Maybe this time...
no...what I'd much rather you acknowledge is that it isn't murder. You don't think of it like it's murder... that's just something you say to shame people.
I believe that the deliberate killing of an innocent child in his mother's womb is murder...and murder most foul. The murder of a child, for no other reason than that he is 'inconvenient". It is vile, and disgusting. And yes, it is shameful. I am ashamed that the society I live in could have sunk so low that we are killing our own children.
And it isn't only Christians who think so. Did you miss my post where I showed that one of atheism's greatest leaders, Christopher Hitchens, was a very vocal pro life advocate?
Face it...if it were murder, then all those women you console are murderers. In some cases multiple murderers. Yet I'm betting you don't go to death row to console child murderers there. If a 16yo girl came to your home crying about how she just drowned three children...you probably wouldn't help her work through her feelings about it.
No, I do not go to death row to console child murderers there.
And if a sixteen year old girl came to me with a story about drowning three children, I would call the police and turn her in.
I don't think I'd have much pity for someone who could look at an innocent child and find it in him/herself to kill him or her.
So why the difference? Either you've got some crazy double standards rolling around that head of yours...or more likely, you don't see it as murder even though you claim to. You're just parroting some pro-shame talking points.
Why the difference? That is a very good question, and I'm actually glad that you asked it.
I know you're a thirty something guy...but just for a minute, imagine yourself that sixteen year old girl in a crisis pregnancy. Your parents are furious...they are threatening to disown you as their daughter. Your entire family has turned their backs on you...your mom is already arranging for you to have an abortion. She seems quite determined. And your Dad is no help. He keeps talking about how you have "cheapened yourself" and compares you with "common street trash". You feel abandoned, ashamed...and you are lonely and frightened.
The barest suggestion that you might want to keep the baby is met with threats. They will put you and the baby out on the street...
Does this seem harsh to you? I assure you, many young girls have undergone this sort of treatment. However to be fair, it isn't always this bad.
Generally it is about at this point that someone presents our mother-to-be with an information pamphlet from Planned Parenthood. These pamphlets are quite attractive, featuring a picture of a pretty woman whose obviously got her stuff together. And there are pictures of the early stages of human development. Those pictures do not look very much like a baby, and of course, the word "baby" or "infant" is not used.
What you will not see in these pamphlets...well, other than pictures of the infant in the later stages of development...are pictures of what is left after the abortionist has finished his bloody work. I challenge you, Ana, to google "abortion images" for yourself...I'm pretty sure CF would object if I were to post graphic images here...but I wonder if you've got the stomach for it. If you can look at some of those pictures and still tell me that abortion is not murder, then nothing I can say would ever make a dent.
If you look very carefully, somewhere near the bottom, there is a warning that there are some risks involved in abortion. The pamphlet usually doesn't tell you anything about what these risks might be, just suggests that you discuss it with your doctor.
And the doctor will be sure to inform you that "as in all medical procedures, there are some risks involved. However, these are minimal, and very rare." You or your parents will be asked to sign a release from clearing the doctor and the clinic just in case one of these minor and rare risks should happen to you.
Anyway, back to our girl. What can we say? You feel as if you have no choice. With family and friends against you, and your boyfriend leaving you to handle it on your own...you feel as if you have no choice. Reluctantly, you agree to have the abortion.
It has been well said that a woman does not want an abortion in the same way that she wants an ice cream cone, or a Porsche. She wants an abortion in the same way as an animal caught in a trap wants to gnaw off it's own leg.
And that's pretty much how you feel as you sit in the waiting room, waiting your turn to be taken back for your procedure. "Don't worry," the smiling nurse tells you as she wheels you in. "it'll all be over soon, and you can put this all behind you. Think of it like getting a wart removed."
You try hard to think of it like getting a wart removed, as the nurses prepare you for your surgery. The anesthetic begins to take effect, and you go into what is called "twilight sleep".
Twilight sleep, in case you didn't know (although I'm sure you probably do know) is a strange state...not quite "out"...but not exactly awake, either. It is not unusual for a patient under twilight sleep to have a "lucid moment"...I have a Sunday School teacher who remembers waking up during her colonoscopy and seeing her insides on the screen.
Perhaps you remember...I told you about one of my girls who remembers looking down and seeing her baby's severed head floating around in a pail of blood.
Anyway, your procedure over, you get to rest and recover for awhile, and then the nurses help you to dress, and your family takes you home.
Did you think you would be welcomed back with smiles and hugs? No...Mom is still distant and cold. She makes no secret of the fact that you have disappointed her, and she hopes you have learned something from this...although you're not exactly sure what you were supposed to have learned. And Dad still talks about how you have cheapened yourself, putting yourself on the same level as a common prostitute.
And your boyfriend decides that maybe it would be best if you stopped seeing each other.
Your school friends seem to be shunning you. Suddenly, you are not included in any of their plans.
And you can't get that baby out of your mind...
You may even begin entertaining thoughts of suicide. There are girls who have done.
Somehow, you wind up sitting across from me, pouring your heart out....
Remember, Ana, I am a Christian...although there are a few atheists who do what I do.
Anyway, is this girl a murderer?
Technically, yes, she is. However, do you not see some "mitigating circumstances" here?
IMHO, she is as much a victim of Roe vs Wade, or more correctly Planned Parenthood as her poor baby, now rotting in the dumpster behind the clinic.
