasia. The arguments now being put forward center on the "miserable" person in old age - one dying of cancer and is in severe pain. But once the doors are open there is no reason why the aged, weak, infirm will not find that as they become economic burdens they will be eliminated for one reason or another. First we hear much talk of compassion for the unwanted, the discussion moves on to rights, and then economics. Need to keep the discussion right where it belongs: is it right or wrong? Abortion has opened the door wide for killing the unwanted. Where there is a group of people not wanted - kill them. Once abortion is accepted, it move on not just to the unborn but also to all human life. If any are not wanted by those in control, then they should be killed. Advocates of Infanticide The idea of putting babies to death is not just an idea for the future. It is accepted and practiced by many now. May 1973, James Watson winner of the Nobel Prize for his discovery of the double helix of DNA granted an interview with PRISM, then a publication of the AMA. Time later reported on this interview and quoted him. If a child were not declared alive until three days after birth, then all parents could be allowed the choice only a few are given under the present system. The doctor could allow the child to die if the parents so choose and save a lot of misery and suffering. I believe this view is the only rational and compassionate attitude to have. January 1978 Francis Cook also a Nobel winner, quoted by Pacific News Service: No newborn infant should be declared human until it has passed certain tests regarding its genetic endowment and that if it fails these test it forfeits the right to live. In "Ideals of Life", Millard S. Everett, Professor of Philosophy and Humanities at Oklahoma A and M wrote: When public opinion is prepared for it, no child should be admitted into the society of the living who would be certain to suffer any social handicap - for example, any physical or mental defect that would prevent marriage or would make others tolerate his company only from the sense of mercy. This would imply not only eugenic sterilization but also euthanasia due to accidents of birth which cannot be foreseen. If crippled child is to die, what about a crippled adult? Child with heart problems what about an adult with heart problem? What about accident victims? Professor Williams, "our Role in the Generation, Modification, and Termination of Life" Archives of Internal Medicine, Aug. 1969 The fetus has not been shown to be nearer to the human being that is the unborn ape. Even the full-term infant must undergo may changes before attaining full status of humanity. Only near the end of the first year of age does a child demonstrate intellectual development, speaking ability, and other attributes that differentiate him significantly from other species. Joseph Fletcher, American Journal of Nursing, 1973 It is ridiculous to give ethical approval to the ending of an subhuman life by abortion while refusing to give approval to the ending of a subhuman life by positive euthanasia. If we are morally obliged to put an end to a pregnancy when an amniocenteses reveals a terribly defective fetus, we are equally obliged to put an end to a patient's hopeless misery when a brain scan reveals that a patient with cancer has advanced brain metastases. These are not the ravings of lunatics, but statements from highly educated men. They are very intelligent leaders who have accepted evolution and the "quality of life" view instead of "Sanctity" and follow it to its logical conclusion. Those who think this way are still the minority, but they keep on presenting their ideas, they become more and more acceptable. Today's "unthinkable" becomes tomorrow's "thinkable". When society rejects the idea of an absolute law above the law, then anything goes. Whatever a small elite group in power decide is best at any given point in time becomes law. Legal Implications 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the U.S. Nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction that equal protection of the laws." The only way abortion can be legalized is to prove that the fetus is not a person. The Supreme Court in Roe vs. Wade ruled that the term "person" has application only post-natally. Foundation for the Bill of Rights: Declaration of Independence We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are, Life Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers form the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the People to alter or to abolish it. and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. No Matter What Man Says, God's Law Still Says: Genesis 1:26-27 Then God said, Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. :27 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Genesis 9:6 Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man. Wayne Wells wayneliz@twave.net http://users.twave.net/ncc Abortion - Part 3 These lessons are not for amusement or entertainment. Not a pleasure to listen to, but vital we understand what is happening. It takes 5 months to kill the total number of Americans equal to the total killed in war from the battles of Lexington & Concord in 1775 to Vietnam. 3 a minute, 4,000 a day. Both Bible & science agree that life begins at conception. Often this fact is disguised by using various terms like fetal matter, Product of Concep tion, Terminating Pregnancy. The real question - What value are we going to place on human life? Is Man in the image of God, a creature of great value or just a higher form of evolution that is ultimately no different from any other animal? 1. The Same Supreme Court that made it legal to kill a baby up to the ninth month stopped the construction of the $116,000,000 Tellico Dam in Tenn. because they thought the snail darter, a three inch fish, might be endangered. 2. The threat to the lousewort plant has raised legal questions about building a power plant in Maine. 3. The orange-bellied mouse has complicated citing requirements for a power plant near San Francisco. 4. A $340,000,000 dam on the Stanislaus river in California ran into legal difficulties because of a 5/8 inch daddy-long-leg spider lives there. There are quotas on whales and porpoises, but it is always open season on unborn children. It is good to preserve our environment, but we need to keep our priorities straight. In Who Broke the Baby?, Jean Garton tells how she used to be a pro-abortion activist. She said that in the training workshops the were told: "Never accord humanity to what is in the womb." "Always talk about the 'blob', never the 'baby'." "Stress the woman's rights and her freedom to choose." Many are denying the reality of what is happening by using different words. We make reality what we want it to be. If we are uncomfortable with the idea of killing babies, all we have to do is stop calling them babies and it will be all right. In many tall buildings, there is no 13th floor. Go from 12 to 14 because of so many feel uneasy about 13. Does this mean there is no 13th floor? Is there a gap in the building, an air space? Is it a top secret section where no one is allowed to enter? The truth is there is a 13th floor. Just because it is called the 14th doesn't change the facts. Abraham Lincoln was being pressured to pass some legislation concerning slavery before the Civil War. Lincoln was in favor of the legislation but he knew he could not enforce is with the Southern controlled Congress and Senate. he asked the men after they kept insisting, How many legs would a sheep have if you called the tail a leg?" They answered "5". Lincoln corrected them saying just because you call the tail a leg doesn't make it one, the sheep still has only four legs. The Words we use are very important 2 Timothy 1:13 Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. A woman who desires to raise her child calls it her "baby" while she is still pregnant. An abortionists will refer to the same individual as a "fetal-placenta unit". Arguments Used to Justify Abortion 1. Every woman has the right to control her own body On the surface, this sounds good. God has directed us to use our bodies in certain ways, and certainly we must be in control of them. She has the right over her body, but it is not an absolute right for anyone. Don't have the right to cut them, inject drugs in them. "Streaking" was never a "right". This argument wouldn't impress a judge. Because all of life is interrelated, many individual rights are partial and not absolute. Our bodies are owned by God, we are not our own, we have been bought with a price. 1 Cor. 6:13, 19-21 HER OWN BODY is what she has the right to control. She has the right to control it so that either she can or cannot get pregnant. Once she does get pregnant, neither the Bible nor science will let us forget that there is now two bodies. Whatever value we place on the smaller of the two does not change the fact that now there are two and not one. a. All children are carried in the body of the woman, both male and female. Can a body be male and female at the same time? b. Many women carry babies with a different blood type. Yet it is impossible for one body to have two different blood types. c. Through modern science, fertilized egg of one race can be implanted into a woman of another race. It stays the race of the true parents because it is a different distinct individual. When abortion is involved, a woman is not deciding whether to have children, she is deciding what to do with the one that is already there. The question is whether she will let the child live by carrying him or her to full term or whether she will have the child killed by abortion. In abortion, someone else's right are forgotten. Since when have women been given the complete power of life and death over their offspring? Is this really a woman's right? 2. Every child should be a wanted child A favorite slogan of Planned Parenthood. (sounds loving and compassionate) What could be better than children coming into a world where it would be wanted and loved? We need to finish their slogan to understand what they really mean. "EVERY CHILD A WANTED CHILD, AND IF NOT, KILL IT! This places the value of the child as dependent on the desires of someone else. The child must compete with the mother's schedule, job, happiness, convenience, budget and somehow win over all of them. This reduces the child to the level of an object. If we want it, fine, if not discard of it. We know we cannot have everything we want so we try for those things we want the most. If we happen to want a baby most, fine, have the baby. If we want the career, diploma, money, convenient schedule the most, go with them. All agree that each child should be wanted. It would be great if there were no more unwanted children, no more unwanted elderly, wives, husbands, or any other unwanted group. EVERY CHILD A WANTED CHILD fails to tell us anything about the child. It is describing the other person. The Supreme Court decision allowing Americans to kill the unwanted babies does not say a thing about the babies, but it does tell us a lot about the society we have become. We have become a society that would rather have convenience, money, career rather than 21 million of its own children. U.S. Supreme Court has made it legal for one person to kill another just because they are not wanted. By what logic will it stop with only one group? If we can kill the unwanted unborn, kill the unwanted elderly, handicapped, sick, races. If we don't want the one we are married to, why divorce, just kill! Poverty could be eliminated, just kill all the poor! We are allowed to choose to love the child if it is convenient, if it fits in our schedule, if there are no hardship, if there is no embarrassment in having the child. When a child is unwanted, the most loving thing you can do is abort it. The good news of 20th century is kill the unwanted for their own good. This way they are not forced to grow up poor, neglected and abused. It is this very view that leads to more child abuse. Once the child is reduced to level of property to be treated in any way in the womb, this thinking continues outside the womb. Examples of Other Countries a. Japan The Sunday Times, June 23, 1974 Japan has had abortion-on-demand for over 35 years. It is used there as a method of birth control, but "cases of infanticide have been increasing so much that social workers have made appeals to Japanese mothers in newspapers and on television not to kill their babies." b. Rumania Rumania reversed its law on abortion in 1966, doctors stated that not only had they NOT overcome the problem of unwanted children - but that one of the factors which had caused some of them to urge for changes in the law was that there had been such an increase in the number of psychiatric cases among lonely only children and children of neurotic mothers. c. Scotland Annual Report, Chief Medical Health Officer, Aberdeen Scotland, 1972. Aberdeen has had open abortion in a nation that has had it for only 1/3 as long. If the availability of abortion did reduce unwanted children, it should have the best record in Britain. In fact, it has the worst record, with 10.2 per 1,000 abandoned, abused and uncared for children being supported by public agencies - compared to a national avg. of 6.6. There is no such thing as an unwanted child. Most adoption lists have 5 to 7 year waiting period. In 1990 there were 1.5 million abortions and 1.6 million requests for adoption. Dr. Wilkie said after 34 years of medical practice, he has seen many unwanted pregnancies, but never an unwanted newborn child. 3. A woman should have the freedom to choose "I am against abortion personally but I support the right of others to choose." What could be more democratic than that? This is the American way! In the 1850's many said "I wouldn't own a slave, but I support the right of others to choose." Others said: "If you are against slavery, you don't have to own slaves yourselves." What about: "I wouldn't send Jews to the gas chambers, but I support others the right to choose." For those who would not have an abortion themselves - why not? Is there something wrong with it? If there is something wrong, how can we make it possible for others to do what is wrong? WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND WHAT WE ARE CHOOSING. We always choose whatever action we take right or wrong. Adam and Eve had the freedom to choose, but not the right to choose because God had forbidden it. APPOSING ABORTION GIVES THE FREEDOM TO CHOOSE: a. The right of fathers to choose to save their unborn children from destruction, a right now denied by Supreme Court decision. (Planned Parenthood of Central Missouri vs. Danforth, July 1 1976) b. The right of taxpayers to choose not to fund pro-abortion organizations such as Planned Parenthood. c. The right of parents to choose to be involved in a abortion decision made by their minor daughter, a right now prohibited by the Supreme Court on July 1, 1976. d. The right of unborn children to live. The right to choose what? The right to kill? Choose life ! Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; We are dealing with babies, not choice. 4. The Fetus is not a Person This tactic has been used because of the plain teaching of our laws. Result: various methods to deny any rights to unborn child. If we can deny them the label of person, then they have no rights. VARIOUS THEORIES WERE PRESENTED IN THE 1960'S TO "PROVE" THE FETUS WAS NOT A "PERSON" The tissue theory said that what is in the womb is merely a blob of tissue, a part of the woman like the tonsils or appendix. Geneticists proved that what was developing in the womb is genetically different from the mother and from every other human ever existed. Then abortionists tried The Parasite theory. Parasite theory This position admitted that baby was genetically different but it is a parasite. Biologists provided proof that parasites are organisms of one species living upon a different species. In pregnancy there is a dependent relationship within the same species. A parasite invading from the outside, usually remains for the life of the host and often damages that host. In pregnancy the child associates with the mother in a normally healthful manner and in a temporary relationship The life theory: finally admitted that what is in the womb is human life both genetically and biologically - but it is not a human being. Fetologists proved that what is in the womb is a patient, a human being who can be treated, transfused examined and X- rayed. NOW: THE FETUS IS NOT A PERSON. What is a "person"? PERSON is a legal term not a scientific term. Not all "persons" are people. Corporations and oceangoing vessels can legally be "persons". They have property rights, protected by law and can operate without fear of confiscation. Only those who are legal persons are rated protection of the law. Legal personhood is the way our society declares that something, human or otherwise is of value and thus deserving rights under the law. By placing unborn children outside the protection of the law it is possible to deny them rights. This is not the first time this has been done in our country. At one time INDIANS were not legally persons because we did not grant them the protection of our Constitution, thus we were able to take by force anything which belonged to them. Usually it was their land, so we denied them of property. Next was the BLACK SLAVES . They were declared to be property and not persons by the Supreme Court in 1857. As a result, liberty was denied to them. This was a very profitable practice which was accepted socially, condoned by many churches, (one Southern Baptist church owned 1,200 slaves) and was declared legal by the Supreme Court. In 1973, another group was added to this list, the UNBORN . If we simply do not want them, we can deny their right to life. UNBORN human beings are denied LIFE. BLACK human beings were denied LIBERTY. INDIAN human beings were denied PROPERTY. Constitution: "No state shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law." Yet we have done all three as a nation when it was convenient or profitable. 5. We Must legalize Abortion to Eliminate Back Alley Abortions Abortionists claim 5,000 - 6,000 deaths from illegal abortions. Dr. Bernard Nathanson co-founder of National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws: "How many deaths were we talking about when abortion was illegal? In N.A.R.A.L. ...it was always '5,000 to 10,000 deaths a year.' I confess that I knew the figures were totally false, and I suppose the others did too if they stopped to think of it. But in the 'morality' of our revolution, it was a useful figure, widely accepted, so why go out of our way to correct it with honest statistics? The overriding concern was to get the laws eliminated, and anything within reason that had to be done was permissible." The Real Figures: 1967 - 160 Deaths from Abortion 1973 - 45 Deaths from Abortion They only time there were over 1,000 abortion deaths a year were the days before penicillin. (1930's) There are still deaths caused by abortions, but the difference now is that they are legal. In 1960 Dr. Mary Calderone, president of Planned Parenthood stated that "90% of all illegal abortions are presently done by physicians." Before it was legalized, doctors let women in the back door to do the abortions, now they go through the front door. OTHER COUNTRIES HAD SIMILAR INFLATED CLAIMS. a. PORTUGAL: The claimed figure was 2,000 deaths a year. The actual number of all female deaths in the nation between the ages of 15-46 was 2,106 from any reason, natural causes, accidents and illness. b. ITALY: The claimed figure before abortion was legalized was 20,000. In the age group 15-45, there were actually only 11,500 female deaths from all causes. c. GERMANY: The claim was that 15,000 women died annually of abortions. Only 13,000 women of reproductive age die annually in West Germany for all reasons. There is no publicity to the multitude of women who have been killed or sterilized by "safe" legal abortions. Women have had their colons punctured resulting in the need of a colostomy by "safe" legal abortions. 6. You cant stop them, so why not legalize it? This is like the argument of with capital punishment- "you still have crime!". True, BUT A WHOLE LOT LESS CRIME! Why not legalize robbing banks so people wont get hurt, legalize shoplifting, since so many do it anyway? At one time Singapore tried legalizing opium and made sure the opium was of good quality certified by the government. Result: disaster. The children of Cain will always be on the earth and we must always resist what is wrong. Tolerating wickedness never makes it go away, it only grows faster. 7. "Difficult" Cases a. Rape and Incest This is an emotional argument that is easy to stir up sympathy for the victim. How can a woman be forced to carry the child of someone who has committed such a crime against her? Because of many factors, pregnancy from rape is extremely rare. Many factors with the rapist makes it unlikely he will fertilize an egg and the emotional trauma on the woman's part often prevents fertilization. Study of 1,000 rape victims who were treated medically after the rape - no pregnancies. JAMA, Oct. 25, 1971 Another study in Family Practice News, March 72 of more than 1,000 women - no pregnancies. OB-GYN March 79 Study of 126 rape victims, no pregnancies. In Czechoslovakia, of 86,000 abortions, only 22 were for rape. High estimates of 50-100 pregnancies a year in U.S. from rape. This will come out to 25,000 abortions for other reasons for every one done for rape. The plea to legalize abortion in U.S. and other countries centered on cases such as rape. Once it was accepted, then abortion became common practice for any reason. What happens if she does get pregnant? Can we solve the problem by putting to death an innocent child? Is the child to be killed because of the crime of it's father? It ends up that the child is given the sentence of capital punishment for something he didn't do. Why compound the tragedy and add to the wrong by killing an innocent child? Deuteronomy 24:16 The fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall the children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin. If pregnancy does result, there are two victims, both are innocent and need support. The mother cannot change the past. She doesn't need to have the extra burden the guilt of killing her innocent child. b. Handicapped There is a tribe in Africa which treats its infants born with different problems as baby hippopotamuses. They view such births as having accidentally occurred to humans and thus, labeling handicapped infants as animals, the appropriate action is clear. They place the baby in the river where hippopotamuses belong. The difference with these natives and Americans is instead of calling the handicapped animals, we call them vegetables. In Nov. 12, 1973 NEWSWEEK article Shall this Child Die? "Dr. Raymond Duff and Dr. Campbell at Yale-New Haven Hospital claimed they permitted babies born with birth defects by deliberately withholding medical treatments. The doctors were convincing the parents that the children would be a financial burden and that they had "little or no hope of achieving meaningful 'humanhood'." They understood they were breaking the law but believed that the laws should be changed to allow for such deaths. Sondra Diamond a counseling psychologist with a PhD responded in a letter to the editor which appeared in the in Dec. 3, 1973 issue of Newsweek. "I'll wager my entire root system and as much fertilizer as it would take to fill Yale University that you have never received a letter from a vegetable before this one, but much as I resent the term, I must confess that I fit the description of a "vegetable " as defined in the article, "Shall This Child Die?" Due to severe brain damage incurred at birth, I am unable to dress myself, toilet myself, or write; my secretary is typing this letter. Many thousands of dollars had to be spent on my rehabilitation and education in order for me to reach my present professional status as a counseling psychologist, My parents were also told, 35 years ago, that there was "little or no hope of achieving meaningful human-hood" for their daughter. Have I reached "human-hood"? compared with Drs. Duff and Campbell I believe I have surpassed it! Just because something is not perfect does not mean it's identity is changed. When a peach is bruised, it is still a peach. When a horse breaks a leg, it is still a horse. But when people are bruised or injured, we call them vegetables. By changing their identity we allow them to be treated as objects. Amniocenteses is increasingly used to detect abnormalities in the womb whom some would call vegetables. It is not a perfect test and has caused the death of children who were later found out to be normal. Why not just wait till birth, examine the child and then decide? BEING HANDICAPPED DOES NOT MEAN MISERY. Most suicides are by "normal" people often from an affluent family. No one knows what kind of life a newborn will have. Many have poor beginnings and do well. Others have excellent beginnings from the worlds' viewpoint yet are miserable. Is being different a reason for not being at all? How different does one have to be to become unacceptable? Who decides? In every age there are those who fell superior to others and therefore believe they have the right to enslave or exterminate the inferior. This is the "master race" mentality. Luke 14:13-14 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. :14 And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just." Job 29:14-15 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban. :15 I was eyes to the blind, and I was feet to the lame. In the "hard cases" is the death of the child the best we can do"? The effect of Roe vs. Wade has been greater than many could have imagined at the time. In 1973, who would have thought that: 1. Americans would abort 1.6 million a year. 2. Many cities have more abortions than live births. 3. Fathers would be denied the right to protect their unborn children from legal death. 4. Government Doctors would call pregnancy a "Venereal Disease." A paper presented by three physicians from the U.S. Center for Disease Control before an annual convention of Planned Parenthood in 1976 was called "Abortion as a Treatment for Unwanted Pregnancy: The Number Two Sexually Transmitted Disease". (#1 was gonorrhea) Williams Obstetrics, 15th edition pg. 842 Most commonly used obstetrical text calls pregnancy a "venereal disease" IF WE CAN CHANGE THE LABELS WE CAN CHANGE REALITY. Modesty becomes a "sex hang-up". Chastity becomes "neurotic inhibition". Self-discipline becomes an "unhealthy repression". Creating human life becomes a "venereal disease". Who would have thought that abortion would be used to end the lives of healthy infants because they are female? Medical World News December 1, 1975 Of 99 pregnant women who were tested for the sex of their child: A female baby was detected in 46. 29 of 46 aborted. A male baby was detected in 53. 1 of 53 aborted. 52 males and 17 females survived sex-screening. It is Women's Lib who is one of the greatest forces behind legal abortion. What will be the result when society become more male dominated and being female is sufficient grounds to be killed? Evil, suffering, violence are all bad in society. There have always been children of Cain that are willing to kill someone else because they are in the way. What is far worse is becoming "Used to it" and "learning to live with it" Apathy sets in, silence becomes the easy way out. We become as the crowd around the cross at Golgotha. We recognize the injustice, we see the suffering of the innocent and abhor the violence of the act, but like those on the day of the crucifixion of Jesus, we do nothing. Matthew 27:36 Sitting down, they kept watch over Him there. Some who saw what happened later spoke up and the world has never been the same. Dr. McElwain (supposedly a Christian): "those who were for abortion thought I was on their side, those who were against abortion thought I was on their side" Wayne Wells wayneliz@twave.net http://users.twave.net/ncc Abortion - Part 4 Abortion and History Abortion is not just a recent problem. Abortion has been recorded for over 3,000 years. Aristotle, Plato, and Hippocrates all wrote of how abortion was a current method of controlling the population in their time.. History has shown that abortion policies invariably lead to a death rate higher than the birth rate. Much of Athens' loss of freedom and the eventual fall of the Greek Empire have been attributed to a gradual decrease in its population. Ploybius wrote in 150 B.C. "the whole of Greece has been subject to a low birth rate... owing to which cities have become deserted." Augustus Caesar said: Women who wanted to be "sexually rather than maternally beautiful" were "commonplace." "The desire for individual freedom seems to be running counter to the needs of the race." Abortion always has and always will be a part of human history. In every generation in every society, the children of Cain will be found. For Cain, the world was already overpopulated as long as Abel was in it. Abel "interfered with his preferred life-style" and diminished the "quality of life" Cain desired. For these people, the solution always has and always will be elimination of the unwanted one. Many are speaking on abortion and killing of the elderly on an economic basis. Newsweek, July 4, 1977 Abortion: Who Pays? This article dealt with the June 20, 1977 Supreme Court ruling that stated that the indi vidual states may not ban abortions, but they are not required to pay for them either. Argument concerning which costs more, early abortion or taking care of a child. "According to HEW estimates, the price of a Medicaid abortion in the first trimester is $150, while the first year cost to taxpayers of each unwanted child is $2,200." Robert Durzon, Undersecretary to Dept of Health, Education and Welfare, presented a plan in 1977 to force states into enacting a living-will laws so that terminally ill patients would have all life support measures terminated. Those states which refused to comply would have Federal money for Medicare cut off. Purpose was to save money. It is cheaper to let them die than take care of them. Supreme Court Judge Lewis Powell in writing the majority opinion on the 1977 abortion decision wrote in a footnote: "Legitimate demographic concerns...could constitute a substantial reason for departure from a position of neutrality between abortion and childbirth." "Legitimate demographic concerns" mean that the government could give freedom of abortion in one place and deny it in another to control the population in different areas. Or it could mean that the government could deny abortion to one race and force it on another race in order to change the mix of the population. Is there another time where this type of thinking has prevailed in recent culture? One time - Nazi Germany. For 60 years before Hitler, Germany had one of the strongest abortion laws in the world. Section 218 of the German Penal Code, enacted 1871 "A pregnant woman who shall purposely cause herself to abort or who shall kill her child in utero shall be subject to a penitentiary sentence... The same punishment shall be imposed on any person who, with the consent of the pregnant woman, applied or administered the means to induce the abortion or to cause the death of the child." This law remained intact until the 1920's. Mass demonstrations were organized in support of abortion with an emphasis on the dangers of abortions attributed to quacks and butchers, and grossly inflated maternal death rates attributed to illegal abortions. Arguments used to justify abortion in Germany 1. The Mother's health. The health of the mother was the first wedge used to allow abortion laws to be liberalized in Germany. 1929 Berlin Chamber of Physicians passed a resolution recommending the inclusion of "social and economic conditions" in deciding whether pregnancy constituted a "danger to the health" of the mother. In 1973, the U.S Supreme Court legalized abortion for health reasons. They accepted the World Health Organization's definition of health: "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being" Justice Blackmun wrote concerning the medical judgment concerning abortion: it "may be exercised in the light of all factors - physical, emotional, psychological,... and the woman's age - relevant to the well-being of the patient. All these factors may relate to health."" Eugenics (only the healthy should reproduce) Strategy of changing the public's attitude toward abortion was outlined by Dr. H. Poll at a meeting of the Berlin Society of Public Health Culture in 1921. "If Physicians should be able to fix in the public mind that it is a crime to bring sick children into the world, then eugenic ordinances and laws that today are looked on as baleful interferences with personal freedom would come to be accepted as a matter of course." 1934 Hamburg Eugenics Court "A pregnancy may be interrupted in case either parent has been legally declared to present hereditary and transmissible defects." Dr. Ferguson Rodger in 1968 issue of American Journal of Psychiatry. "A majority of people today are likely to consider it an 'injustice' to bring into the world a physically or mentally handicapped child or even run the risk of doing so." Since 1973 in U.S., there has been a rapid increase of amniocenteses and other tests to identify problems in the womb to enable the killing of those who do not meet societies standards of perfection. Plan East "Every propaganda means, especially the press, radio, and movies as well as pamphlets, booklets, and lectures must be used to instill in the population the idea that it is harmful to have several children. We must emphasis the expenses the children can cause and the good things the people could have had with the money spent on them. We could also hint at the dangerous effects of childbearing on a woman's health. It will even be necessary to open special institutions for abortion and to train nurses for this purpose. The population will practice abortion all the more willingly if these institutions are competently operated. The doctors must be able to help out without there being any question of this being a breech of their professional ethics." Who wrote this? A. American Medical Association B. Faye Wadelton C. Molly Yard D. Planned Parenthood E. None of the Above "Plan East" was prepared for the S.S. Reich Fuhrer by Professor Alfred Weitzel in Berlin April 27, 1942. Hitler and the Nazis were promoting abortion in Eastern territory under Nazi rule (Russian populations). This helped promote a campaign to help reduce the inferior races. Feature article Those Missing Babies Time Magazine, September 16, 1974. (One year after Roe vs. Wade) Cost of parenthood emphasized in the article. Luxuries mentioned (Skiing trips, vacation houses) that a couple can have if they do not have children. "Many are reluctant to sacrifice these for what they consider the dubious rewards of having children." Poll - L.A. Times, Summer 1990 28% men, 41% of women believe their parental responsibilities are hurting their career. Forced Abortions Document submitted at the Nuremberg trials stated: "It is known that racially inferior offspring of Eastern workers and Poles is to be avoided if at all possible. Although pregnancy interruptions ought to be carried out on a voluntary basis only, pressure is to be applied in each of these cases." Dr Jane Hodgson suggested at the National Abortion Federation Convention held in May 1980, that we should establish abortion as an obligatory form of immunization against teenage pregnancy viewed as a disease of epidemic proportions. "We have mandatory immunizations, but we have no law prohibiting motherhood before the age of 14." She claimed we need compulsory abortion to terminate pregnancy in the young, not less than 14 years. THIS WAS THE BEGINNING OF THE HOLOCAUST! It is not the only massacre in History. 1. Stalin - estimated 20-30 million. 2. Crusades killed 1 million 3. Colonies of South America, Argentina and Uruguay 4. Haiti (14,000 survivor out of 1 million after 36 years of colonization) 5. Aborigines in Australia Each has something in common - a group of people who themselves have no value to another group and an economic advantage may be gained by their extermination. It became accepted by the Germans that the unborn were without value, then the born. The first to be killed were the psychiatric patients. In 1939, four men were killed in the presence of 4 physicians and 1 chemist by Carbon Monoxide. They had done nothing wrong, were trusting and cooperative. They were mental patients from a state psychiatric hospital. This experiment led to the installation of gas chambers in a number of other psychiatric hospitals. Before WWII ever started, German Psychiatrists began the policy of the extermination of all mental patients. The purpose was "the destruction of life devoid of value". It became so widespread and accepted that in 1941 the psychiatric institution Hadamar celebrated the cremation of the 10,000th patient in a special ceremony. Psychiatrists, nurses, attendants, and secretaries all participated and everyone received a free bottle of beer for the occasion. Total estimated killed 275,000 First the mental patients, then the deaf-mutes, nervous diseases, WWI veterans who were amputees. Later the criteria was for: "superfluous people, the unfit, unproductive, any useless eater, misfits, undesirables. The aged and infirm were put to death. Psychiatrists would go into German homes and ask the elderly a series of questions. If they did not properly answer the questions, they were taken to the gas chambers. As early as September 1939, word was out in Berlin that inmates in the homes for the aged were exterminated and the invalids were next. When they came into the private homes, there was very little recorded protest. Many thousands of children were put to death. Slight case of mental retardation, mongoloids, deformed ears, bed-wetters were included. Many children were thrown alive into the crematoriums "to economize on gas" and "there was no room in the gas chambers" In July, 1939 the program to kill all of the mental patients in Germany was drawn up in final form . Those who were willing to participate included professors of psychiatry and chairmen of departments of psychiatry of the leading universities and medical schools of Germany. There were no questions concerning the ethics involved, only how the project could be carried ought "practically" and cheaply". This continued openly until 1941 when soldier morale was low because they heard of parents killed by the government they were fighting for and they were afraid if they received a head injury they would be thrown into the ovens. The practice of killing unwanted Germans continued but not as openly until the end of the war. The men who participated were some of the world's foremost psychiatrists. Many of them wrote books that are still considered standard reference works today. Some became heads of hospitals after the war and one, Werner Villinger was invited to participate in the 1950 White House Conference on Children and Youth, and did so. Once the Germans counted one group of people not fit to live, they move on to other groups. Dr. Leo Alexander, American medical science consultant to the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials said this about the Nazi genocide: "It started with the acceptance of the attitude, basic in the euthanasia movement, that there is such a thing as a life not worthy to be lived. This attitude in its early stages concerned itself merely with the severely and chronically sick. Gradually the sphere of those to be included in the category was enlarged to encompass the socially unproductive, the ideologically unwanted, the racially unwanted and finally all non-Germans. THE HOLOCAUST BEGAN WITH GERMANS KILLING GERMANS! Their first step - ABORTION! If abortion is allowed to kill unwanted children inside the womb, why not outside the womb? If infants, why not older ones? Once the "sanctity of life" ethic is abandoned there is no stopping point. It began with the acceptance of abortion, then other unwanted Germans before the killing of the Jews, Poles, Russians, Gypsies and others begun. It was the knowledge that the Germans gained in killing their fellow Germans that enabled them to kill other people so efficiently. The Hippocratic Oath The Hippocratic Oath has been taken by physicians ever since Greek empire. In the days of Hippocrates the physician may be coming to heal or kill, the patient never really knew. HIPPOCRATIC OATH "...I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgment, but never with a view to injury and wrong-doing. Neither will I administer a poison to anybody when asked to do so, nor will I suggest such a course. Similarly, I will not give to a woman a pessary to cause abortion..." This provided a code of ethics for Doctors for all the following centuries until the 1920's. Dr. Hoche, forerunner of the German euthanasia program: "Not even the Hippocratic oath is really binding anymore" At the Nuremburg trials, several physicians defended themselves by saying: "The Hippocratic oath is obsolete today." Only one other time since it was written has the Hippocratic oath been abandoned by doctors, Currently in the U.S. St. Louis Abortionist - Dr Escobedo: "The Hippocratic Oath is nothing but a ritual or symbolic act that bears no legal force." Dr. William Peterson, chairman of department of obstetrics and gynecology at Washington Hospital Center: "The Hippocratic Oath was carried down from olden times. Many of our old traditions have been changed by present-day demands." 1973, U.S. Supreme Court "The Oath is interpreted not as an expression of the highest ethical standards, but merely as a piece of sectarian dogma representing just a small segment of the Greek population, the Pythagoreans. " The Hippocratic Oath is now abandoned by nearly every medical school in America. Where it is retained, the parts condemning abortion and euthanasia are replaced with: "I will give no drugs and perform no operation for a criminal purpose." OR "I will abstain from that which is illegal." Only one other time in modern history that the Hippocratic Oath was dropped from medical schools - the 12 years of Nazi Germany. By-Products of the "Final Solution" The skin of the victims were used for saddles, riding breeches, gloves, house slippers, and ladies handbags. Tattooed skin was in special demand for lamp shades. 1. In Danzig, Poland, soap was made from human fat. 2. In Auschwitz, the gold taken from the teeth of the dead bodies amounted to 18-20 pounds a day. 3. At Ravensbrueck, arms, legs, shoulder-blades were amputated (without anesthesia) off of Polish female prisoners and immediately brought to a nearby hospital to be used in an attempt to heal the injured limbs of German soldiers. 4. The commander of the Natzweiler camp used an embalmed head for a paperweight. 5. Freezing and high altitude experiments were conducted at Dachau on human "guinea pigs". 6. Ashes and ground up bones were used as fertilizer throughout Germany. All was completely legal. How did it happen? Germans were known for their medical and technological advances. Late 1800's German theologians began the Dymytholization" of the Bible. Evolution was accepted as an answer to explain everything. Idea of living under absolute laws under God completely rejected. Result: no restraints, no stopping to the evil. Humanism carried to its logical conclusion. Man is going to establish paradise on earth, the Master Race where all will be perfect. We say "Never Again!" But is beginning again. Authority of the Scriptures have been rejected by American Society as a whole. Evolution is taught by government schools, T.V., documentaries, magazines, etc. Abortion is becoming more accepted. Human life is being cheapened. Idea that if someone is in the way, "eliminate them!" is becoming more and more accepted. Many experiments conducted on the unborn scheduled for abortion. Experiments in developing fetoscopy were conducted in babies scheduled for abortion. U.S.A. sponsored this research in 1979. Experiments are conducted on living aborted children, born alive after saline, prostaglandin or hysterotomy abortions. Dr. Martti Kekomaki, medical researcher in Helsinki, Finland: "An aborted baby is just garbage and that's where it ends up. Why not make use of it for society?" Dr. Lawrence Lawn of Cambridge University's Dept. of Experimental Medicine: "We are simply using something which is destined for the incinerator to benefit mankind". In 1980, the International Life Times carried the following report: "The U.S. government has been funding some...experiments on live aborted babies that are kept alive for the sole purpose of medical experimentation. The live aborted babies were purchased from a Helsinki hospital with funds supplied by the U.S. government... Finland had been selected for these experiments because of its extremely liberal abortion laws... Many of the babies survive the abortion procedure. Babies that survived were kept alive in an incubator in a Helsinki hospital and then were transported to Turku Hospital where the experiments were conducted by Finnish researcher, Dr. Martti Kekomaki...who wrote: "They took the fetus and cut its belly open. They said the wanted the liver." Kekomaki added, "They carried the baby out of the incubator and it was still alive. It was a boy. It had a complete body, with hands, feet, mouth and ears. It was even secreting urine." The Finnish researcher conceded that the baby was not injected with an anesthetic when the doctor sliced open its stomach but maintained that this was of little concern to the experimenters, because as he put it, "An aborted baby is just garbage." The baby would have little chance for survival anyway, he contended... Explained Kekomaki, "We don't ask the mothers for their permission because naturally, they would not allow it..." Kekomaki stated that the purpose of his experiments is to find a way of feeding premature babies with brain nutrient. Consequently... he must chop off the heads of the babies to isolate the brain and process it into nutrients for food. "We need the brains and livers of aborted fetuses if we are going to help premature babies," observed Kekomaki. "By feeding this special 'food' to them their chances of health are much better." Dr. Kekomaki seems very pleased with his claim of having saved the lives of many preemies by feeding them the nutrients from the decapitated brains of 52 children aborted by hysterectomy. According to him: "The fetuses are fully alive when we cut their heads off, but anesthetics are definitely unnecessary." (It is a common practice not to use anesthesia on newborns) According to Medical World News, June 8, 1973 pg. 21 When Dr. Peter Adams, a researcher on the Kekomaki team presented a paper containing the details of the procedure used to cut off the heads of live aborted babies so as to study fetal brain metabolism to an combined meeting of the American Pediatric Society and the Society for Pediatric Research in San Francisco, May 1973: "no one even raised an eyebrow". Pg. 14-15 JUSTICE Sept\Oct 1986 The Foundation Prize Award from the American Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists was awarded an experiment in which 8 fetuses obtained by hysterectomy were placed in tanks of saline solution and small "tubes were inserted in the umbilical arteries and veins - for pumping in and removing oxygenated blood." The largest baby lived five hours and "Irregular gasping movements ...occurred in the middle of the experiment because there was not proper respiration." When the pumping of oxygenated blood was terminated, the gasping was reported to have increased. The heart slowed... and eventually stopped." "The fetus died 21 minutes after leaving the circuit" Sept. 12, 1987, Dr. Ignacio Madrazoo of La Raza Medical Center in Mexico City took adrenal gland tissue from a 13 week old spontaneously aborted baby and implanted it in a 50 year old man and a 35 year old woman with Parkinson's disease. "Surgeons have taken tissue from a patient's own adrenal gland and implanted it in the brain before but this was the first time that tissue from the brain of one human being has been implanted in the brain of another." Fetal tissue has been thought to superior for implants because it grows faster than adult tissue and is less prone to rejection. Already, a woman asked Arthur Chaplan, director of the University of Minnesota Center of Biomedical Ethics if she could be artificially inseminated with sperm from her father, an Alzheimer's victim, so that she could abort the baby and transplant the baby's brain tissue into her father's brain. Chaplan has said: "Our fear is that somehow reproduction has shifted away from an act that creates a family into an arena in which money, profit and benefit for others start to enter." Feminist author Gena Corea says: "I fear women will be pressured by doctors and families or by economic need to become fetal factories." If we never started killing the babies to begin with, we never would have these problems. Today as a group, it is the Psychiatrists who are in favor of abortion more than any. Nov. - Dec. 1987 issue of THE HUMANIST claims that Christianity is Mental Illness! In Vitro Fertilization (Test tube babies) Egg is fertilized outside the mother and then placed inside her. Vast majority of fertilized eggs do not live. Extra eggs are fertilized and then discarded. Some are frozen for later experiments or sold. We need to go back to God's standard. Man is treading where he has no business. NEOMORTS Need to be reading God's word and understand the principles found. We have all things that pertain to Life and Godliness. Need to understand the Word, know how to live. Some things are not plainly spelled out. Sadducees should have known there was a resurrection from the statement Luke 20:37-38 But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' 38 "For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him." God is not the God of the dead but the living, therefore Abraham, Isaac, Jacob are alive. Many things are not spelled out plainly as THOU SHALT NOT..., or THOU SHALT... YET GOD EXPECTS US TO UNDERSTAND! TO BE A CHRISTIAN IS EASY TO UNDERSTAND, GROW FROM THERE. They Were Our Families Since 1973, America has aborted 26 million babies. Americans lost to abortion the number of children equal to the current population of thirteen states; Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota. 4,300 die each day. One dies every 20 seconds. Forty percent of abortions are now repeats as babies follow brothers and sisters down the dark canal of death. Average household size in America has decreased to an all time low. Over 49.2 billion diapers have not been needed since 1973. For every three nervous kindergartners enduring their first day at school, one won't be there to join them. This child died five years earlier. For each roomful of fidgety first-graders, ten classmates never had the chance to enroll. Since 1973, at least 299,950 fewer elementary school teachers were hired due to abortion. How fittingly absurd that the leaders of the National Education Association recently voted to endorse abortion on demand. If one of eight aborted babies would've been a baseball fan, we might have cheered 145,000 more Little League teams over the last two decades. Over 130 million Christmas presents will not be given this year because of abortions that began in 1973. More than 20 million bikes were not manufactured. In high schools across America, 8,838,000 final exams were not turned in to be graded this year. At least 19,500,000 childhood poems have never been written. Last June, perhaps one half million high school diplomas weren't handed to graduates who should've been there. Without abortion, probably 250,000 freshmen would be enrolling in colleges this semester. This count will now increase each year because the abortion rate climbed after 1973. But the most important losses are beyond our ability to estimate. We will never be able to count the kisses not given, the hands unheld, the cuts we would've mended, the tears we could've dried. Songs without number will never be sung or written. Untold games will go unplayed. We haven't needed pianos, trumpets, basketballs, coon skin caps, prom gowns, dictionaries, libraries, skate boards, swimming lessons or cassette players. Oh yes, you can hear Faye Waddleton now. She would be saying, "But look, we also don't have the high school dropouts and junkies we would've had, either." And that's partly right. We dragged out all the prospective losers we could find and stood them up against a wall years ago. They would've thanked us, you see. OK, what about the millions of mothers who would never have had the chance in life if they had let their babies live? A chance to do what? In America, we reward initiative. We help you kill your baby. And, besides, what about all the businessmen, workers, artists and taxpayers, that many of our lost children would've become? They would, undoubtedly, have helped produce a tide high enough to float many other ships. But in the final analysis, numbers and dollars don't really count the cost. Because, you see, by conservative estimates, when America aborted its children, we also aborted more than 10 billion hugs. We shouldn't have considered them a burden. We needed them! They were our families... by Chris Corbett Wayne Wells wayneliz@twave.net http://users.twave.net/ncc