9.15.2009

A Right? Or a Homicide?

I am overwhelmed with grief every time I've read our local news this past week. I'm grappling with issues like personal responsibility, moral ethics, the social role of the Church, and injustice.

By personality more than conviction, I avoid politics, boycotts and debates. Yet news like this makes me wonder where to start, even. I don't claim to see the root issue or to offer ultimate solutions. But while my mind is mystified, my heart is breaking.

I'm not linking to the story; it is indeed, as the reporter describes, "horrendous." Several days ago, a 15-year-old girl gave birth to a baby boy. Within several hours, she killed him. Her doctor's visit the next day prompted suspicion; the situation was investigated and the truth was revealed.

She is charged with capital murder.

The baby boy is included on the list of area homicides this year.

The outcry is passionate. Judgments and rumors are cruel and rampant.

For whom is my heart breaking?

A girl who could be my little sister, who is in jail tonight? My feelings are not justifying her actions ... but the family situation, the belief system, and the emotions that led to the actions is mind-boggling to me.

A precious baby boy?

Even more so, ironically, my heart breaks for others.

I read as the news mentions a concerned doctor; a team of policeman fulfilling their job; a local court system striving for justice. But as the media and involved authorities focus on this case...

I see the unnamed babies.

Our country, culture and Church have approved as these same people turn a blind eye to identical situations that occur constantly. How has abortion become socially acceptable? The word abortion is now political, not personal. I can't comprehend the passion that this one story arouses, while silence is the signature of aborted babies around the world. Do you believe me that over three thousand babies are reported killed every day in the United States?

So are we discussing rights or homicides? Apparently, it's only a matter of location.

It's much easier to complacently ignore an idea than to painful face reality. Did German Christians embrace Hitler's agenda? No. They simply allowed it.

For the next aborted baby girl, there will be no policemen, no media, no prosecutors. For the next aborted baby boy, there will be no charges, no jail, no news report.

Will there also be no outcry?