Abortion: Who will speak up for the little ones? Part 1

By Slim Killens

In part one of this three-part series “Abortion: Who will speak up for the little ones?” we will briefly look at the history of abortion in the United States, Margaret Sanger: Founder of Planned Parenthood, Stages of fetal development, Abortion statistics, some of Sanger’s quotes and how such consequences continue to reverberate and divide this nation, the Biblical position on the protection and defense of the unborn child, comments on the recently passed Reproductive Health Act in New York State, excerpts from the Declaration of Independence, and finally our responsibility as the Church to stand in the gap and make a difference – not quietly ignoring these sensitive issues – but taking the lead in the defense of moral principles and extinguishing this brutal atrocity against our innocent children in the womb.

By Chauncey Killens

All unborn babies are designed in the image of God.  The location and size of the fetus does not relinquish its status as a developing, maturing human being.  Every expectant mother, with rare exceptions, has been genetically designed by God to produce offspring based on a specified nine-month biologically finely-tuned (40-week) gestation period in order to give birth (beginning with fertilization of the egg, extending to the birth and delivery of the child).  Provided that the proper pre-natal health care is rendered to the mother, so that the baby, in utero, grows into a healthy, fully developed human being – not a blob of tissue, not a chicken, not a salamander and not a fish – from the beginning stages of development to the delivery – IT’S A HUMAN BABY (see YouTube video – 9 Months in The Womb by PregnancyChat.com).  All human beings, are creations of God, and over one’s lifetime we continue to develop, grow and mature.  Anyone with a modicum of common sense would know that this is a growing, developing and maturing human being.

History of Abortion in United States

According to History of abortion, en.wikipedia.org, The practice of abortion – the termination of a pregnancy – has been known since ancient times. Various methods have been used to perform or attempt an abortion, including the administration of abortifacient herbs, the use of sharpened implements, the application of abdominal pressure, and other techniques. Abortion laws and their enforcement have fluctuated through various eras.  In western countries during the 20th century abortion-rights movements were successful in having abortion bans repealed. While abortion remains legal in most of the West, this legality is regularly challenged by “Pro-Life” groups.

 Anti-abortion statutes began to appear in the United States from the 1820s. In 1821, a Connecticut law, targeted apothecaries who sold poisons to women for purposes of abortion; and New York made post-quickening abortions a felony and pre-quickening abortions a misdemeanor eight years later. Criminalization accelerated from the late 1860s, through the efforts of concerned legislators, doctors, and the American Medical Association.  In 1873, the Comstock Law prohibited any methods of production or publication of information pertaining to the procurement of abortion, the prevention of conception and the prevention of venereal disease, even to students of medicine.  By 1909 the penalty for violating these laws became a $5000 fine and up to five years imprisonment.  By 1910 nearly every state had anti-abortion laws, but these were unevenly enforced, at best.

Many feminists of the era were opposed to abortion. In the Revolution, operated by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, an anonymous contributor signing “A” wrote in 1869 about the subject, arguing that instead of merely attempting to pass a law against abortion, the root cause must also be addressed. Simply passing an anti-abortion law would, the writer stated, “be only mowing off the top of the noxious weed, while the root remains. […] No matter what the motive, love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed. It will burden her conscience in life, it will burden her soul in death; But of! Thrice guilty is he who drove her to the desperation which impelled her to the crime.” Bold italics mine.

To many feminists of this era, abortion was regarded as an undesirable necessity forced upon women by thoughtless men.  Even the “free love” wing of the feminist movement refused to advocate abortion and treated the practice as an example of the hideous extremes to which modern marriage was driving women. Marital rape and the seduction of unmarried women were societal ills which feminists believed caused the need to abort, as men did not respect women’s right to abstinence. Social feminists tended to be more sympathetic to the need for abortion options for the poor, and indeed socialist feminist doctors, such as Marie Equi, Madeleine Pelletier, and William J. Robison, themselves performed low-cost or free abortions for poor women. 

Margaret Sanger: Founder of Planned Parenthood

Margaret Sanger (9/14/1879 – 9/6/1966), grew up in an Irish family of 11 children in Corning, New York. Her mother, whose health had been weakened by so many pregnancies, including seven miscarriages, died at age 50 of tuberculosis. Sanger went on to work as a nurse on the Lower East Side of New York and then traveled to Europe to study birth control methods.

In 100 years planned parenthood.org, excerpts of Margaret Sanger’s accomplishments in promoting the legalization of birth control are noted: She also travels across the country to share her vision, which leads to the opening of a chapter in Denver, Colorado in 1916. Today, it’s part of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains.  In 1927, By a vote to 8 to 1, the Supreme Court condones the practice of forced sterilization for “the health of the patient and the welfare of society” in its Buck v. Bell decision.  In 1930, In response to many Black women being denied access to New York City’s health and social services at the height of the Great Depression, the New York Urban League endorsed Margaret Sanger’s opening of a new birth control center in Harlem…In 1943, The first supportive clergy committee is formed through the efforts of Margaret Sanger and Kenneth Rose, then executive director of Planned Parenthood…Many religious denominations and leaders have played an instrumental role in advocating for reproductive health, including access to abortion and birth control in the United States…In 1967, The Reverend Howard R. Moody, minister of the Judson Memorial Church, together with 19 Protestant ministers and two rabbis, establishes a national underground network of 1,400 clergy members to help women seeking abortion. Three years later, when New York State legalized abortion, he helped establish a clinic for New York women seeking safe, legal abortion…In 1973, In a landmark decision, the US Supreme Court rules that the constitutional right to privacy extends to a woman’s decision to have an abortion. Today, abortion is one of the safest medical procedures. Nearly one in three women will have an abortion at some point in the lifetime.

The debate on abortion is not something new in the United States and it still continues to rage on today.  Historically, in the ancient past to our present day, various nations have legally adopted different views concerning a woman’s right to abort an unborn child. This sensitive debate over abortion in the American culture, has also been long deliberated, questioning whether or not the uniting of the human male sperm with the female egg, called a zygote, actually represents a viable human being that should be protected under certain Constitutional and Civil Right laws (as suggested by prolife advocates) or that a woman’s right, for any reason, to legally terminate the fetal tissue anytime from the beginning of conception, even up to the end of her nine-month pregnancy (as has been recently proposed and signed into law by abortion advocates in New York State).

The stages of growth, produced by the Cleveland Clinic, describe the month-to-month fetal development of the unborn child in the womb.  This is important information to help people understand in laymen’s term how the child develops in the womb.

Fetal Development: Stages of Growth

Month 1—Within 24 hours after fertilization, the egg begins dividing rapidly into many cells. It remains in the fallopian tube for about three days.

Month 2—Your developing baby is called an embryo from the moment of conception to the eighth week of pregnancy. After the eighth week and until the moment of birth, your developing baby is called a fetus.   At about 6 weeks, your baby’s heart beat can usually be detected. Bold italics mine.

Month 3—Your baby’s arms, hands, fingers, feet, and toes are fully formed…your baby’s reproductive organs also develop, but the baby’s gender is difficult to distinguish on ultrasound.  By the end of the third month, your baby is fully formed.  All the organs and extremities are present and will continue to mature in order to become functional…the chance of miscarriage drops considerably after three months.

Month 4—Your baby’s heartbeat may now be audible through an instrument called a doppler…your baby can even suck his or her thumb, yawn, stretch, and make faces…your doctor can see on ultrasound if you have a boy of girl.

Month 5—You begin to feel your baby move, since he or she is developing muscles and exercising them…Hair begins to grow on baby’s head. Your baby’s shoulders, back, and temples are covered by a soft fine hair called lanugo. This hair protects your baby…shed at the end of the baby’s first week of life.

Month 6—Your baby responds to sounds by moving or increasing the pulse…if born prematurely, your baby may survive after the 23rd week with intensive care. By the end of the sixth month, your baby is about 12 inches long and weighs about 2 pounds (this is important due to the recent developments of the “Reproductive Health Act” passed in New York State). Parenthesis added. Bold italics mine. (This is important due to the recent developments of the “Reproductive Health Act” passed in New York state – from the 6th to the end of the 9th month of pregnancy the innocent unborn child can be terminated, despite the fact that “Age of Development” can be demonstrated through ultrasound or sonogram, has no rights). Comments in parenthesis mine.

Month 7—Your baby will continue to mature and develop reserves of body fat…He or she changes position frequently and responds to stimuli, including sound, pain, and light.

Month 8—Your baby’s brain is developing rapidly at this time, and can see and hear. Most internal systems are well developed, but the lungs may still be immature.

Month 9—Your baby continues to grow and mature: the lungs are nearly fully developed…Baby is definitely ready to enter the world!…Your baby’s position changes to prepare itself for labor and delivery. The baby drops down in your pelvis.  Usually, the baby’s head is down toward the birth canal.  Your baby is about 18 to 20 inches long and weighs about 7 pounds. Bold italics mine.

Although I take a strong stance on abortion – as a prolife advocate, that believes life begins in the womb, as demonstrated above in stages of fetal development – I am somewhat, sympathetic to the situation and concerns that Margaret Sanger had. It was her desire to pertect and assist women in the early nineteen-twenties through the Suffrage Movement (women’s rights) and Birth Control (privacy rights) due to the limited power women were afforded in society at the time. Sometimes women were met with harsh conditions, often by men, which included prostitution, marital rape, seduction of unmarried women and unwanted children.  The technological and scientific advancements we have today weren’t in place, seems to be one of the many reasons why women sought legal rights and protection for the privacy rights of their bodies.  However, today there seems to be very few legitimate reasons, as I and many women would agree, that a woman should legally be given the right to take the life of the unborn child.

In the second of this three-part series we will look at some abortion statistics in the United States, excerpts of quotes from Margaret Sanger, no matter how sincere such consequences continue to reverberate and divide this nation.

——————– JOIN US – PROLIFE ADVOCATES ——————–

Location: Five Star Blvd & Stanford Ranch Road (near Costco Store)

Date: Saturday February 23, 2019

Time: Noon to 2 pm

We will be meeting on Saturday February 23, 2019 near Costco in Roseville, CA for a peaceful protest in defense of the unborn child, as a response to a recent “Reproductive Health Act” bill passed in New York State allowing abortions up to the last moments of a nine-month pregnancy.   

For additional information contact: Paulette 916.317.6111 or Slim 916.562.2744

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