Unapologetically Pro Life

You shall not murder. Exodus 20:13

Murder. Retzach (Hebrew): to break, to dash to pieces, to destroy; to slay, kill, murder. The taking of innocent life.

We can look at our American history, and find one incident after another of retzach on a mass scale.

• On April 19, 1995, the Oklahoma City bombing claimed 168 lives, including 19 children under the age of six.  
• On April 20, 1999, two teenaged boys murdered twelve fellow students and a teacher at the Columbine High School in Colorado.
• On September 11, 2001, 2,753 men, women, and children lost their lives when hijackers flew three airliners into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.
• On October 2, 2006 a man murdered five girls at an Amish one-room schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, PA.
• Twelve people, one of them a six year old girl, were lost when a gunman opened fire in a packed theater in Aurora, CO on July 20, 2012.
• The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on December 14, 2012 claimed the lives of twenty first-graders and six adults.

You must not make the land where you live unclean. The land is not holy when people are killed. And only the blood of him who is guilty can pay to make the land free from the blood that has fallen on it. Numbers 35:33 NLV

I don't believe there is one among us who is not appalled, repulsed, and horrified by those six examples listed above. These are unthinkable events. The loss of innocent life through murder is astounding.

An area more debated is that of wartime loss of life, particularly when we judge the loss of life of our "enemies." Many people are not aware that the US has been executing airstrikes - both manned and unmanned - on the nations of Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia at an increasing pace. Consider the following statistics from these three nations:

• From 2004 to September, 2012, Pakistan has lost 2,570-3,337 people. 474-884 were listed as civilians; 176 of them were children.
• From 2002 to September, 2012, as many as 1,026 have been killed in Yemen through airstrikes. Between 60 and 163 of those killed were civilians, 24-34 of them children
• From 2007 to September, 2012 US airstrikes have claimed 56-170 lives in Somalia, as many as 57 of them civilians, three of those children.

Now, when you see how much greater the number of casualties is than the number of civilians, consider the following: When tallying casualties, the CIA counts all military-aged men as combatants. This is a mind-blowing thing to consider. This is unthinkable loss of life.

Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed;
for in the image of God has God made mankind. Genesis 9:6

 The destruction of innocent life grieves me. This is why I am completely, unapologetically, pro-life.

This week, I turn 40. 40 years ago, I was born with a severely clubbed foot. I underwent two corrective surgeries, and had a childhood of corrective shoes and physical therapy and doctor's appointments, which must have been an immense financial burden to my parents.

This week also sees the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, legislation which made abortion legalized in this nation. In the last 40 years, the United States has seen approximately 54 million abortions.

 Because of Roe v. Wade, I was given the option to terminate my pregnancies, should they be inconvenient, difficult, or result in damaged children. I will never, ever forget my first visit with my obstetrician in the early glow of my first pregnancy thirteen years ago. I will never, ever forget the horror with which I heard him ask me, "If your baby is seen to have a clubbed foot, will you choose to terminate the pregnancy?" In other words, if your baby is inconvenient, imperfect, of less worth, like you, do you want to scrap it and try over?

We have been taught and conditioned to believe that abortion has nothing to do with ending a life. We have been taught and conditioned to believe that it's simply expelling a complex tissue mass. And I believed that those who champion "choice" believed that to be true; that they could not possibly champion a cause believing in their hearts that each abortion ended a baby's life. Then I came across an article that contained the following quotes:

"I performed abortions, I have had an abortion and I am in favor of women having abortions when we choose to do so. But we should never disregard the fact that being pregnant means there is a baby growing inside of a woman, a baby whose life is ended. We ought not to pretend this is not happening." Judith Arcana, 1999

"[The idea of] dismembering a baby and pulling it out in pieces … is obviously horrific. But at the same time, it is easy to get caught up in that emotion." Julia Black, 2004 ABC interview regarding her film, My Fetus

"Abortion is in some sense an act of violence, and indisputably results in the termination of a life." Kathleen McDonnell, 2003, from her book Not An Easy Choice: A Feminist Re-examines Abortion

"Most of the abortions in America are about convenience. People need to accept abortion for what it is: a valid part of the reproductive spectrum. I want it to be seen as normal; if 1.3 million women in this country have one every year, it’s gotta be normal... I remember feeling conflicted about the magic of being pregnant. I felt electricity running through my body. Not for a minute did I not think of it as a life. I knew it was a baby." Penny Lane, 2004 Salon Magazine interview

In my heart of hearts, I believe abortion of convenience is murder. It is retzach. I have felt life growing within me, felt the flutters and kicks beneath my heart, seen my twelve-week-gestational jelly beans and heard their hearts beat. And as we observe this milestone anniversary, my heart breaks.

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
    you formed me in my mother’s womb.
I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!
    Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
    I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
    you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
    how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
    all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
    before I’d even lived one day. Psalm 139:13-16 MSG