Life Choices

Life Choices

Two very dear friends of mine Sharon and Gabriel had a miserable 2005. One is suffering the loss of a loved one and the other is facing criminal charges by the state. It so happens these two friends are twins born 30 years ago into a wonderful family. They maintained a close relationship throughout the years sharing many things. In February of 2005 they shared a most unique event together, both became pregnant within days of each other and according to their doctors sharing the same due date.

My friends had uneventful pregnancies for the first six months, then at 26 weeks into their pregnancies things fell apart for both women. Gabriel was rushed into the hospital with complications and it seemed unlikely that her child would make it to the scheduled delivery date. Sharon in the meantime said nothing to anyone in her family about her intentions and went to her local abortion clinic to terminate her daughter’s life with an abortion.

Gabriel was only able to carry her child for another two days before she gave birth to a baby boy prematurely due to complications. After a short stay she went home from the hospital. and seemed to be withdrawn but otherwise recovered from her early delivery. Gabriel and her husband, Jack, went to the hospital to see their son early one morning and while Jack went to the cafeteria Gabriel watched their son alone. When Jack returned he found Gabriel sitting in a chair starring out the window of the hospital room. He glanced down at their son and new immediately that something was gravely wrong. He called for a nurse and they rushed in and took the child. Some time later a doctor came in accompanied by a police officer at which time the couple was told their son had died. The doctor noted the child had markings around his neck appearing that the child had been strangled. After talking to the parents the officer noticed Gabriel was trying to conceal a small plastic bag. Upon interviewing her separately she confessed to killing her child

Gabriel now awaits her trial, due to start in early 2006, for the murder of her son. This has been extremely upsetting to the families involved. The loss of two children within the span of days was heart wrenching. What is hard for me to understand is how the press has treated my friends so differently. Sharon’s abortion did not make the news, but Gabriel’s murder of her newborn son made state headlines for weeks. Can you, or someone, explain the difference to me? Both women carried their babies approximately 6 1/2 months, but only Gabriel made news for killing her child. Tell me what the difference was? Were they not both babies? Each was carried for the same amount of time, but the only difference I can see is Gabriel killed her son without assistance and Sharon killed her daughter with assistance from a doctor. Is that what makes this acceptable to society? Allowing a doctor to kill a child, so the mother doesn’t have to is ‘ok’ with society? Or is it only a matter of wanting the baby? If a baby is wanted, then it is a baby. If the baby isn’t wanted, then it’s called a fetus—to be easily discarded. Is society to the point of turning a mother’s womb into a storage unit and a baby viewed as a object, treating the baby as something to be claimed or discarded? I thought a baby is a distinct person, which shares the mother’s and father’s DNA owning its own and distinct personal DNA making him/her a unique individual.

After you read this, I confess both of these people do not really exist, but made up to make the point it is not up to society to determine whether the life of a baby should continue or not. Every child when it is conceived will be a child, it will not be a plant or some animal it can only be what it is, a child. This child is a unique individual and has the same right to life that we all enjoy in this country. Please think about abortion differently the next time you are tempted to say ‘Who am I to say to a woman what she can do with her body.’ Abortion is not a right, it is not about a woman controlling her own body, abortion is the taking of a life! It is doing what society says is convenient not what is morally correct. Some may say abortion is 'legal' but that is meaningless, it just shows how far this world has sunk morally. Remember it was legal to kill Jews in Nazi Germany. If any law goes against God's divine law it is invalid and evil. Slavery was legal in this country for many years before the laws were changed. Abortion is just wrong. As Abraham Lincoln reminded Stephen Douglas in a debate about slavery: 'we never have the right to do wrong.'