Another Sad Anniversary

Adolf Hitler was convinced that all his actions were morally justified.

 A large minority of his countrymen agreed. Hitler's belief in the superiority of the Aryan Race and the attempted genocide of Jews, Romany and other ethnic groups he felt were inferior is almost universally found to be revolting today, but at the time the terrible treatment of these groups was, if not actively pursued, at least passively accepted by the society.

Trying to convince people that actions they take or beliefs that they espouse are immoral is a very difficult undertaking. Unfortunately, it seems that convincing people that evil is actually moral seems a lot easier to do than to convince them that the evil they are doing is wrong. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that it seems evil is always the easier route to travel. To correct Martin Niemöller, the reason he did not speak out when they came for his neighbors was not just because he was not a member of their group, but because there was no stigma attached to keeping silent, while voicing support could be very uncomfortable.

What brings to mind the fact that morality can be so skewed is that it was 41 years ago that the Supreme Court handed down the Roe v. Wade decision. Since that time, an estimated 55 million human beings have been legally killed as a result. Not since the 13th Amendment was passed have a class of people in the United States been denied their rights in such a stark and brutal way.

It still saddens me that not only have we not been able to overturn this horror show of a decision, but also that the decision still seems so popular. Usually the population seems to be about evenly split between the pro-life and pro-abortion supporters. This afternoon I saw results from a CNN/ORC poll from May of 2013 that showed 25% believed in abortion in all cases, 11% for "most" cases, 42% for "some" cases and 20% believe it should never be permitted. These numbers seem to contradict a Quinnipiac University poll from July, 2013 that shows 20% favor abortion in all cases, 38% think it should be legal in most cases, 25% think is should be legal in some cases and 12% think it should be illegal, but do they really? Neither poll gives a definition of what they mean by "most" or "some" so there is wide berth for interpretation.

The issue of abortion is a very emotional one. It is very difficult to convince anybody to change their opinions on the issue when emotions are the basis of argument. Personal moral beliefs are very difficult to change by arguing facts, especially when the opposing sides in the argument don't eve agree to a common language. The pro-life advocates use the word "baby" while pro-abortion groups say "fetus." The pro-abortion groups speak about a woman's right to choose, while their opponents speak of a child's right to life.

The mass market media seems to have taken the pro-abortion position, evidenced by their seeming attempt to bury the ghoulish refusal that Barack Obama gave to changing the law in Illinois that would force doctors to give care to babies that lived through attempted abortions, (off on a tangent here, but when you find out that there are abortion procedures that can result in live births, and you do not re-think at least some of your abortion advocacy, there has to be something wrong with you.) The media did its best to ignore the trial of Kermit Gosnell last year, so that a month later when they held out Wendy Davis of Texas to be a hero for trying to block a bill that would prevent the types of abuse that Gosnell committed, she was able to claim that she had never heard of the man. (If I may indulge you on another tangential journey, does anybody else get sickened by the opposition to laws imposing actual medical standards on abortion mills. Pro-abortion advocates used to argue that we needed to make/keep abortion legal to move it out of the back alleys, but when we try to pass laws to ensure that there are no abortions performed in back-alley conditions, they scream like howler monkeys in opposition.) Wendy Davis is now all but a shoe-in to become the Democrat nominee for governor based on nothing but the media attention garnered by her publicity stunt.

Still, we must learn the lesson from Martin Niemöller, and speak up now. Yes, it could get uncomfortable. We might be told by some governors that we are not welcome in their state. We might feel we are fighting a losing battle when places like California are considering allowing people without licenses to practice medicine to perform abortions. It might seem pointless when a group that has no other purpose than to help women avoid and survive breast cancer is told that they have no regard for women's health because they want to stop supporting a group that does not provide breast exams simply because that group is the largest abortion provider in the country. But we need to show that we still support the rights of the unborn.

In just a few moments on the National Mall in Washington, DC, thousands of people will be braving Algore conditions to march in a show of support for defenseless human beings who were created at conception to enjoy their rights that the Creator endowed them, among these being the right to life. I am not able to join them physically today, but I am sending my prayers. So far there have been 55 million human lives snuffed out before they could so much as draw a breath. How many more will there be before we end the slaughter?