January 22, 1973. Just five days after my seventeenth birthday. I was a junior in high school and was deeply involved in events in my school. Just a teenager trying to have fun. I was interested in world events, though. Despite talk of ending the Vietnam War, I fully expected to be going into the Army a year later and going off to war. President Nixon was working to open China as a trading partner and I was interested in that, since they were a Communist country. I read all the updates on the Cold War. I was a part of that generation that knew we could be wiped out by nuclear war before we knew what hit us, so I was concerned. Probably the biggest thing on my mind, other than my date with Barbara Montgomery that coming Saturday night, was the Super Bowl, which had been played the week before and in which the undefeated Miami Dolphins had won, 14-7, over the Washington Redskins.

          Yes, January 22, 1973 was just another day in America.

          Except that, on January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that abortion was legal. It would be based on whether a state allowed it or not, but the high court specifically put the restriction on abortion that it was only allowable in the case of the mother’s health and welfare and if the ‘fetus’ was viable. A viable fetus is a fetus that can live outside its mother’s body.

At seventeen I had the ability to make my own mind up about things, and I felt, even then, that abortion was not right. But I also believed that it would be rare. Medical procedures were improving all the time and it would become more and more extreme for the mother’s health to be compromised and, as far as the fetus’, health, we were told that usually if the fetus was defective, the mother miscarried anyway. It really didn’t seem so bad. I remember my mother talking to a friend and my mother saying it would just become a form of birth control. I rolled my eyes and thought, Gosh Mom, that will never happen!

But then the argument became that it should be OK in the case of rape or incest. Kind of made my skin crawl, but, well, maybe. And then, while I was home from college for spring break, I found out that a girl I had gone to high school with had an abortion. No rape, no incest, her health was good and there was nothing wrong with the fetus. She just had an abortion because she didn’t want the baby. And that was when it ceased to be a fetus in my mind and became a baby.

It was also at that time that I decided abortion was murder and was wrong at any time after conception. You betcha. I am one of those crazy people. In my way of thinking, we now know what causes pregnancy. We also know how to prevent pregnancy. It doesn’t just happen. “Things just got out of hand!” An excuse, just like the excuse, “I fell into sin.” We go into sin with our eyes wide open and we go into a sexual relationship fully understanding what could happen. Things only get out of hand when we allow things to get out of hand. And, regardless, it is not the baby’s fault.

My mother was right after all. Abortion is a form of birth control. If you have an unwanted pregnancy, you can end it. It is so common place that society has just accepted it. We don’t raise an eyebrow.

Except when there is a new wrinkle. Remember fairly recently an antiabortion group was able to take some video of Planned Parenthood meetings in which Planned Parenthood officials were talking about harvesting baby parts after an abortion for resale? Little eyes, little hearts, little lungs, new skin, little kidneys and so on. Big splash there for a bit. But abortions just kept happening. We got over our indignation. Planned Parenthood has lost some funding. We are good till the next wrinkle.

And now the next wrinkle has come. New York State has passed a bill that allows for late term abortions, even to the point of aborting during labor. Literally killing a baby when it is minutes, even seconds, from emerging from its mother. If the abortion fails then the live baby can be placed on a table until it dies. This has caused people around the country to react with horror! But it has been going on for some time now. New York is not the first state to make late term abortion legal.

Alaska allows late term abortion, as does Colorado, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont and Washington D.C. They were all before New York. In a couple of those cases there just was never a time limit imposed on when the pregnancy could be terminated, but late term abortion has been legal in this country for a long time. In fact, the US is among just four countries in the world that allow late term abortion. USA, leading the way. Perhaps what has set New York apart is the fact that New York is New York. We tend not to think too much of the other eight that have been butchering babies all along, right up until that baby could safely be born, healthy and happy.

Then there is the case of Virginia. Virginia is a southern state that is part of what used to be called the Bible Belt. As such, it would have been the first Bible Belt state to allow late term abortions. Opponents have managed to stop it for now, but supporters are going to continue until the backwoods types give up. While much of the state is rural and many of the people are church goers, there is a growing element of out of staters moving in. Many folks who work in D.C. live in Virginia and commute. The state capitol is only 100 miles from the nation’s capital. So, the northeastern portion of Virginia, highly populated with D.C. types, is gaining ground in the state’s government. However, Virginia’s governor is a lifelong Virginian. He should know better. But, in an interview with radio station WTOP, Washington D.C., Governor Ralph Northam said the following; "When we talk about third-trimester abortions, these are done with the consent of obviously the mother, with the consent of the physicians, more than one physician, by the way. And it's done in cases where there may be severe deformities, there may be a fetus that's non-viable. So, in this particular example, if a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that's what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother. So, I think this was really blown out of proportion."

Yes, that is right. Once the baby is born, if the doctors and family want, the child can still be aborted. They would even resuscitate the baby while they have their conference and decide what to do. At least in New York there is no resuscitation. You make the decision ahead of time. The Governor is for this bill. The Governor is also a medical doctor. (One source I read said that he was a pediatrician, but that was the only place I read that, so I am going to shy away from that statement.) He would understand the proposed procedure better than anyone of us. When he says “I can tell you exactly what would happen,” he can tell us because he knows.

So, imagine the scene. The baby is born and there is a defect or problem they didn’t pick up before birth. The child is cleaned up, maybe receives medical attention to relieve any suffering, and the doctors involved sit down with the family and mother to discuss the situation. I don’t know much about the birthing process of humans, but I would think that the conference would not be immediately following birth. A little time, maybe, for the parents and family to talk. Maybe even allow the parents to hold the baby. I don’t know, but there would be some procedure involved. The doctors involved would have other cases to attend to, as well, so it might be several hours before everyone gathers together to hash this out. Depending on the birth related stress of the mother, maybe even the next morning. So, everyone gets comfortable and they talk about the pros and cons of aborting the child. Finally, it is decided that allowing the child to live would be too much of a hardship for everyone involved. So, they decide to abort. Who does the abortion of a living, breathing, crying baby? And, how is the abortion done?

Eleven years ago, twins were born to an Ohio couple. Before the birth the doctor discovered that one of the babies was profoundly deformed. Her organs were forming up on the outside of her body. He explained that she would likely die in the womb and her decaying body could possibly corrupt the living child’s body and kill her, as well. He recommended an abortion. The family refused. Both children would be given the chance to live. As it happened, the little one with the issues did die in the womb, but it was far enough along in the gestation process that a C-section was performed and both were delivered. One dead, one perfect and healthy in every way. The family selected our funeral home to handle the cremation for the deceased child. I volunteered to do the cremation, not because I had to, but because I didn’t want anyone else to have to do it. When the time came, I went down to where she was. At the hospital, they had wrapped her in a baby blanket. Had even put a little stocking cap on her head. With just her face showing she looked like any sleeping new born. I picked her up and looked into that beautiful face for a long time. I walked into the embalming office, which was empty, and sat down in the office chair. I was Daddy again. I began to rock the little one and then I sang every lullaby I could remember singing to my own son. Finally, I came out of it and I got up and took her to be cremated. I ask the question again; Who does the abortion of a living, breathing, crying baby?

That person would have to be some kind of monster, yes? To me, Virginia’s governor is just such a monster. As luck has it, a great many, even in his own party, are calling for his resignation. But they are not calling for his resignation because of the statements he made to WTOP radio. Horrible statements in which he talked about killing babies after they were born. No, no. Something even worse. In 1984, while in medical school, Ralph Northam dressed up like Michael Jackson and wore blackface for a dance contest.

Since his own party is not horrified at all by his infanticide talk of killing babies after they were born but are incensed because he put on blackface 35 years ago for a contest, I would say there are plenty of monsters to go around. So, with more monsters than we can count, let’s jump twenty years into the future, or maybe just ten years, and look at the Governor’s statement again, only updated to fit that future time.

 "When we talk about the aged and the time to die, these are done with the consent of obviously the family, with the consent of the physicians, more than one physician, by the way. And it's done in cases where there may age related issues that could, in time, render the elderly non-viable. So, in this particular example, if the elderly is in distress, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The distress would be eased. The elderly would be kept comfortable. The elderly would be resuscitated if that's what the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the family as to what to do.” Couldn’t happen? Abortion was only for the mother’s health or if the infant could not survive outside the mother’s body. That is how it was sold to us. Now they already leave a live baby on a table until it dies and they are talking of physically killing a live baby. It most certainly could happen. Let the old folks die with dignity, they would say.

          Best course of action? Remember, we are talking about monsters who take the killing of babies in stride while getting livid over someone in blackface thirty five years ago. You are not going to change those evil hearts by marching on Washington or trying to legislate morality. You and I cannot change those evil hearts. Only the Lord can do that, my friends. We need to begin to pray for those people who have no trouble planning murder. Not pray that they meet some horrible death of their own, but that they will be pierced by the power of the Lord. Pray for their salvation. Pray that God’s people will begin to share the power of God. What made this country great and strong and wise was God’s people praying for our leaders to be believers and merciful. And, conversely, our country began to fail and fall now to the point that we have monsters among us because God’s people are to busy to spend the sweet hour of prayer we sing about and spend serious time reading their Bibles. We have let the monsters live. Now we need to call on the Lord.