The right side of history.

The right side of history.  It’s a  popular phrase amongst liberals.  But it contains a certain amount – actually a huge amount of hubris.  It suggests history will look back on those who disagree much like we look back on the people of Germany during WWII or those who supported segregation.  So let me tell you about my side of history.  Because I’ve chosen mine too.  You see, I believe history will look back on this era and look at the supporters of abortion and say “how could you?”  How could you ignore what abortion is?  How could you ignore the humanity of the unborn child in favor of the convenience of the woman?  How could you refuse to look at the dead babies when we tried to show them to you?  Let’s take it a step further.  I’ve had many friends who are “pro-choice” who have said it’s ok to abort in the first trimester – or fairly early on – but agree late term abortion is wrong.  But – they say – late term abortion is rare.  A very small percentage of abortions.  They’re right.  It’s a very small percentage – of a very large number of abortions.  In 2013 (the latest year we have numbers for from the CDC) there were 664,335 abortions in the US.  1.3  percent of those were performed at or after 21 weeks. For those unfamiliar with fetal development, 21 weeks is the very edge of viability outside the womb. After 21 weeks the survival rate of prematurely born babies skyrockets.  Most of us can agree the idea of dismembering a baby in the womb at this age is horrific (and that is what they do – stick the forceps in, grasp an arm or leg, and rip it off – then once the limbs and torso are dismembered they crush the skull).  But it’s such a small percentage, right?  So just in 2013, based on the CDC numbers, we’re talking about 8,636 babies.  Are 8,636 innocent lives enough for you to vote for someone who wants to stop it? Or someone who supports late term abortion?  If 8,636 lives aren’t enough, for you, how about 406,969?  How did I arrive at the number?  Using CDC data where available.  Number of late term abortions ranged from 1% to 1.5% but some earlier years simply said less than 1% so I used 0.5% (a very conservative estimate given the other data).  I went back to 1973.  I rounded down to the nearest whole number on each calculation.  So over 400,000 babies killed after 21 weeks gestation (not including 2014-2016).  Is that not enough to merit your vote?  Your conscience?  Have you turned a blind eye to this?  I'm including pictures - the beautiful, and the graphic and violent

 Because it is violence. So here are pictures of my children and other babies.  Real pictures.  That’s Kaiden.  Not a fetus.  Kaiden.  And Kellan.  Real photos of babies in the womb at 12 weeks, 16 weeks, 20 weeks, 24 weeks.  I know you don’t want to see it but I dare you to do a google search and look at what you’re supporting.  Be willing to look it in the face if you’re willing to march for it, advocate for it, vote for it. If you posted/reacted to that heartbreaking photo of the drowned toddler in Greece or the shell shocked child in Aleppo – look at the photos and know what you are voting to sustain.  Don’t be the “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” person.  I dare you to confront your views on whether this is right and moral and acceptable.  And if you take that dare, I also dare you to listen to the videos of Planned Parenthood doctors talking about how they will harvest organs by “crushing above and crushing below” to keep the parts the buyers want intact so that they can sell them.  They’re not “deceptively edited” as some would have you believe.  Watch them laugh as they toss “another boy” dead onto a table.  Watch as they show someone how “cool” it is that the baby’s heart is still trying to beat after an abortion.  Read the stories of former abortionists and clinic workers – how they sort through the arms and legs and heads and ribcages of the tiny human beings who only moments before were alive and growing.  And tell me that’s ok.  Tell me when it’s ok to reach into the womb where the baby’s heart is beating (5 weeks), baby is moving (8 weeks), kicking (11 weeks), feeling your touch (12 weeks), listening to your heartbeat (18 weeks), dreaming (23 weeks), and end that life.  And even if your answer is after viability, tell me how it’s ok to kill over 400,000 babies at that point.  This is my side of history.  This is where I stand up.  This is why I vote the way I do.  Because I for one will not be part of the unborn holocaust.  I will not use my small voice in the voting booth to promote those who block legislation to stop it, who appoint judges who will strike down protections for the most innocent of us, and who sell the lie to the American people that this is ok.  That he’s not really a baby.  That she’s a choice.  I will not have that on my conscience.

We look at the German people back in the 30s and 40s and say – how could you not speak up?  How could you not see what they were doing to the Jews?  How could you not stand up for what was right and for the humanity of your neighbors who were vulnerable?  They were sold a lie – Jews are less than human – followed by another lie – they’re just going to work camps.  And they refused to look.  They didn’t want to see what was really being done to these humans. Will you look?  Or will you pretend it’s none of your business?  It’s someone else’s “choice.”   You don’t want to ban all abortions – fine.  I understand the argument that the early stages of fetal development are different than later stages (I disagree but I understand it).  But by voting pro choice you’re saying the killing of thousands of babies a year – hundreds of thousands since Roe v. Wade, is an acceptable price to pay for access to abortion on demand.  And I will never agree with that.  I will not watch the ash fall from the sky and pretend it’s not happening.

Is this the society we want to be?  One that ends human life because it’s inconvenient and because we can?  Kaiden was my baby – from the moment he was conceived, to the moment (at 5 weeks, 5 days) I first saw his tiny little heart beating, to the time he had hiccups on the ultrasound at 12 weeks, to the 20 week ultrasound where he was sticking out his tongue to taste, to the day he was born and in my arms.  Kellan was my baby from the moment he was conceived, to the little heartbeat (at 6 weeks), to the little wiggly gummy bear we saw at 8 weeks, to the baby that wouldn’t bend his legs at 12 weeks, to my sweet little observer today.  Nothing has changed except time and location.  I’ve at time heard the argument that every baby deserves to be wanted – to be loved.  And that’s true.  They do deserve that.  But more fundamentally than that, they deserve to live.  They are not better off dead than alive with a mother who was ill-prepared to have them.  They are not better off dead than alive with Down’s Syndrome (abortion has led to a 30% decrease in this population).  They deserve to take that first breath, to open their eyes and see the sun for the first time, to crawl, to walk, to cry, to smile.  They don’t deserve to have their legs torn from their bodies, their skulls crushed.  To be thrown into a pile of medical waste or cut up for parts sold to researchers.  Because of those 400,000+ babies I will not vote for a pro-choice candidate.  Because of the 52,000,000+ aborted in the US since 1973, I will not vote for a pro-choice candidate.  It’s the least I can do for those who are the most vulnerable and cannot speak for themselves.

P.S. for those that think late term abortions are mostly women who find out there are fetal abnormalities research doesn’t bear this out.  Here’s a study from the Guttmacher Institute (previously a semi-autonomous division of planned parenthood that spun off in 1977 and is certainly not pro-choice:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1363/4521013/full

http://www.factcheck.org/2015/09/clinton-off-on-late-term-abortions/