By Robert Rinearson

From The News~Sentinel


I was 20 years old in 1973 when Roe vs. Wade was decided. I was still wet behind the ears and definitely naive. I was the perfect disciple for a multitude of influences. At the time, I was associating with a lot of liberals who kept themselves busy showing us the path to enlightenment.

After abortion was legalized, I followed their lead by praising the decision as a break for all women from the bondage of servitude to males. I remember justifying abortion as a means of saving children from the horrors of physical abuse. And those who so vehemently opposed abortion were little more than overzealous, self-righteous religious kooks. This was a popular position then, just as it is now.

Somewhere along the line, I changed my mind. So what if I changed my views? To those whose opinions I challenged, I was just another reactionary following the religious right – which was news to my minister, who couldn’t remember the last time he saw me in church. The Supreme Court had made its decision and, despite what the American people wanted, a woman’s right to an abortion was now the law. Besides, I was a man. According to these activists on the court, it was none of my business.

But there was something else. I was an adopted kid. The fact that my biological mother could have gone to some back room and had me aborted as a way to deal with this unwanted tissue stuck with me. She had already made one bad choice but decided not to make another.

Of course, another pro-abortion argument was that a woman who chose abortion should have a proper medical procedure so that her health would not be impaired. Either way, at least one had a chance of walking away, and it sure wasn’t going to be the fetus.

At first, I wasn’t really vocal about my change in opinion. Perhaps I didn’t want to infuriate many of the women I knew, or maybe I had yet to sort out my views on pregnancies as a result of rape, or whether to abort when a woman’s life was in question. Maybe I was intimidated by the left’s ability to stigmatize those who were pro-life.

Surprisingly, it was science and technology that helped me find my voice. First came ultrasound. To see the movement of a grey mass in the womb and to hear the unmistakable rhythm of a heartbeat testified that life existed. As the technology has progressed, we can now see the movement of limbs as early as eight weeks. We can witness a child develop almost from conception.

I have also viewed snapshots of fetuses that have been aborted. They are not so different from some of the more horrendous crime-scene photos I have seen. The pro-choice crowd would say I’m being sensationalist, or they might say nothing at all. They will argue that life only begins at birth.

But as the Rev. Clenard Howard Childress, director of Life Education and Resource Network, or LEARN, puts it, "If you haven’t seen what abortion does, then you will never understand what abortion actually is." This is not an easy statement for those who turn away from the reality of abortion to spare their consciences.

Even the co-founder of the National Association for the Repeal of the Abortion Laws (NARAL), Dr. Bernard Nathanson, changed his views after coming to believe that fetology, the study of the fetus within the uterus, removed any doubt that life began at conception.

After performing 75,000 abortions, Nathanson renounced his pro-abortion beliefs and turned his back on NARAL.

But here’s the hard part for the "pro-choice" crowd: Public opinion, for decades cowed to their side, has suddenly turned against them. In a Zogby Poll, 56 percent of the 30,117 respondents agreed with one of three pro-life views: abortion should never be legal, legal only when the life of the mother is in danger, or legal in cases of rape or incest. Plus, 61 percent said no abortions should be performed after brainwaves were detected.

Despite how difficult it might be for senators such as Charles Schumer, Ted Kennedy and Patrick Leahy to accept, 71 percent of Americans disagreed with the statement that "the Senate should confirm only pro-abortion justices."

Perhaps America is awakening to the idea that life is something to be cherished, even at the very beginning.

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