About a month ago Karen and I saw the movie Un-Planned, the true story of Abby Johnson's conversion for employee at Planned Parenthood to pro-life activist. I didn't need the movie to convert me; I'm an avowed, long time pro life person. I don't need to get into particulars here, but I have plenty of personal reasons, apart from my faith, that compel me to what I believe is the only sensible and correct decision: Abortion is wrong.
Just getting publicity out about the movie was a Herculean task. Being the Luddite that I am, I only understand conceptually how marketing is done through social media. I'm more aware of the ads that are run on radio and television. But I don't recall any ads being aired on radio and television, and apparently Twitter had an unexplained malfunction that suspended the movie's account just in time for the opening weekend of the movie. It was bad enough there was a virtual blackout on mainstream media sites -- perhaps there wasn't enough money in the budget for major ads -- and only a handful of theaters agreed to show the film. But then Twitter has a mysterious malfunction that suspended the account...when has this happened for a mainstream movie, say...Vice, or W? By the by, the theater at which we saw the film put it in the smallest theater in the building. Perhaps because of that, every show was a sellout.
What's irksome about this is that it's a transparent attempt to quash the movie and its agenda. Unlike other movies that push liberal agendas, anything that remotely espouses a contrary view is attacked, directly and indirectly, to silence it.
That this is being done surreptitiously contrasts with the overt attacks being made on campuses and, lately, in the streets. Putting aside for the moment the hyperbolic displays of menstrual blood smeared on props and vagina hats that are trotted out to support the notion of a woman's right to control her own birth control issues, i.e., right to an abortion, violence and intimidation is being used as well. Last week an irate undergrad attacked pro lifers at UNC and Brian Sims, a self-proclaimed defender of women's reproductive rights -- which is interesting because he's openly gay -- intimidated three teenaged girls and a middle-aged woman praying before a Planned Parenthood charnel house. They weren't protesting, they were praying. Sims even offered money for their identities so they could be doxxed, or publicly outed, so protesters could find them at home and at work. This is hardly the behavior of a United States congressman who has sworn to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the country. He also happens to be a law school graduate.
There was a time when abortionists argued that viability was a key consideration as to when an abortion should be permitted. No more. Abortionists are now incensed that states are passing so-called heartbeat bills, which prohibit abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, and are pushing for not only partial birth abortions, but also abortions shortly after birth. Apparently, a child isn't a child until an abortionist determines that it is. A more barbaric and depraved position is unimaginable. Yet, abortionists point the finger at pro lifers and declare that we are inhumane, are condemning women to carry their rapists' babies, carry children conceived by incest and force them into dangerous back-alley abortions. Somehow, the irony is lost on them. Merely declaring a child not to be human does not rob it of its humanity.
Another tack they're taking is trying to shame pro lifers by saying that a child born into bad circumstances is virtually the same as killing a baby in utero, so why should we be concerned about an abortion? First, this is the usual tactic: Take the most extreme, heart-rending examples -- rape, incest, deplorable circumstances -- to justify murdering an innocent baby. In which of those examples is the baby at fault? It's one thing to put a person like John Wayne Gacy to death. But an unborn child? Even if the child's father is a serial rapist, why should that child pay the ultimate price?
But second, these same people -- Hollywood celebrities, liberal politicians, and their ilk -- advocate on behalf of low income people, but what are they doing to lessen their lot? They automatically point to conservatives and blame them for the circumstances in which they find these people, but in truth the blame is shared equally at best. Yet, it's as if pro lifers only want to help the unborn children at the expense of children who are living in horrible conditions, which simply isn't true.
Another argument is that it's white men that are foisting pregnancies on women and taking away the right to an abortion. Although it's true that white men are pro lifers, it's also true that there are white male abortionists. But there are also women who are pro lifers, black and Latino pro lifers and people who, just because their conscience tells them abortion is wrong, fall on the side of life. It's a massive red herring to inject white male privilege into the equation when in fact opposition to abortion is a multi-hued and genderless.
The law itself is inconsistent when it comes to children in utero. If a pregnant woman is killed, the murderer can be charged with two homicides. If a child is in utero when someone dies, provision can be made for the child to inherit property. Yet, in the context of abortion and women's reproductive rights, these children aren't humans until they're born -- and chillingly, now, even after they're born in some states.
I come to this discussion with huge bias. Life, with some bad decisions that I made, left me childless. Perhaps my biggest regret in life is that I never had children. So I'd have to admit that I'm terribly biased in this discussion. Furthermore, in our family, we've had children born that were conceived as a result of rape and who have had birth defects, so the usual arguments trotted out by abortionists don't resonate with me. I do admit that abortion should be available when the life of the mother is in jeopardy or where it is medically certain that the child will be stillborn. But abortion on demand, as if this were the same as asking for the septic tank to be cleaned, is reprehensible to me.
Now my native state, Illinois, has passed what it purports to be an abortion law but what in reality is an infanticide law. It's disgusting. But in this PC/#MeToo world in which we live, any spin that can be put on something to make it more palatable and disguise the truth of the matter is acceptable, because so many people lack the ability to discern truth no matter how badly it's camouflaged.
I cry for and pray for all the souls that heartless, selfish, thoughtless people have aborted and ask that God has mercy on their souls.
(c) 2019 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles
