Why Life Is Precious

In light of the recent video evidence revealing the harvesting and sale of aborted baby organs by Planned Parenthood, I find it puzzling; not that so many find the practice abhorrent, but that it is found surprising. Planned Parenthood was founded by Margaret Sanger, an American birth control advocate and is regarded as the patron saint of abortionists. Ms. Sanger had found common cause with proponents of eugenics, believing that they both sought to “assist the race toward the elimination of the unfit.” Would any who have witnessed the earlier fervor over the use of stem cells taken from aborted babies for scientific research then not expect an even further reach by abortionists when the heat over that issue had subsided?

What have we come to in western civilization? Modernism has done all in its power to undermine, if not seek to, eliminate tradition, family and the supernatural; and has convinced many, by appealing to the weakest parts of human nature, that the disorderly environment in which they live is orderly. Proof of this is witnessed by the callous and cavalier manner in which two high level officials of Planned Parenthood, over lunch, discussed the disturbing abortion procedures performed on unborn babies, so as not to damage particular organs which were to be harvested for research. Then these same doctors of medicine, who have taken an oath to “do no harm,” casually sip wine and order entrees as they negotiate the sale price of those organs; thereby reducing the perception of the unborn to nothing more than lab rats. It is obvious that they have a selective view of life’s value. This same indifferent mentality, that can unceremoniously toss into a garbage bin the remnants of an organism that once possessed the potential to develop into a mature living human being with hopes and dreams, now snuffed out, will enthusiastically applaud a discovered possibility that a microbe may exist on some far away extra-terrestrial world.

The point is, that without life there is no occasion for the things that affect us most. Sorrow, regret, defeat, doubt, hate, joy, happiness, victory, hope and love would not be if not for the life in men and women. How can we employ the best of who we are when we put into practice the worst. This is not a matter of making progress toward some theorized good through trial and error, but rather making trials and errors unnecessary by immediate good acts of the will; simply because we can.

Can public opinion change? If one can change one’s view then all are capable of the same. But the change must be formed first in the heart. Abby Johnson, the former Planned Parenthood administrator became pro-life after watching a 13-week-old baby fight for its life during an abortion. She watched the sonogram screen as the little boy pulled away from the instruments and pressed against the wall of his mother’s womb to escape harm. That experience permanently changed her, and led her to oppose abortion. Norma McCorvey was pro-choice on abortion, but is now a pro-life advocate. She says: “Back in 1973, I was a very confused twenty-one year old with one child and facing an unplanned pregnancy. At the time I fought to obtain a legal abortion.” This testimony is significant because Norma was the real woman behind “Roe” of the “Roe vs Wade” Supreme Court Decision to legalize abortion. She continues: “I think it’s safe to say that the entire abortion industry is based on a lie…I am dedicated to spending the rest of my life undoing the law that bears my name.” In considering these two noteworthy conversions it is not impossible for one to believe that many others of right reason and good conscience can do the same. These two women came to see life not as selective but all-inclusive.

God willed all things into being. God is love and that love is inherent, in some manner, in all that He has made. Love is a thing that cannot be hoarded, but must be given away. As the lyrics of a song so ably states: “A bell is not a bell until its rung, a song is not a song until its sung. And love is not love until its given away.” All things in God’s creation have purpose. And only human life has the capacity to fulfill its primary purpose in returning that love to God and sharing it with others. That is why life is so precious. And as such should not be so flippantly debased.

“For in Him we live and move and have our being.” – Acts 17:28