Friday, April 30, 2010

The Spirit of This Age

The Evil of Abortion

We are all called to be Rachels, weeping for the evils of this age.  The evil of abortion where our pre-born children are sacrificed to the Spirit of This Age, the devil, is beyond the comprehension of people who believe in the sanctity of life.

I have reproduced the column that Jennifer Hartline has written at Catholic Online here, but ask you to first listen to a Michael Card song that is as prophetic as Jennifer's words.

Here are the first two verses of this prophetic message in Michael Card's version.
I thought that I heard crying coming through my door.
Was it Rachel weeping for her sons who were no more?
Could it have been the babies crying for themselves,
Never understanding why they died for someone else?

The voices head of weeping and of wailing,
History speaks of it on every page.
Of innocent and helpless little babies,
Offerings to the spirit of the age.



Here is what Jennifer Hartline has to say.  It too is prophetic.
The manner of this child's death is horrifying beyond belief, but it's not the location of his death that makes it a homicide!  He was the very same 22 week-old infant hours earlier when he was kicking and growing inside his mother's womb!  He was the very same human being the moment he died as the moment before he was aborted.  That he died slowly, nearly two days after the abortion, only means he was clumsily murdered.

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) -  I would have taken him in a heartbeat and loved him.  You probably would have as well.  I know there are countless couples out there who would have given anything for the gift of him.  I know when you read about what happened to him, you will be as angry as I am at this moment.  Then you will, hopefully, weep as I am at this moment.  He deserves every tear we can shed and then some.

The story of this horrible evil deserves righteous anger.  It is entirely appropriate to scream and wail.  There doesn't seem to be nearly enough wailing - that may be what is beginning to bother me most.  I am enraged by the overriding hush.

The UK Telegraph reported April 28 that in the town of Rossano, Italy, a 22 week-old baby boy was  aborted alive, wrapped in a sheet with his umbilical cord still attached and left alone to die.  20 hours later, he was discovered by a priest who went to pray beside his body and noticed that the baby was moving and breathing.  Doctors then had the baby taken to a neighboring hospital to be cared for in a neonatal intensive care unit, where he ultimately died, nearly two days after being ripped from his mother's womb and discarded like trash.

His mother decided to end his life because prenatal scans suggested he was disabled.  Suggested.  Possibly disabled; declared unworthy to live.  He was murdered by heartless animals wearing lab coats, who have medical degrees hung in frames on their office walls.  He was handed over to death by the one who was entrusted by God with his care, and he was killed and thrown away by those who take an oath to "first do no harm."

It's time to stop tip-toeing around, sugar-coating our language for fear of sounding offensive.  What's offensive is what was done to this child.  What's offensive is the barbaric execution of babies in the womb in the name of "reproductive freedom."  What's offensive is that societies at large turn their eyes away, pretend not to notice, and justify the evil being masqueraded as a "right."

How I long to hear Rachel weeping!  How I long to see her wail at the top of her lungs, cover her head with ashes and mourn for her children!  "A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more."  Jeremiah 31:15

Instead, it is the anti-Rachel who presently exerts her influence and power over us.  The anti-Rachel is heard in the voice of Planned Parenthood, NARAL, NOW, Emily's List, Catholics for Choice, Catholics United, the judges and politicians who protect abortion "rights" and yes, our President.  The anti-Rachel sits in the seat of power in our country and around the world, and weeping for our children has been eschewed; now we declare victory and "freedom" won by their calculated deaths.

The anti-Rachel said just today that abortion must be kept safe and legal and whether or not it is rare is beside the point:

"If those 1.21 million abortions represent only the women who could access abortion financially, geographically or otherwise, then that number is too low.  Yes, too low....Do we dare admit that increasing the number of abortions might be not only good for women's health, but also moral and just?"  RHReality Check, "Keep Abortion Safe and Legal? Yes. Make it Rare? Not the Point." by Aimée Thorne-Thomsen

I would love to hear Ms. Thorne-Thomsen defend what was done to that baby boy in Italy this week, and defend it she must if she insists abortion is just and moral! 

Where is the statement from Planned Parenthood extolling the courageous service of this doctor in providing the mother the "reproductive health services" she needed?  It should not make one iota of difference to them how this baby died.  All that matters is that his mother wanted him killed and the doctor tore him out of the womb.  As long as he ultimately died, the details are irrelevant.  After all, abortion is abortion is abortion.  What difference does it make how it's accomplished?  So what if the insentient blob of tissue, the little parasite, the disabled fetus, the unplanned and unwanted intruder doesn't die right away?  Whether in the womb, halfway out of the womb, or delivered and laying on an instrument table, who cares?  So what if it dies hours or days later, having been thrown in the corner with the dirty laundry?

No, the voices of anti-Rachel cannot be sad for the death of this baby boy.  Death is the necessary fruit of their labors.  The most they can do is plead for the cause of better-trained doctors who are responsible and skilled enough to make sure they get the job done right on the first try.  The tragedy for them here is that yet another doctor has failed to provide women the care they deserve.



The manner of this child's death is horrifying beyond belief, but it's not the location of his death that makes it a homicide!  He was the very same 22 week-old infant hours earlier when he was kicking and growing inside his mother's womb!  He was the very same human being the moment he died as the moment before he was aborted.  That he died slowly, nearly two days after the abortion, only means he was clumsily murdered.


I know there will be many people in many countries who will be outraged over this child's death.  They may weep and feel furiously angry.  But will it matter?  When the next opportunity comes to usher Rachel into the seat of power, that laws of life may be written in place of the current laws of death, will the millions remember this little boy and their anger over his murder?


In our own nation, will the millions who say they recognize the humanity of the child in the womb remember this precious child and finally denounce the mythical "right" of abortion?  Will they take their anger to the ballot box in defense of the sanctity of human life?


Will Catholics in America finally live the undeniable truth of the faith they claim to believe?  Human life is sacred and created by God.  Abortion kills a child.  No one has the right to kill a child.  Abortion is intrinsically evil.  This is what the Church teaches, yet scores of self-described Catholics either brush aside or flat-out reject this truth and carry the banner of "choice" instead.  Why?


Why would this child's death have been legal, moral, just, and acceptable if only he had died immediately?


How long will we choose the curse over the blessing?


Why isn't Rachel's weeping a deafening roar?


Rachel absolutely must refuse to be comforted over the brutal death of this child and every child who is killed in the name of "choice." 


(This boy was killed in Italy, but it happens here in the U.S. more than anyone will admit, despite our Born Alive Infant Protection Act.  Read more at Jill Stanek.)


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Jennifer Hartline is a grateful Catholic, a proud Army wife and mother of four precious children (one in Heaven).  She is a contributing writer for Catholic Online.  She is also a serious chocoholic.  Visit her at My Chocolate Heart.
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