 Baby born at 23 weeks |
Few years later |
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Two events have been in the news the past days. Both sad. One refers to an American dentist who went on a safari to Zimbabwe and killed with an arrow, and then shot, a lion that was lured by locals to abandon the refugee where he was. The second story was about more video exposing some high placed physicians from the organization Planned Parenthood as they were discussing prices to sell parts of the fetus they abort. I am personally offended by the idea that an innocent beautiful animal that lived peacefully in a sanctuary was killed just for the sport of it. I respect the individual right of persons that practice hunting, but am saddened by the idea of any innocent animal being murdered. On the other hand the exposure given by the main stream media, and the rage expressed by the public at large greatly exceeds the one than Planned Parenthood received. The dentist that killed Cecil the lion has been forced to abandon his practice and home, because of threats to his, and family’s lives. It reminds me of Gilbert and Sullivan’s lyrics in The Mikado of “the punishment meets the crime”. Other than admitting “revulsion” from the videos, most of the criticism from politicians and the press have been directed against the messenger, not the message.
Planned Parenthood does many good things for women health making clinics available and inexpensive for tests like mammographies. Unfortunately it also does abortions, which is within the law, but mostly encouraging it rather than educating women about the status of the baby they are carrying, description of the procedure and potential physical and psychological sequel. Today’s youth, a fact confirmed by studies, consider abortion more as a contraceptive, than the termination of a life because a serious medical reason. When does life begin is extremely debatable. Many, like me, feel that it starts with fertilization when with the presence of DNA; all components of a life are present. Others, including the College of Obstetrics define life starting at when the embryo is capable of “becoming a human being”, or in simple terms when life is possible outside the womb. On the other hand, they accept that at fertilization “The fusion of sperm and egg membranes initiates the life of a sexually reproducing organism.” It is obvious that pro-abortion political forces influenced the definitions of the ACOG, as abortion is legal up to 24 weeks after pregnancy the time when most premature babies can survive. The society only other definition is regarding pregnancy, which they consider starts at the fertilized egg’s implantation to the uterus, not fertilization. In summary, let’s imagine a meat stew is being prepared and all ingredients are placed in a pot. An emergency occurs and the pot has to be emptied. Do you believe you threw a stew away, or is it only considered one after placed in the oven, or ready to eat? When discussing a human being, potential or not, we should err in favor of protecting life, not terminating it. Look at the premature baby in the picture above and her after a few years. How many mothers could change their minds if appropriately informed of what she is carrying, that killing that beautiful girl, no matter when, is not termination of pregnancy, but infanticide? How many are told how these murders are committed in abortions after 16 weeks as described below;
“This abortion is also used on mid and late term babies, from 4 to 9 months gestation. Ultrasound is used to identify how the unborn baby is facing in the womb. The abortionist inserts forceps through the cervical canal into the uterus and grasps one of the baby’s legs, positioning the baby feet first, face down (breech position).
The child’s body is then pulled out of the birth canal except for the head which is too large to pass through the cervix. The baby is alive and probably kicking and flailing his legs and arms. The abortionist hooks his fingers over the baby’s shoulders, holding the woman’s cervix away from the baby’s neck. He then jams blunt tipped surgical scissors into the base of the skull and spreads the tips apart to enlarge the wound.”
And all for what? Supporters and media pundits claim that all this life sacrifices are done for the greater good , but they are not stating facts. The truth is that human fetal tissue research has gone on for decades, however, the success of fetal tissue transplants has been meager at best, and ethically-derived alternatives exist and are coming to dominate the field. I understand how gruesome this description is, but I feel that at least the persons that are reading this, realize the gravity of what is happening, and the fact of these abominations as seen if the recent published tapes, deserve much more attention of the media and “we the people” than the killing of Cecil the lion.
Fernando J Milanes MD
