ABORTION REVISITED

by Robert Johnson

The woman once known as “Jane Roe” has asked the Supreme Court to overturn its landmark decision, which legalized abortion 32 years ago. Norma McCorvey, whose protest of a Texas abortion ban led to the 1973 ruling, contends in a petition received at the court January 18 that the case should be heard again. At least three justices have said Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided and should be overturned. Two lower courts last year threw out McCorvey’s request to have the ruling reconsidered. However, in a strongly worded concurrence, 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge Edith H. Jones criticized the abortion ruling, stating new medical evidence may well show undue harm to a mother and her fetus.

“Undue harm”? It is estimated 208 abortions occur each day in the United States. Since Roe v. Wade in 1973, the total number of abortions that have been performed is estimated at 44,671,000. Compare this number to those Jews who were exterminated during the Holocaust in Nazi Germany, which is estimated to be around 6,000,000. While the Holocaust was called the worst genocide in history, this number pales compared to the number of innocent lives taken in abortion.

Those in favor of abortion try to anesthetize the process by calling unborn children “a mass of tissue,” and declaring a woman has the right to remove from her body that which is unwanted. This is all deceptive propaganda. Children in the womb are human beings, with all organs functioning and all systems intact at 56 days. In fact, a child is not a malignant tumor to be removed; he/she is a human life. “For it was You who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother’s womb, I will praise You, because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and I know this very well. My bones were not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began” (Psalm 139:13-1 6).

As if this were not enough, the way of abortion continues to draw society deeper into a dark abyss of evil. Not content with the taking of life before birth, Dutch medical authorities have proposed guidelines for performing euthanasia on newborns who are deemed terminally ill. The “mercy killing” of infants is just a step away from deeming it necessary to practice such on more mature individuals, even older adults, who are deemed terminally ill, or who no longer have a quality of life that fits society’s standards.

Joseph asked his brothers, “Am I in the place of God?” (Genesis 50:19), when they asked for mercy from him at Jacob’s death. This question would guide us all to the truth of our existence, its origin and purpose, if we would but stop and ask. Should Roe vs. Wade be reconsidered? For the sanctity of all human life, the answer is unequivocally yes.