I haven't been vocal for awhile, but I recently read an article and ensuing comments that made me want to punch a wall... twice. It was a horrifying news report about a Russian fisherman who came across a number of barrels ditched in the woods. Upon inspection, they were found to contain human fetuses... 248 of them, all tagged with names and dates; the bio-waste from a hospital in Ekaterinberg. (http://thestir.cafemom.com/in_the_news/140852/248_human_fetuses_discovered_by) As you can imagine, this gruesome discovery caused a firestorm of vitriol from readers around the world. '...how could this happen?', '...those poor babies', '...they deserve more respect', '...that would never happen in America', etc. All of a sudden the topic was veered off into the various respectful
ways that hospitals in America honored these lives with birth
certificates and burials. I was pretty much in agreement with most of the commentary until I reached one that chose not to attack the perpetrators of the crime, but rather to lash out at someone who chose to refer to the fetuses as 'babies', calling her out for being a pro-life extremist who needs to 'wake up'. The comment was so random and unexpected that I had to stop and ponder it for awhile. It was then that my blood began to boil...
At that moment, I saw just how distorted our perception of life has become and what a blatant double standard our society has for it. Let me explain:
Example A: A woman who wants a child miscarries in her 20th week of pregnancy . Her baby is issued a birth certificate and either takes the body for a private burial, or the hospital provides a burial in a special cemetery for that purpose. The baby is considered a human and is given its due respect.
Example B: A woman who does not want a child goes for an abortion at 20 weeks. The 'thing' is chopped up and sucked out of her body and down the drain of a bio-waste disposal system, treated like a malignant tumor. No remorse as it's not a 'life', so no respect is warranted. The pregnancy is done and forgotten.
Pardon my language, but WTF?? I'm pretty confident that this little blog will stir up a hornets nest of controversy but I can no longer handle the supreme contradiction of it all. If the child is wanted, it is considered a life; if the child is not wanted, it's considered not a life and therefore not subject to moral or ethical laws, let alone judicial ones. Have we become so self-absorbed that we cannot see the conflict here? And if we do see it, why are we vilified and berated for speaking out about it? Why do the extremists of the 'pro-choice' movement crucify us for questioning the right to life? It's not about choice... there are plenty of choices out there. Just ask the thousands of couples who go to great lengths and exorbitant costs to have a child; the countless people waiting years for the privilege to adopt. As a society, have we become so complacent that we'll just continue to allow this process to continue because we don't want to rattle cages and look like the bad guys? Because we want it 'dealt with' today? If so, we are doomed to allow ever greater acts of injustice to permeate our lives. We'll become immune to its infection while deceiving ourselves to its danger. Eventually, all morality will ultimately break down and we'll have no one to blame but ourselves.
OK... I'm done venting. I'm done punching walls. I will, however, not forget the 248 dead babies found in barrels and pray we can stop this travesty from ever happening again.
