People Can Be Cruel

It’s true that people can be cruel. I have encountered many people in just over half a century. Many people, reasonable, smart, kind -at times can be very cruel.

Heartbeat Bills

There are a number of #Heartbeat bills up for votes across the country. The fact that a discernible heartbeat has been the definitive sign of life for centuries in the medical community is the basis for the bills. When I worked as a nurse in nursing homes, only doctors could pronounce death. We could tell the doctor, but they had to examine the patient for themselves. They’d listen for a heartbeat and note the time of death.

It only seems appropriate to note the time of life that way. Right? Except #abortion. Abortion has been decriminalized for too long. Whole generations of people have grown up in a culture that does not respect the right to life for people they cannot see. The unborn, or as I like to call them, “preborn” (even though that’s not a word) have been dehumanized to tragic proportions.

In Alabama, a Heartbeat bill passed. Noticing a Twitter feed in an article, I replied. That’s when I saw how people can be cruel for myself. Not that I didn’t know it, but it really struck me that people would tell me that they think it should be ok for my mom to murder me. That is in essence what was said and “liked” repeatedly on the post.

People can be cruel. This is one of the nicer statements in the feed. One person wrote, “I’m glad you’re here, but it should be a choice. This bill is unfair.”

Translation: “Ok, you are a person to be tolerated, but your voice is insignificant and it’s ok if you were killed, brutally torn limb from limb, because abortion is the sacred cow of our time.”

We All Know

We all know there’s a baby. When Roe v Wade was decided by nine white men in black robes, they didn’t have the kind of ubiquitous technology that exists today. That’s not to say the decision was made out of ignorance. The judges most certainly had access to actual evidence, if they wanted it. Photos of victims of abortion were available.

The “choice” is that of killing a child or allowing the child to grow and giving him or her a chance to thrive, but many people are so cruel. They not only want to be able to kill the child when they are very young, but when they get bigger too. Elitist ideology, like making exceptions in a law for fetal abnormality, rape or incest have crept into restrictions on the killing for a long time.

The confused compassion that somehow it is better for the mother who conceived during an act of violence should submit to further violence and have her child literally ripped from her womb is unconscionable to me. Or in the case of an “imperfect” child, perhaps one with Down Syndrome, the decision to cut that child into pieces is somehow a kindness? Here, in this article the authors’ words betray them as elitist. Using dehumanizing labels like fetus, rather than baby, is cruel enough.

There is either a baby worth protecting or there isn’t.

No One Is Perfect

Some of us think our children are perfect. I was elated and enthralled with my babies when they were born. Being pregnant was difficult. I was so sick all the time, but when I held their little hands and feet, looked into their eyes, and snuggled them, it was all worth it.

My first baby was born as a result of juvenile sex trafficking. She delivered me from exploitation.

I thought she was perfect, and still do, but I know that there is One perfect and He is in heaven. You don’t have to believe in eternal souls to advocate for the right to life, though. Life is full of ups and downs, ebb and flow, ages and stages. It is excruciating at times. Joyful at other times.

Life is not perfect and people can be cruel, but not all of them will be. The people who enabled me to escape my trafficker loved my unborn baby and me, unconditionally. My dear friend, Anthy, and Friends of the Unborn home were the first people in my life that loved without any requirements. There are so many similarly gracious people in the world.

I hope and pray that you find genuinely good people in your life and that you will be that person, when you are needed. None of us is perfect because this world is broken. We can be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another in love. Then, we are as close to perfect as possible.

Abortion is Cruel

Abortion is cruel. It is a symptom of the brokenness in our world. Killing another human being is the most unloving thing that can be done.

When I found out that I was pregnant, I threw myself at my buyer’s feet, literally. On my hands and knees, I begged him to let me go. He had told me about other girls he had forced to have abortions and he minimized my my pregnancy by telling me about another. She was 16 weeks. She delivered her dead baby in the toilet at his business. “That was a baby!” he shouted. You don’t even have a baby. He said he would kill me if I didn’t have an abortion. So, I made the appointment with him breathing down my neck. Then, I convinced him that I would be compliant.

Somehow, through my sobs, I fell asleep. I dreamed of the abortion procedure in color from the prospective of the womb and I saw half a face, a tiny ribcage, and stubby little fingers. I’d rather be killed than to do that. I cannot fathom the depths of pain that so many women face, when they realize what actually took place during their abortion. So many women submitted to the lies and verbal gymnastics by the abortion vendors and advocates.

They saw the reality. They knew. Many women didn’t.

Love

Love gives, hopes, dreams, nourishes, sacrifices. It is love that makes room for hope for a better future. And Love heals. We are called to love one another. It’s so easy to focus on the cold cruel world, but Love is still alive. Love is a choice too. We can choose love in deeds, large and small.

Give to a ministry helping with unplanned pregnancy. Talk about hopes and dreams. Nourish relationships within your sphere of influence. Make sacrifices for others as a witness to love.

The needs of the people in our world are met by our genuine love in action. Love all ways. Perhaps, my daughter is right. With the changes in laws, the next generations will grow up believing that every single life has value and every pre-born child has a right to life. Heartbeat laws don’t make us more loving, though. That is up to us.