Evil
in Our Time
For easier reading, print out this essay.
Download
in Microsoft word *.doc format
An Essay on Abortion by Larry
Bohannon
Abortion is the
practice of killing the weakest and most defenseless among us. Yet, tragically, it has been ingrained in
our culture. Since the Supreme Court
handed down the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, some 40 million abortions have
been committed in this nation.
i This is almost a third of the number of live
babies born during the same time.
ii If you
go to a high school graduation ceremony this year, consider that one third of
the graduating class is missing. They
were deprived of the right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness
written about by our founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence. We are shocked when we read about the human
sacrifices of ancient cultures. Yet,
our unborn children are routinely sacrificed on the twin altars of feminist
ideology and convenience. We are
shocked by the horrors of the German holocaust where six million Jews lost
their lives. Yet in our own American
holocaust, over six times that number of innocent babies have been killed. Why has this happened in our “enlightened”
time? What can we do to stop this evil?
Multitudes of
people in our society have come to believe that they benefit from
abortion. They have been convinced by
endless propaganda that the practice of unrestricted abortion is good and that
it must be protected at all costs. This
extreme view comes from the radical feminists who argue foolishly that women
should be free to choose to kill their unborn babies. They fail to see that if a choice needs to be made, it should be
made before the conception of a child.
After conception, it is too late.
A child who is an individual has been created. One of the most important principles of
traditional Western civilization is that one individual should not kill another
for convenience. iii The feminists have cast this principle
aside by allowing women to kill their unborn babies. There is no real difference between killing a child before or
after it is born.
In the minds of
radical feminists, men and women are engaged in one big power struggle. This notion originates from their Marxist
heritage. Karl Marx, whose writings led
to the disaster of communism, believed that society was dominated by a struggle
between the bourgeoisie (owners of production) and the proletariat (workers).iv Although Marx says nothing about a struggle
between men and women, the feminists adapted his revolutionary rhetoric to
their own cause. v
Feminists believe that for women to win their struggle, they must have
total control over child bearing and be able to kill their unborn babies on
demand. vi Actually, there is no big power struggle
between men and women. If an
independent observer from Mars were to come to Earth to study the interactions
between men and women, he would not find a state of ongoing war. He would not find roving bands of men
forcing women to produce babies, they do not want. He would instead find that, in most cases, men and women get
along very well together. The feminists
have created this struggle myth to advance their political power. Unfortunately, they also created our
American holocaust.
It is ironic that
the same people who support abortion today criticize the ideologies that
supported other great evils in the past such as the German holocaust or
slavery. They cannot see the similarities
between their own ideology and those they criticize. For example, the supporters of slavery during the 1800’s widely
argued that slavery was good for slaves.
They said that it was better to be a Christian slave and go to heaven
than to be a heathen in Africa.
vii
Today, abortion supporters say that it is better for babies to be
aborted than to grow up in a home where they are unwanted. Who are they to decide if a life is
meaningless? Do they think that they
are God? Just because an unborn baby is
unwanted today does not mean that he is destined to be unwanted for the rest of
his life. The supporters of the final
solution in Hitler’s Germany made similar arguments when they advocated
exterminating the mentally ill and others.
During the times of slavery and the holocaust, multitudes of people
supported these practices behind the scenes.
Without their support, these evils could not have occurred. There is a question to ask people who
support abortion today. It is whether
they would also have supported slavery or the holocaust had they lived back in
those times.
Nothing illustrates
the total depravity of the pro-abortion activists better than their support for
partial birth abortion. In this
procedure, the baby's head remains inside the Mother and some sharp object is
stuck in its brain. The baby is only
inches away from having full constitutional rights. Anyone can see that this is only a very cynical attempt by the
abortionist to kill the baby, collect his fee and not be charged with
murder. It is unbelievable that the
pro-abortion activists defend this savage procedure. They say that the life of the Mother would be harmed if we did not
allow it. Of course, there would be no
chance for any harm to the Mother if the baby were allowed to be born and then
be put up for adoption. This is another
desperate lie made by the pro-abortion activists to prop up their evil
ideology. They realize that by giving
in on partial birth abortion, the other pro-abortion lies would fall like a
house of cards.
For illustration
purposes, let us assume that the practice of drinking milk was widely
considered immoral. Let us further say
that the evilness of drinking milk was obvious to everyone, including children. What is the best way for a minority of milk
drinkers to get their behavior accepted by the majority? The milk drinkers know that they cannot
convince enough people to accept their position by direct argument alone. The only way to get their immoral behavior
accepted would be to change the definition of commonly understood words. For example, they might start referring to
milk as flavored water. You see, to
drink flavored water is not immoral.
The pro-abortion activists have foisted on us this same semantic
game. They have changed the meaning of
the word life. They say that an unborn
baby is not alive. It is only a mass of
tissue like a tumor. Every child in
America knows that this is a lie. They
have changed the meaning of murder and killing. They say performing an abortion is not the same as killing a
child. They refer to the unborn child
as a fetus. Fetus is a perfectly good
Latin word for fruitful or bringing forth. viii However, it sounds inhuman to our ears. They even changed the name of their movement
from pro-abortion to pro-choice. You
see it is widely believed in this country that individuals should be free to
make their own choices. The name pro-choice
gives the evil abortion movement an aura of American liberty and apple
pie. Slavery supporters played the same
semantic games in their own time. They
said that a slave was not a human like everyone else. He was only property.
Property can be acquired and even destroyed, at the convenience of the
owner. In the same way, a slave could
be bought, sold, or killed. Nazis also
played the same semantic games. They
said that Jews were inferior humans.
This enabled them to carry out the holocaust while hidden in the
darkness of the concentration camps.
The pro-abortion activists always claim that
they are protecting the lives of women by maintaining abortion rights. You can rest assured that their efforts have
nothing to do with protecting the lives of women. It has everything to do with maintaining their political power. By repeating this lie over and over again,
they are able to slander our side by accusing us of not caring about
women. Of course, we care about the
lives of women. We also care about the
lives of their babies. If you listen to
the rhetoric of the pro-abortion activists, you would be convinced that most
abortions are committed to save the life of the Mother. This is not the case. Almost all abortions are committed for the
purposes of convenience and economics.
To dramatize the “need” for safe and legal abortions, activists
frequently present before us an image of desperate women getting dangerous
back-alley abortions where a wire is used.
They have even turned a clothes hanger into a symbol to present this image. To fall for this, one must have a low
opinion about the intelligence of women.
Surely, few if any women would allow themselves to be mutilated in this
manner. Those that would have other
problems that legalized abortion would not cure. How many millions of babies are the pro-abortion activists
willing to sacrifice just to save a few mentally deranged women? Another lie used against us is that we
really do not care about the children.
The pro-abortion activists portray us as wanting to put the unwanted
children saved from abortion into impoverished orphanages. Although the children would find this better
than their fate at the hands of the pro-abortion activists, it is simply not
true. Many of the children saved from
abortion would be wanted by their extended families. Others would find homes with adoptive families. If we were successful in preventing any more
abortions, there would be no need to cram unwanted children into
orphanages.
As good moral
people, what are we to do about this evil of abortion? Is there really anything that we can do to
end it? Yes there is. We should vote only for pro-life
candidates. By our apathy, we have
allowed the other side to capture our federal government, our news media, and
our educational institutions. We need
to help change the hearts and minds of those who support abortion rights. We need to teach our children the truth so
that they will not fall for the lies.
We need to teach our young girls that abortion is not an option. This will protect them against the siren
song of those who promise that abortion is an easy way out of a problem. It is not too late to end abortion. We can turn it around. Let us start by understanding from where the
pro-choice movement draws its support.
Its supporters can perhaps be categorized into four groups. They are the true believers, the convenience
crowd, the don’t rock the boat people, and the abortion providers.
True
Believers - The true believers are radical feminists who have convinced themselves
that evil is good and good is evil.
This group supplies the energy and ideology for the three other
groups. As a group, the true believers
are small in number but they seem large because the media amplifies their
message. This message should be
countered at every turn if we are going to defeat abortion by political
means. We need a continual nationwide
advertising campaign of pro-life messages with no let up until the forces of
abortion are defeated. Our presence
outside abortion facilities should be dignified and orderly. Women seeking abortions are often helpless
and confused. Our focus should be to
offer them a sane and safe alternative.
We should not get into yelling matches on the sidewalk with feminists
and abortion providers. To do so is
counter productive and plays into the hands of a hostile media.
Convenience
Crowd - The convenience crowd is made up of morally weak people. They have a hard time determining the
differences between right and wrong.
They are truly victims of this morally confused age. They have been taught all their lives that
there are no absolutes. The members of
this group are likely to be swayed by the argument that abortion is somehow
good for the unwanted babies. Many men
are in this group. They want the
freedom to have irresponsible sex and then abort any “mistakes”. They want to escape the paying of child
support by destroying the evidence.
Tragically, there are probably many parents in this group. They want to be able to abort any “mistakes”
made by their teenage girls. Since the
convenience crowd has no moral center of their own, they are affected by any
loud moral messages. The constant
barrage of propaganda from the pro-abortion activists has deadened their moral
senses. We can help build their moral
backbone with a continual advertising campaign.
Don’t
Rock the Boat - People who are personally
against abortion but vote for pro-choice candidates are included in this
group. Many vote for pro-choice
candidates because of party loyalty. Unfortunately,
one of our political parties has been completely taken over by the pro-abortion
movement. People need to be persuaded
that the respect for life under God is fundamental. It is the source of our civil rights. Other issues, such as gun control, the minimum wage, or campaign
finance reform cannot be, by themselves, reasons to support a candidate. Also in this don’t rock the boat group are
people who are personally against abortion but do not feel that it is right to
force their views on others. Not
forcing views on others was a strategy adopted by the feminist and other
radical groups in the 60’s in order to shut out traditional values. They were able to get the churches and other
traditional groups of the time to be quiet while they spewed their filthy views
on others. Unfortunately, their
strategy worked and now our culture is in a state of moral chaos. We need to encourage the good people to
stand up for their beliefs. We can
reach them with a continual advertising campaign.
Abortion
Providers - The abortion providers' benefit directly from every abortion they
commit. Ever since President Clinton
removed restrictions on fetal research early on in his term, the abortion
providers have been selling late term baby parts for research to pharmaceutical
companies and universities. Depending
on the parts ordered, the abortion providers are able to make some $1,500 per
baby by engaging in this evil trade. ix
This is in addition to the $335 and up that they charge for each abortion. x Unfortunately, this creates a
huge economic incentive to continue abortion.
The selling of baby parts is probably the reason for the partial birth
abortion procedure. The normal abortion
procedures destroy the baby’s body.
Abortionists needed a way to kill babies and not damage their
parts. Abortion providers as well as
some in the convenience crowd argue that we may as well use the parts instead
of wasting them. However, this same
flawed logic led to the inhuman medical experiments on twins during the
holocaust. These abortion providers
truly have blood on their hands. They
can only carry out their evil while hidden in the darkness of the abortion
clinics. They are the equivalent of the
gas chamber operators during the holocaust and the slave traders during
slavery. They will certainly receive
their reward in the next life.
There is reason for
optimism in this fight against abortion.
The true believers on the anti-abortion side vastly outnumber the true
believers on the pro-abortion side.
Since there is no convenience at being anti-abortion, most supporters of
our side are true believers. We have
truth and goodness on our side. They
have lies and evil on theirs. Born in
each of us is a yearning for this truth and goodness. This we know because all children are instinctively repulsed by
great evils such as abortion. Because
of this yearning, we will eventually overcome abortion just like slavery was
finally overcome. In the future, people
will ask about our generation the same questions that we ask about those who
lived during the times of slavery. Why
did they allow it to happen? Where were
all the good people?
To be successful,
all we have to do is drown out the pro-abortion message. The feminists were able to sneak the Roe v.
Wade decision past the American people with hardly a fight. Well, now is the time for us to fight. We need to take the "coolness" out
of being pro-choice. When this happens,
the shallow politicians who wear the pro-choice label like a badge of honor
will drop it like a hot potato. Taking
the coolness out of pro-choice will also reach the convenience crowd and the
don’t rock the boat group. There has
never been a continual anti-abortion advertising campaign over the entire
nation. There has never even been a
nationwide mailer to all the homes in America.
The Internal Revenue Service sends out nationwide mailers all the time. We can do the same. The pro-abortion side has captured the
media. Therefore, we need to bypass it
with our own message and go directly to the American people. The churches and synagogues need to be fully
mobilized in the fight against this evil.
They have been silenced every time the enemy yells the magic words “separation of church and state”. Why should we abide by the rules of our
cultural enemies? The leaders of
churches and synagogues should not be bullied.
They should strongly encourage all their members to register to vote and
to vote only for pro-life candidates.
The issue of abortion is not just a political one. It is very much a religious one. It drives straight to the heart of our
beliefs. My friends, we have never even
tried these winning strategies. This is
why I am so optimistic about our eventual success.
As a final analogy,
we can look at events during the Civil War.
At first, things went badly for the North. The Confederates in the South, although outnumbered, were winning
most of the battles. Then, President
Lincoln appointed Grant as Lieutenant General of all Union Armies. xi At the time, the common practice of
warfare was to rest after fighting a battle.
Both sides would withdraw, not only to bury their dead, but also to rest
and obtain supplies. However, Grant
changed this practice. He was like a
bulldog. He attacked, attacked, and
attacked. This strategy was pursued for
almost a year, and it buckled the
knees of the Confederate army. To end
abortion, we need to do the same thing.
We need to attack repeatedly and without rest, not with lies and
distortion, but with the truth given to us by God. We are the people of Life, and Life must prevail over death. If the pro-abortion forces are strong, it is
because of our weakness. It is now time
to rouse ourselves. By our faithfulness
and stubborn adherence to the truth, we will prevail. We must prevail. It is by
God’s help that we as a people will overcome this plague of abortion that has
infected our land.
Works Cited
i Central Illinois Right
To Life. "The Consequences of Roe
v. Wade." http://www.cirtl.org/stats.htm. Their sources for statistics
are the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Alan Guttmacher Institute, the official research
arm of Planned Parenthood.
ii Abortion Statistics. "Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report,
Vol. 43, No.50 of December 23, 1994 published by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) -- a government
agency located in Atlanta, GA." http://maxweber.hunter.cuny.edu/socio/kuechler/309/abo-stat.html.
iii Bertrand Russell. "A History of Western Philosophy.” Simon & Schuster. "Locke's Political
Philosophy." 625-629.
iv Karl
Marx. "Communist Manifesto." http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/classics/manifesto.html.
v "Marxism,
Mariategue and the Feminist Movement." http://www.blythe.org/peru-pcp/docs_en/feminist.htm.
vi "Interview With Gloria Steinem." http://www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/interviews/gloria.htm.
vii Larry
E Tise. "A History of the Defense
of Slavery in America." http://www.cts.com/sd/poo/tise.html.
viii
"Fetus." Merriam
Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. Tenth
Edition. 1994.
ix "Stop FTR." http://thekingsnetwork.com/stopftr/partsforsale.html.
x
National Women's Health Organization of Central Florida. http://gynpages.com/cfwho/.
xi Otto
Eisenschiml and Ralph Newman. "The
Civil War - The American Iliad." Mallard Press. "Grant Takes the High Command.” 555.
Acknowledgments
I am grateful to my brother Claude Lee
Bohannon. As an English major, he
helped to calm some of my crudest writing impulses.
www.abortionessay.com ©2000 Larry Bohannon
This essay can
be copied and used in the great fight to save the unborn. The
following link should appear on web pages and other forms of publication: www.abortionessay.com ©2000 Larry Bohannon.
Please notify the author of intended use at lbohannon@abortionessay.com
unless already given permission.