Monday, January 22, 2007: Read about March for Life 2007.
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Update II (1/24): It was amazing to be surrounded by so many pro-life people! As expected, I didn’t see many black people in the crowd. But no matter. I care more about their pro-life stance than whether they were represented at a rally.
I’ve never felt more like a “minority” than I did yesterday walking through the crowd. Some people did double-takes when they saw me, and as far as I know I didn’t have anything hanging out of my nose. I pulled their focus because, as I said, there weren’t many blacks there. I’m sure they wanted to ask me why, as if I’d know. 
Catholics turned out in great numbers, though it may only have seemed so because they came in large groups and carried large signs indicating who they were and which church they were from. Very good-looking and well-mannered young men from Catholic seminaries were all over the place with banners from their schools (And you mention that because…?). There were also lots of young people. No protesters, though. They have their own rally. Besides, they would’ve been overwhelmed by the pro-life crowd.
I’ve been invited to speak at a local pro-life conference, and I may accept. I need to become more involved with the pro-life movement, especially since it looks like we’ll finally have the right balance on the Supreme Court.
Also see posts at Blogs for Life, The Stem Cell Extremist, Mommy Life here (Oh, no!) and here, Life at the Frontier, March Together for Life…
Stacy Harp has audio. Whenever possible I avoid listening to recordings of myself speaking (as opposed to singing? chirping?); I’d rather read your critiques. 
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Townhall.com has posted an op-ed I wrote about child killing, Planned Parenthood, etc. Check it out.
There was a discussion in this thread about a woman’s “right to choose” in cases of rape and incest. Killing babies conceived during rape or incest is supposedly a “tough” issue for Christians, the commenter says. Since the day I realized I was a Christian, I was never torn about this issue. The life of the unborn is precious and worthy of protection no matter how that life is conceived. It really isn’t more clear than that. What’s unclear is whether Christians are willing to live as the world does or as God requires.
Think about it. Do you believe God says this is OK if the woman was raped? Is the prohibition against murder lifted in this case? The focus should always be on the unborn life, not the circumstances of conception and definitely not our feelings about it. Of course it would be hard to deal with, but believers have something unbelievers don’t: faith that moves mountains. The trials Christians face deepen our faith. Dealing with the consequences of sin (our own and everyone else’s) and emerging with even stronger faith in the One who saved us is what makes us different from the world. The Christian is supposed to deal with hardship in a way that distinguishes him from the non-Christian.
Sometimes what men intend as evil, God intends as good for his purposes, and Christians have to trust that God knows what he’s doing.
I’d planned to go to the Family Research Council this morning, sit near the back, and listen to Kathryn Lopez, Charmaine Yoest, Peter Shinn, and Tim at ProLifeBlogs. Last night I was asked to be part of the panel. I said OK.
This will be my first “march,” and I know we’ll be surrounded by “pro-choice” protesters, the “March Against Life” crowd. I’ve heard some hair-raising tales about these people; I only hope half of them aren’t true. Regardless, I’m responsible for my own behavior, including my reactions. Keep us in your prayers today. I’ll update this post with a report and photos.
See first Blogs4Life/March for Life post.
Listen to Part I and Part II (RealAudio) of Christian apologist and debater James White’s sermon on abortion.
Allison Bottke, author of the God Allows U-Turns book series, has joined the blogosphere.
Sources:
- Life march to shut roads
- Abortion Causing ‘Black Genocide,’ Activists Say
- The Abortion Wars
- Margaret Sanger: Intellectual moron
- Black Genocide
- Klan Parenthood
- In Her Own Words
- After Abortion
- Margaret Sanger’s eugenics
- Margaret Sanger, Birth Control, Eugenics and Hitler
- National Right to Life’s Margaret Sanger page
- Top Contributors to Federal Candidates and Parties
Update (2:08 p.m.): These two images really warm my heart. I’ll add more details and photos either late today or early tomorrow. I have to go earn the palace now. By the way, the signs in the photo on the left read “Defend Life” and “Roe v. Wade is indefensible.”
Did the German Nazi’s sterilize black Africans? The Independent Conservative has a link.
Mark La Roi posted the famous picture of the baby reaching out of the womb during surgery. James White, whose sermon audio files I linked to in this post, talked briefly about it.
Also see Mike S. Adams’s Why I don’t take feminists seriously.
More news coverage: Demonstrators Mark Roe V. Wade Anniversary
SD Legislature To Consider Abortion Ban – Although pro-aborts panic at this news, it’s doubtful such a measure would pass even if Roe were overturned, but the states are supposed to decide this issue. Roe is nothing more than judiciary-made law, a violation of the Constitution.
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Thank you, La Shawn. I would love to be with all of you in DC today. I will most certainly be in prayer for all of you throughout the day and looking for (and linking to) your updates, as well. God bless you for your bold and courageous public stand for Truth! In Christ, Patricia
Well said La Shawn, Well said.
I’ve asked God to forgive me for a very big sin several years ago. My daughter became pregnant under circumstances I’d rather not discuss, but I paid for the abortion and even accompanied her. Even though I believe I’ve been forgiven, I’ll have to live with what I did the rest of my life. I’ve had to learn a lot of things the hard way it seems, but God didn’t give up on me. In fact, he has blessed me these years since by opening my eyes and softening my heart. My prayers will be with you LaShawn and the other people in D.C. today who are carrying His message of life for the unborn.
LaShawn,
Thanks for stepping out. There were quite a few instances in the Old Testament about births that were the result of incest, adultery or even rape. The followers did not kill their children.
This rape situation is what NOW hangs it hat on, and one other tiny percentage situation. We should concentrate on the millions of murders committed annually, take a stand and reclaim our moral ground. Maybe that would help others in the world of different religions to not look at us as heathens.
That’s heavy duty stuff, Dianne. Thank God for being God.
La Shawn, thank you for putting into words what I haven’t been able to. I know abortion is wrong, but I get trapped in emotional reaction too. When I think of how challenging pregnancy was for me, and then I think of how much more trying it would be for a young girl who may have been attacked, I also would prefer she didn’t have to continue being pregnant. But that’s the world talking, isn’t it? The short-sightedness, the self-centeredness, the focus on feelings…that’s not God’s way at all.
Will it still sicken me to think of someone, especailly someone who’s not a Christian and has no Christian friends, suffering through a traumatic experience? Of course. But abortion isn’t the solution.
I’m not so naive as to think that simply saying, “No abortions allowed,” will suddenly turn the world into paradise either. Don’t let’s be silly, as the Mad Hatter would say. Planned Parenthood is so big on “information and education” (only for their viewpoint of course) so I just want to see everyone, especially women considering abortion, getting the complete low-down on what the procedure and aftermath entails. In graphic detail. Sonograms, tools used, how developed the baby is, emotional effects, all that stuff. You expect this amount of info from your dentist when it’s time for a tooth extraction so why not for abortion as well?
I’ll pray for all of you at the march to keep your composure and to reflect God’s truth.
Bravo! I read both your OP-ED piece at Townhall.com, and your entry today about the “March for Life.”
She didn’t target just our “Negro, or Black” populations, but many different ones including all Catholic immigrants. (Hmm, just like the KKK does.)
But that still didn’t prevent getting members of my family in the 1920s “sucked” into her movement. I remember seeing a cache of pamphlets’ that my great-aunt Mary once distributed, they were inside my great grandma’s bible. Some were fund raising ones that outlined the need for “breeding thoroughbreds” humans, not mongrels’.” She prayed for Mary’s soul decades after her death from typhoid in 1924. I was in my early teens and learned exactly what Planned Parenthood was, before “Roe v. Wade.”
Mary was “conned” into the “sacred rights” of the early Woman’s Movement. I wonder if her death really wasn’t an abortion gone badly.
I was in the USAF for 22 years, one time while stationed in Germany, I had three young black women working for me. They were educated, bright, from the working class, and ambitious. Wonderful workers, good airmen. All three at various times used abortion as birth control. This was back when the federal government would not pay for the abortions within the military medical system.
I was confided in since each time the women took leave together to go to France, where abortions are cheap, easy to get and no questions asked. Germany, not so easy, many questions and waiting periods. They went to support one another through it, but… And this still gets to me years later LaShawna, this is what everyone they knew growing up did. They did not use other forms of birth control; they used abortion as birth control.
I could not, still can’t understand that way of thinking. These were not young high school students, or college students. These were young adult women (early 20s).
When on the one occasion I did ask about “are you using anything for birth control?”
I was told I was a “racist” and “this is how it’s done in the Black Community.”
I never brought the topic back up in any other conversation since with my Black colleagues and friends. Not if it would be seen as being “racist.”
I am glad you wrote this.
LaShawna, be careful out there, I’ll be praying for all the Pro-Life folks and those with an inclination for choosing life for the unborn.
As someone who kept my baby conceived through rape, I can say Amen with an exclamation mark. My little girl (who is now 10) is the tangible good that came out of the evil of rape.
Ms. Barber -
I am an orthodox Jew and my mother-in-law is a survivor of the holocaust. In all my years of high school, college, law school, yeshiva learning and fifteen years of intense conversations with my mother-in-law, I have neither learned nor heard of never learned of or heard of this barbarian, Sanger. I have long wondered why when human atrocities such as Germany during WWII and Rwanda today, to name a few, yet the world either looks away or becomes involved while kicking and screaming.
As for the abortion numbers you cite, I always figured that the African American and Hispanic communities suffered higher abortion rates, but I had no idea they were that high. You make an excellent point regarding why minority communities, including Jews, overwhelmingly support and vote for liberals. It seems to me that their philosophy tends to remove faith in G-d (regardless of the manner in which one maintains it) from our society and our government. While I don’t think the issue is that simple, this is your blog and your thoughts, not mine. Maybe you will opine on that in a future post.
In any event, thank you so much for the education, your insightful thoughts and your outstanding communication!
La Shawn I will pray for you thank you for your courage and compassion. More people need to realize and see abortion for what it is, Murder and Genocide. I have a question on a similar issue as this post and would be interested in what you thoughts are. The question is what are your views on birth control? Specifically the Catholic Church views birth control as a sin in much the same way but to a lesser extent, (I beleave) as abortion. In your opinion is birth control a sign of a lack of faith in Gods overall plan? Having faith that God knows what is best for us should ALL Christians come out against birth control?
Although I agree with your stance on Abortion here, I don’t really see any difference in the Republican party and the Democratic party on this issue. Although many Republican politicians in power claim to be pro-life, they have never ever brought a Constitutional Amendment to the floor of the Senate or House that would ban all abortions. President Bush has never explicitly said he opposes Roe v. Wade, and his wife has publicly stated that she supports the 1973 Decision. The Republican party attempts to appease us pro-lifers by talking about judges, yet most of the judges they appoint care less about pro-life issues, and more about free markets and less regulations. The recently disclosed Jack Abramoff memo basically exposes this philosophy of getting out the pro-life vote in key elections, but not acting on it, only to pass a free market agenda for those who have bought out the government. Many Republican insiders actually never want anything to be done about Roe v. Wade because they feel its a wedge issue that should remain in politics, and if something actually were to be done, the pro-life crowd that actually does all the grassroots work for them might not be so enthusiastic to continue once the matter is decided in each state, or once a constitutional amendment is passed. Ironically, most of these so called Pro-Life politicians are most worried about turning off pro-choice voters, and care more about staying in power rather than the precious unborn.
Although I vehemently disagree with most of the Democratic party on the right to choose, at least they are honest about their position, and don’t pander to us who care about the rights of unborn. I do like their positions on the environment, and on the fact that some of the Bush administrations laws have allowed for more mercury and other pollutants to enter our lives, which have resulted in many fetuses being born polluted. I just wish Democrats would expand on these beliefs by also eliminating the choice that is involved, while on the other hand, the Republican party would embrace some basic environmental reforms that would result in healthier fetuses due to a reduction in pollutants.
Once a child is born, too many children in the United States do not have health care, and I feel this is an issue that both parties also overlook, and is a pro-life issue.
The number one reason for bankruptcy in this nation is catastrophic health insurance claims, yet no one seems to identify this as a pro-life issue.
Many African Americans are criticized for their blind acceptance of the Democratic party, but I feel that many Conservative Christians should also be criticized for their blind acceptance of the Republican party, because as James Dobson said, after 11 years of power in the House, what has the republican party done to embrace the so called pro-life pro family agenda?
Who will pass an agenda that allows individuals to work a 9-5 job, provide food and health care for their family, and yet give them time to spend with their kids and give them the values they want to so that they are not essentially raised by TV? After all, even Conservative networks like Rupert Murdoch’s fox, realize that sex sells, and market it to our kids. When parents are working three jobs (wages driven so low by illegal aliens) just to afford health care, the TV will end up raising our kids, and when the so called Conservative Fox Network is the most fined network by the FCC for decency violations, things aren’t looking too good for the pro-family pro-life agenda.
I had posted earlier how I thought there seemed to be no middle ground on the abortion based, but I was wrong.
After doing some research on Bush’s past abortion stands, as well as Alito and Robert’s past rulings, it seems they will allow for those narrow exceptions of rape and incest as they have shown in their past writings and rulings.
Guess there will be no real battle.
I agree. If someone who was raped didn’t want to see the child because of grief then why can’t adoption be an option? There are so many couples who desire to have a child but can’t. I bet infertile couples won’t care how a child was conceived. However, I believe that we should allow God and prayer and faith in God to fix the issue and not take to anger and separation. If I was with someone right now who believed in abortion or had aborted I would not hate them. I would focus more on getting them to Jesus Christ. Don’t allow your anger to distance you from sinners who need to know God loves them.
Ya know, IMO, as a MAN, if a rape victim conceives, abortion may NOT be the way to go, I can see the point of not being able to love a *child of violence*, I really can… But I can also see the fact that some childless couple, with love to spare, would take that same child into their homes and hearts and love it with every fiber of their being…
And wouldn’t it be a terrible thing if that *child of violence* was aborted, and the future that child held was to be the doctor or scientist that cured aids or cancer?? It could happen…
As a junior in high school, our history teacher was raped and beaten. Shortly after she discovered she was pregnant. She gave birth to the child and gave that baby the ultimate gift – life with his adoptive mom & dad. I have never forgotten the wonderful gift she gave that child.
Brava! Your article in townhall was well-written and brave! I am proud to call you my sister in Christ. Thank God for you!
My wife and I were at the pro-life rally at the Capital Building in St. Paul, Mn on Sunday. There were several thousand people who came out on a brisk Minnesota afternoon to show and voice their support for life and the end to abortion on demand. The event was like a family reunion that God had planned. People from all all walks of life and all types of backgrounds were there. What had the most impact for us were the countless children who were present at the gathering. Children are our hope for the future and by the testimony of those children being there, God wills life not death!
Addendum to my previous post: Carl Sandburg said: “A baby is God’s opinion that life should go on.”
La Shawn,
You fight the ultimate fight with grace and fortitude and I love you for it.
I used to be an absolutist on abortion. Protect the life of the baby – no matter what. And I agree that babies conceived by rape should not be aborted.
However, I have softened somewhat when the life of the mother is in serious danger. As I see it, there are times in life when you are offered the choice between several bad outcomes. When there are several people involved, it is necessary to establish a method for resolving the conflict of interests.
The problem with how the abortion issue is presented is that on the one hand, it is all about a woman’s right to have autonomy over her own body. On the other hand it is about the right of a child to live. The problem with this dichotomy is that there are at least 4 other parties that have an interest in the pregnancy – the father, the paternal family, the maternal family, and society at large. Whenever so many interests are involved, it is right and proper for the government to mediate any conflicts that may arise between the different interests.
Of course, the different parties have differing priorities of interest. As I see them, listed in order of importance:
1) The right of the child to life.
2) The rights of the mother.
3) The rights of the father.
4) The respective interests of the maternal and paternal families.
5) The interests of society.
In all cases where inconvenience is the primary interest of the other parties, the right to life of the child must triumph over all. But in cases where the life of the mother is also threatened, then her interest match those of the child.
By way of comparison, do you consider the passengers of Flight 93 who participated in the attempted retaking of control to be guilty of murder? After all, technically, it was their attempt to seize control of the airplane which caused it to crash in that field in Pennsylvania killing all on board. Suppose there was a passenger who wanted to take the chance that the hijackers did not intend to kill them. Are they not guilty of that passenger’s murder?
Of course that premise is ridiculous. Given the evidence, those heroes of Flight 93 probably saved lives since their own were probably already forfeit. Nevertheless, technically speaking, they were responsible for cutting short the lives of all those passengers – if only by a few minutes.
Perhaps a closer example is a case where a rescuer (say a fireman) is forced to choose between saving the life of one person or another, but he cannot save both. This is relevant to the case where the life of the mother is threatened by the pregnancy if you posit that both lives are equally valuable. How do you determine which life to save, and which to forfeit? Of course, the mother may choose to sacrifice her life for the sake of her child. But it is not necessarily correct to say that the right to life of the child exceeds the right to life of the mother. This should be an agonizing decision, not only on the part of the mother, but also the father, the families, and society at large. And it is certainly within the scope of government to try to find solutions to such cases – however abhorent the available choices may be.
Why can’t a woman make the choice months before an abortion is needed?
Contraceptives are now safe and readily available. The word “no” should be considered.
My thinking is abortion only if life of mother is in danger, then the choice is taking one life to protect another.
Adoption is an option.
“Perhaps a closer example is a case where a rescuer (say a fireman) is forced to choose between saving the life of one person or another, but he cannot save both. This is relevant to the case where the life of the mother is threatened by the pregnancy if you posit that both lives are equally valuable. How do you determine which life to save, and which to forfeit? Of course, the mother may choose to sacrifice her life for the sake of her child.”
~A very well posited question, and a thoughtful comment as a whole. I think though that to be more exact with the example would be to ask “In a given situation where you must actively kill one to save the other, which would you kill?” The problem then becomes one of finding certaincy in the belief that the birth of the baby would kill the mother. Tubal pregnancy for example. What would I choose if faced with that situation? It IS a tough question and it must be answered by those who are against abortion (myself included) because it eliminates all flippancy.
Abortion for convenience has become so common that we forget that sometimes it isn’t the desire of the mother or father, but a rock and hard place matter.
Do I take the life of my child to save my wife when I don’t know for sure what a day will bring?
Thanks, linked your article with Kate O’Beirne’s exerpt in NRO today and links to my Margaret Sanger rantings featuring lotsa quotes.
You go Girl!
I gave comfort to a man who recounted how he was the offspring of his mothers father and how they had botched the attempt to abort him which crippled his left arm. His house had just burned down and his baby girl had perished. “How could anything good come of this?” he asked and I reminded him of the wife who loved and believed in him and the two wonderful daughters he had fathered and how one was now depending on him for support and healing. That life so abused produced a home where, despite the loss of an infant child, there was strength enough to persevere and produce a haven for grandchildren and great grandchildren. The laughter rings in the oak trees of his yard and his existence is not only a success; but a blessing to our collective well being.
thank you for standing up for life in your blog. i think it is especially disgusting that black women are killing off the race. i do see myself as a christian first and black second but i am concerned about my commmunity. i got pregnant in college, when my son was twenty weeks and kicked that was when i knew i was pregnant. i made the choice when i laid down. i never ever thought to kill him. i think i would have some respect for the pro child killers if they would just acknowledge that abortion is killing babies, instead of saying choice and privacy. some will say they support killing babies and be honest about it. also i dont think the republicans re dong anything about abortion it is a good political issue. we dont have a majorityin america who want abortion totally outlawed so many politicals think that if roe were to go it would benefit the dems
i made the choice when i laid down.
That, Shari, is where the decision lies. Women have many choices before the act, but afterward, especially if they conceive, their choices from then on will be severely limited, as it should be.
Beto – I, too, know a person whose mother attempted to abort her. It was “botched,” by the grace of God, and the woman ended up semi-paralyzed on one side. She’s forgiven her mother and is living full life with a daughter of her own.
Thank you so much for your column in Town Hall, La Shawn. It is timely, and 110% on the money. Just last night my daughter, wife, and I were discussing the short comings of “health education” in our government schools.
Thankfully, my daughter (an adopted Latino) has an instructor who did not lie about the infallibility of condoms, either for pregnancy or STDs. He did fall short on the Sanger/Planned Parenthood aspect regarding abortion. So we talked about the origins of PP and the ideology of Mz Sanger. My daughter was appalled. Happily, she is even more against abortion today than she was yesterday.
I have copied your article which I will give her to read tonight, and I have gone to Inkling University http://www.inklingbooks.com/inklinguniversity/
for a copy of Sanger’s book and other material. Thanks again for the wonderful article – it’s much appreciated.
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Hello LaShawn: Thanks for keeping it real and doing this article. The prochoice fanatics sicken me because not only do they disrespect the Constitution, they disrespect human life itself. I think that is a crime more heinous than any other.
La Shawn, your experience sounds a lot like mine last year when I was able to attend the March for Life. It was surprisingly youthful and there were not many protestors. I also was a bit surprised at how religious the group was. I think the “winning hearts and minds” part of the pro-life movement could really use a strong secular leadership to neutralize the “Theocracy” arguments. I know many secular pro-lifers (in fact I became pro-life while still an agnostic) but they seem woefully underrepresented at the March.
How many proabortionist have SAVE THE REDWOODS,SAVE THE RAINFORESTS,SAVE THE WHALE,SAVE THE SPOTTED OWL,SAVE THE PRAIRIE DOG,SAVE THE FLOWER LOVING LOVING FLY bumper stickers on their cars?
LaShawn, I remember what you said at the conference on how hard it is to wrap your mind around somebody professing Christianity while defending abortion. I, too, find that especially sickening. When Jesus said to let the little children come to Him, I’m sure He didn’t mean we were to dispatch them, post-haste, to the afterlife! And “As you do unto the least of these…” Don’t even go there!
It’s nothing short of blasphemy to defend abortion under the guise of faith. Period. Paragraph.
LaShawn,
This was my first year attending the March for Life and I was so overwhelmed by all the people that turned out for it. The mass that was the night before was so amazing.
Don’t feel like you were a minority because I saw many people from all walks of life throughout the short weekend that we were there. It was so incredible.
I did see one man trying to walk through the crowd and protest but in the middle of that large crowd we all started praying for him and we eventually got so loud he left. I am Catholic but I don’t think you really have to be one to understand that this law is just plain wrong. To me it’s not a religious issue it’s just a morally wrong issue.
Keep up the prayers for the unborn!
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