ANALYSIS
Abortion is a violent act. In the earliest abortions, the newly implanted embryonic human being is sucked out of the womb with a suction device. In later-term abortions, unborn babies often are torn limb by limb. Now, since the overturn of Roe v Wade by the Supreme Court just days ago, abortion extremists are unleashing violence on churches and pro-life pregnancy centers across the nation; centers created to provide support to women who choose to give birth to their children.
These true women’s clinics empower women with pregnancy information and aid, and many offer ultrasounds allowing expectant mothers to see their babies in the womb. Many of these centers have been spray-painted with violent threats, windows broken, and some even fire-bombed.
Rather than criticize the vandalism, Sen. Elizabeth Warren tweeted her dim view of pro-life pregnancy centers and hopes to pass legislation to stifle their work.
“With Roe gone, it’s more important than ever to crack down on so-called ‘crisis pregnancy centers that mislead and deceive patients seeking abortion care. My bill with @SenatorMenendez would stop these harmful practices,” Warren said.
Tweeting her response, pro-life actress Patricia Heaton slammed Warren for escalating the rhetoric and putting these women’s clinics in jeopardy.
“Our medical pregnancy clinic serves client families for five years, providing superior services for anyone who asks. We raised $250K for a mobile medical clinic for underserved areas, treating everyone. Because of people like @SenWarren we now have to hire armed security,” Heaton said.
As CBN News has reported for weeks, a radical group calling itself “Jane’s Revenge” claimed responsibility for the firebombing of a Wisconsin pro-life group’s office back in May, and since then, vandalism of other buildings housing pro-life organizations around the country. Writing warnings like “If abortions aren’t safe, then you aren’t either,” it’s threatened further violence if pro-life groups don’t disband and stop advocating against the abortion of unborn children.
Some abortion extremists are apparently using a map of pro-life centers compiled by two University of Georgia professors in 2018 that pinpoints addresses and locations of various pro-life organizations, allowing violent abortion supporters to target the centers closest to them.
Oddly enough, not only have crisis pregnancy centers been targeted, the rage after the decision overturning Roe v Wade has boiled over even in leftist states like Vermont, Oregon, and California where abortion is unlikely to be restricted. Government buildings and local businesses have been vandalized in protests against the Supreme Court decision last Friday that turns the abortion issue back to the states.
Last Friday, a protest outside of a Eugene, Oregon, pregnancy center resulted in 10 arrests after the demonstration grew violent. Eugene Police said the crowd of roughly 75 people started moving toward the building. After a five-hour confrontation, officers arrested the worst of the perpetrators.
And a fire at a north-central Colorado Christian pregnancy center this past weekend is being investigated as arson, according to Longmont Police. The fire at the Life Choices clinic was reported at 3:17 am Saturday. The FBI and its evidence response team are also assisting with the investigation.
The building sustained fire and heavy smoke damage, police said. The vandals also spray-painted black paint on the outside walls with graffiti including, once again, the threat, “If abortion(s) aren’t safe, neither are you.”
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Lessons from 4 Decades of Abortion Coverage
At this momentous time in history with the overturn of Roe after nearly fifty years, I find myself reflecting on the early battle over abortion, and mulling over what I learned watching and covering the abortion debate since the 1980s.
Now that the Court has ruled Roe unconstitutional, it does not make abortion illegal. How the abortion issue is handled is now up to the individual States to decide through the people’s chosen representatives. Sounds pretty democratic to this longtime observer, despite the rants by the Left that democracy is threatened by the decision.
The violent reactions only confirm to me what I first stated in this article, that abortion is a violent act. And violence begets violence. That’s why I believe we’re in for a very bumpy ride in the coming weeks.
What Convinced Me I Could No Longer be Blasé About Abortion
As a young reporter, I was ambivalent and non-committal about abortion, even as I worked for a Christian organization. I interviewed people on both sides of the debate. It wasn’t until I interviewed women who had gone through the procedure and suffered great emotional distress because of that decision that I began to look at it differently.
Like so many people, I’d never had any experience with abortion and was even unfamiliar with the development of a baby in the womb. One woman I interviewed had had a saline abortion seven months into her pregnancy. In my research, I viewed footage of a completely formed little infant that age, its body scorched and burnt from the saline-injected into a mother’s womb, and delivered intact but dead. That convinced me I could no longer be blasé about abortion.
Later, ultrasounds showed me it wasn’t just a “product of conception” or “just a spoonful of tissue” as the feminists told me; whatever it looked like in the beginning, it had the makings of a live human baby.
Not Really Pro ‘Choice’
I also discovered that those who say they are for tolerance and “choice” often really aren’t at all. Otherwise, why not let the pro-life pregnancy centers have their best shot at showing young expectant mothers the facts about pregnancy?
Instead, over the years the pro-abortion side has fought against laws that would require a woman to be informed about what’s in her womb before having an abortion and be given a waiting period to think about what she really wants to do. Shouldn’t a person be fully informed before making a life or death decision?
As with so many issues, the Left wants to shut down the flow of information. That’s what Sen. Warren is now proposing. But taking that route diminishes the fact that two living human beings are involved, something that degrades all of human life.
Attitude Is Everything – Your Life Isn’t Over
Something else I’ve lived long enough to know… what looks like a terrible situation that could “ruin your life,” often is not.
When I was a young teen, I thought the worst thing that could happen to you was to get pregnant before being married. I still believe it’s best to be married before having a baby. I also believe that’s the moral course to take. But what I’ve observed is this – attitude is everything. The out-of-wedlock teenage mother does not have to succumb to killing her child to make it in life.
People will help you. Crisis pregnancy centers will help you. Churches will help you. I’ve seen enough women who chose life, now 40 years later, who still got an education, who found a stable life, who loved that baby that was born when they were so young and have led happy lives and now are enjoying their grandchildren.
This leads to a final thought.
The God Factor
God can take a difficult situation and bring good out of it, and He will if we let Him. I’ve often thought that many who push abortion on a woman who’s in tough circumstances leave out the God factor. They think it’s up to them to replace God’s plan for their own, that they know what’s best. How hopeless is that?!
Ultimately, abortion is a spiritual issue. First, killing the unborn is killing His creation. But it’s also saying He is a feeble, helpless God, that He can’t help us in our troubles. He can, and He will.
What I’ve seen over the years is that God heals broken hearts and He forgives us for our mistakes – if we chose life, or if in our desperation, we forgot about Him and chose death. Come to Jesus. He gave His life to save yours and your baby’s.
The remainder of this article is available in its entirety at CBN