Earlier this month, authorities discovered the preserved remains of 2,246 unborn children at the home of deceased abortionist Dr. Ulrich Klopfer.
You should have heard this horrific news by now. Everyone should have heard. And yet, the media gives more attention to President Trump's joke that fluorescent lighting makes his skin look orange than to the discovery of 2,246 corpses at an abortionist's home.
Think about this.
Are we so numb to the horror of abortion that the collection of thousands of dead babies is hardly newsworthy? Perhaps. But I have another hypothesis. Once you see a victim, it's impossible to deny that there was a crime. And once you come face to face with the truth, it's no longer possible to accept the lie.
Abortion has always required the acceptance of a lie. For years, the dominant lie was this: "It's a fetus, not a baby."1 Thus, an abortion only terminates a pregnancy, it doesn't end a life. But then science revealed the truth. Within a few short weeks, this "clump of cells" has fingers and toes, eyes and a nose, a beating heart and a developing brain. This is not a bundle of tissue, but rather a bundle of joy, a life made in the image of God.
Undeterred, abortion activists fought back. They ignored or dismissed the science, and as ultrasound technology exploded, Planned Parenthood instructed mothers to look the other way.2 It's no surprise. As Live Action's Lila Rose states so clearly, "[t]hose images destroy the abortion industry myth that her baby is just a 'clump of cells' lacking humanity."
They stressed "viability" (never mind that a newborn baby is in many ways equally dependent on its mother), and pushed forward another lie: "My body, my choice." Bodily autonomy became the rallying cry until, again, science demurred. Bodily autonomy could never justify this cruelest of "procedures" because it is not the mother's body to which an abortion does violence, but rather "a distinct, self-developing individual,"3 with his or her own "distinctive genetic code from the moment of fertilization."4
With the truth beckoning, abortion defenders urged women to "shout your abortion."5 They claimed that the facts don't matter because "abortion is normal…it is natural…this is not a debate." Defiantly, they proclaimed, "I did choose life; I chose my own." They shouted because they could not lend reason to the one lie that remained. Because if a baby is human, and if it is a distinct life, then human life must be disposable.
And then we saw what "disposable" looks like. David Daleiden told America about the human trafficking of baby parts. And also about Planned Parenthood and its allies harvesting the heart, brains, and other organs of the unborn, and selling them on the black market. It shocked our societal conscience. In response, the abortion industry (and it is an industry) raged. Its defenders shouted all the more. They put David on trial6 and told us that his videos were the problem,7 and not the ugly truth that they uncovered. He had invaded their privacy; no matter that they had invaded the womb. David could face prison time because he showed us the truth and, collectively, we have been unwilling to face it.
Today, turning away is no longer possible. Shouting down the truth is no longer a viable option. When Dr. Klopfer preserved the remains of 2,246 aborted babies, he made the truth unavoidable. He showed us his trophies. He showed us our victims.
But will we act? Unborn children do not lack humanity, but they have no voice. Will we speak on their behalf? I suggested recently that there would be greater public outcry if we were destroying puppies or kittens than there is for the nearly one million abortions that occur in America each year.
What about now?
The Trump administration has worked to advance pro-life policies, and for that I am thankful. More and more states are passing legislation to restrict abortion, and I am hopeful that one day soon, such laws will overcome the legal challenges and take effect. But we need more than a change of policy, we need a societal change of heart. One by one, the lies of abortion have been exposed. Now the truth about human life must be proclaimed. I ask the Christian church to find its voice.
God help us, we must speak and break the silence. If not us, who?
This opinion editorial was originally published on Townhall.com.
1. https://www.nationalreview.com/2016/01/abortion-roe-v-wade-unborn-children-women-feminism-march-life/
2. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/why-wont-planned-parenthood-show-women-their-ultrasounds
3. https://www.lifenews.com/2016/12/30/my-body-my-choice-why-bodily-autonomy-doesnt-justify-abortion/
4. https://www.humancoalition.org/2013/08/21/my-body-my-choice/
5. https://shoutyourabortion.com/
6. https://www.lifenews.com/2019/09/17/david-daleiden-on-selling-aborted-baby-parts-they-cut-open-the-face-to-harvest-the-brain/
7. https://www.lifenews.com/2019/09/06/planned-parenthood-abortionist-admits-videos-exposing-aborted-baby-part-sales-were-not-edited/
