Twenty-five years ago Roe v. Wade resulted in the Supreme Court decision that made abortion-at-will the law of the land. That was also thirty-seven million abortions ago. Think of all the little brown eyes, and blue eyes, and laughs and smiles that the world never saw, and that never saw the world. How many of those thirty-seven million, if they could somehow be brought to life at, say, age five, could receive a satisfactory answer from their mothers to one simple question: "Why?"

"Vice is a monster, of so frightful mien, that to be hated needs but to be seen."

No vice is more horrifying, monstrous or hateful, or is more manifestly vile when seen, than abortion. Not theft. Not burglary. Not breaking and entering. Not assault and battery. Not rape. As terrible as all of these are, the denied life and murder of innocent and helpless render the perpetrator as monstrous.

I heard Dr. Laura Schlesinger, of radio note, tell of her passiveness on the subject, and how she was irritated and then angered that a friend sent, and kept sending, pictures in vivid color of the tiny, dismembered parts of infants' bodies, all the victims of abortions. "Why does she send me these horrible pictures?" was her thought (if not an exact quotation), she rehearsed. Then, she said, it hit her with a thudding force, "That's the point." It is the reality, not the picture, that is unspeakably horrible!

Norma Roe, of Roe v. Wade infamy, an admittedly crude, "cussing" and give-me-my-rights advocate of abortion, has changed to a broken penitent on the subject.

What happened is that she had an office next door to a pro-life center and, over time, fell in love with a little girl there named Emily. Emily gave her unsolicited hugs and warm smiles even though Emily knew and disagreed with Norma's abortion views. What cut Norma down was when she told Emily she liked "kids" and would not let anyone hurt her, and the little girl responded, "Then why do you let them kill the babies at the clinic?" It cut to her heart. Shortly thereafter she looked at a fetal development poster. Of it, she said, "I kept seeing the picture of that tiny, ten-week-old embryo, and I said to myself, 'They're right. That's a baby! ... that's a baby! ... Abortion wasn't about 'products of conception.' ... It was about children being killed in the mother's wombs." (Christianity Today, January, 1998)

We rehearsed several years ago, when discussing humanism, what happens in the legalized "partial-birth-abortion procedure." Before we proceed, let us be clear as to what we are talking about. Note that it is not called a homicide or killing at all; the description is sanitized and made innocuous. It is quite medical and clinical: they call it a "procedure." Here's the "procedure":

"First the baby's legs are pulled into the birth canal, and the entire body is delivered except for the head. Then an incision is made in the skull, and the brains are removed. After the head shrinks, the entire body is removed."

Some procedure! Now get this: You can do this, but a political candidate opposing such has had his TV commercial rejected by three affiliate television stations in Santa Barbara, California -- because it contained the above words. On what grounds? The NBC affiliate said, "The descriptive terms used for the procedure we think are a little too vivid, a little too graphic. It's pretty tough. I can see it scaring little children to death." (Cal Thomas, Jan. 6, 1997, Orlando Sentinel )

Meanwhile, the same TV stations expose their viewers, including children, to footage showing dead bodies of half-starved victims of Hitler's World War II murders, the gore of bombings and carnage in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Oklahoma City, lurid speculations about the murder of little Joan Benet Ramsey, and a nightly parade of corpses or bloodied bodies from area crimes. The carnage is almost daily on the news, dramas and historical documentaries. They also show us Ellen, Nothing Sacred and other programs promoting homosexuality and promiscuity, and featuring large does of violence and child abuse. It is commonplace, almost to the point of being thought of as normal, expected behavior.

You can do, you can show, and you can say almost anything, except tell the truth about what actually happens in an abortion clinic! But they are right on one count. "It's pretty tough." The reality is horrible! So, just do it, but do not tell what happens, is their solution! Arggh.

When you sow to the wind, you reap the whirlwind. (Hosea 8:7) Child abuse rages and the rate continues to climb. Child abuse doubled in less than a decade! Unmarried teen pregnancy has doubled since 1972! And the end is not yet. Vice is a monster! So the liberal philosophy is, "Just do it, but do not describe it. The former is acceptable and a right; the latter is too strong and is to be denied." What hypocrisy!

Dear God, save us from ourselves. Dear God, bless the little children. Grant us courage and zeal to proclaim thy gospel to the touching, tendering, and turning of the hearts of men to the saving of their souls and the benefit of all mankind, including the babes in the womb.

--Jere E. Frost