On this 42nd anniversary of the egregious U.S. Supreme Court decision known as Roe V. Wade, the horrors of abortion are too much to talk about. You can’t have an accurate discussion of the procedure without a graphic content warning. Don’t worry, I don’t intend to go there.
I’m just going to state one fact. At 20 weeks, a fetus can feel pain.
That should be all we need to hear. That should be the end of the discussion. The very mention of it saddens me, because I know the facts about abortion. Yet somehow, despite the fact that a 20-week old fetus can feel pain, the idea of ending abortion at that stage is still controversial.
Earlier this week, the House of Representatives voted down a bill to end all abortions committed after 20 weeks. It’s heartbreaking. Especially since theoretically the opponents of abortion have a majority in Congress.
How have we even reached the stage as a society where pain to an infant is just the acceptable price we pay? To me sometimes it seems hopeless. But I wouldn’t do these radio updates if I didn’t think there was hope. We don’t have to throw up our hands and give up. We don’t have to just accept that pain to unborn children is inevitable.
All across America, recognition that fetuses can feel pain at 20 weeks is spreading. Laws to end abortion at that stage are becoming more and more common. Why? Because – Americans learn. We may make mistakes. We may go down the wrong path for a while. But Americans as a whole learn from their mistakes, and we are beginning that process now.
Laws that protect unborn children from pain aren’t happening in a vacuum. They’re happening because citizens of every kind, of every color, of every faith and even no faith, are standing up to say that protecting the vulnerable is our job. There is a rising wave of Americans who know that we can do better as a society, and they no longer remaining silent. They are writing to their Congressmen. They are testifying at the legislature. And they are making their voices heard to stand up for life, and for the vulnerable unborn children who can’t protect themselves at all, but who can still feel pain.
You and I can join them. Today at noon, there will be a pro-life rally at the capitol. Women will speak about how being pro-life is also being pro-woman. There will be refreshments, and there will be legislators. This is our chance to show them that they represent citizens who care about children who haven’t yet been born, but who do feel pain.
Many in politics disagree on the role of Government. Is it the government’s job to make sure everyone buys health insurance, or to choose how much profit a business is allowed to make? With the legislature in town, we can expect that the role of government will be questioned every day.
But most people agree about the first role of government. There is one very basic job that governments are expected to do, or they are not really governments at all. They should at least try to protect all their citizens from violence – especially those who can’t protect themselves.
This week Washington fell tragically short on that most basic of goals. Our government decided that it would not even try to protect unborn children who can feel pain. I am unwilling to accept that outcome, I for one am going to be at the pro-life rally today.
Forty two years ago, the Supreme Court’s fateful decision made abortion legal in America against the will of the people. At once, we began the long American tradition of learning from our mistakes. That process will conclude when we once again protect all of our citizens from conception to natural death.
