by Ellie Peck | Mar 21, 2015 | Uncategorized |
You can’t have it both ways. You can hurt and be angry for the victim of the most recent “womb robbery” whose baby died but she will survive. You can be disturbed at the disorder that would cause a woman to want to cut open a 7 month pregnant belly and try to remove the baby. Be horrified. But the worst you can call it is 1st Degree Assault and “Unlawful Termination of Pregnancy”. But your sympathy can only go so far. You can’t with a clear conscience, join with the voice of the victim to claim that her baby was killed, at least not if you are an abortion rights supporter. The sympathy offered has to be abbreviated lest the double standard show. Colorado law allows for outpatient abortions up to 26 weeks and ‘medically indicated’ (e.g. if the baby has a genetic disorder or fetal anomaly) abortions up to 34 weeks. The baby that was killed on the 18th was about 28 weeks or so… in the gray area of whether or not he or she could be considered a human being. According to law, either a pregnancy was unlawfully terminated, or a baby was killed. A matter of days on either side of the 26 weeks could be the deciding factor, or whether the baby took only one gasp of air or five… if any. The absurdity of dancing the viability dance and ‘born alive’ clauses seem to cruise by our national conscience unchecked. Supposedly Americans generally support abortion in cases of rape and incest. Yet most Americans feel increasingly uncomfortable with abortion as a pregnancy progresses. Viability...
by Ellie Peck | Mar 5, 2015 | Uncategorized |
This Sunday is International Women’s Day, the apex of our nation’s very own “Women’s History Month” celebrated every March. (I worry the men are feeling left out of the celebrations—supposedly there is an International Men’s Day— but let’s get real, it’s all about Movember.) Women on the other hand, need not fear; the voices clamoring for recognition and equality have not died down since the days of our foremothers, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Back then it was the right to vote. Now it is a right to abort. And sadly mixed in are all those real and pressing issues that should be on our consciences as a nation: concerns about pay gap, maternity leave, sex trafficking, domestic abuse, the objectification of women, and child support. (Yes, I said that politically charged phrase: child support—we must be willing to shell out some public dollars to offer women the economic support they need to raise a child. Granted, how said dollars are distributed is another topic. But pro-lifers must all do better to raise our voices in saying that we support women and babies BEFORE and AFTER birth, otherwise we are empty suits.) During all these celebrations of women, I wish these items would be the focus. Yet, I’m certain we’ll be reading news clips all next week about all the Very Important Persons who insist women are still suffering to claim their full ‘reproductive rights.’ And that’s where I start to get mad. I think the case has been pretty well made by now that abortion is actually quite ANTI-woman. (See Feminists for Life for all the...
by Ellie Peck | Mar 1, 2015 | Uncategorized |
Driving down the highway recently, I noticed a prominent, very large billboard that featured the ultrasound photo of an embryonic baby and the Bible verse: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” (Jeremiah 1:5) I cringed. Not because the verse isn’t beautiful or evocative, but I cringed at what a waste of space and money the sign was. A sign that could’ve had a much stronger impact by using non-religious words. How many more people would have paused to think? Christians: we might be sabotaging our own movement. By continuing to inject religion in every component and in every venue of pro-life activism, we push away an increasingly secular culture. We have to face the very real fact that we live in a post-Christian society. Holding up signs at Planned Parenthood that say “God is pro-life” will not only fall on hardened hearts… it will damage the entire perception of what it means to be pro-life. Using the Bible or religious arguments to appeal to people who are either completely anti-religion or casually relativist at best, is a sure way to lose credibility. I have been in many debates over abortion and the minute people find out that I’m a Christian, my message suddenly becomes offensive. They think I’m just preaching to them and refuse to consider anything else I have to say. Is it right? No. Is it unfair? Yes. But it is the reality that we have to deal with. I don’t hide my faith when I discuss abortion nowadays, I am just very careful to omit that information before the time is right. You can’t pluck a fruit before it...
