“Please don’t kill it!” she sobbed. “It’s unfair.” … “Fern,” he said gently, “you will have to learn to control yourself.”
“Control myself?” yelled Fern. “This is a matter of life and death, and you talk about controlling myself.”
Tears ran down her cheeks and she took hold of the ax and tried to pull it out of her father’s hand. …
“But it’s unfair,” cried Fern. “The pig couldn’t help being born small, could it? If I had been very small at birth, would you have killed me?” … “This is the most terrible case of injustice I ever heard of.”
And so begins one of the most beloved children’s stories, Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White.
I’ve felt like Fern this week. Another state, Illinois, is celebrating the fact that children are disposable. They live at the whim of their mother and her doctor. They aren’t considered precious. All of their protections have been removed up until the day of delivery. The picture of the governor gleefully signing it into law made me sick to my stomach. (See link to the article below.)
This is a very personal issue to me. All three of our children are adopted. I have two nephews that are also adopted. Four of those 5 children have 10 children between them. That is fifteen people who might be missing from my family if laws like this were enacted thirty years ago. I have a hard time with the “celebrations” going on.
A few months ago New York signed into law a similar bill and they lit up the capital to celebrate.
I have heard all the arguments. I have cried with and looked into the eyes of women who have had abortions and are now suffering greatly from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). I can’t fathom what the agenda of the legislators is, but it isn’t the protection and care of women.
Killing babies isn’t a new idea. Pharaoh ordered all the male Israelite babies to be thrown into the Nile. Plain and simple, he was racist. He didn’t like that the Israelites were prospering. He thought there were too many of them in the land.
Herod was another tyrant who had all the boys two and under killed in Bethlehem because he was afraid of a usurper.
Throughout history civilizations have sacrificed their children to their gods in an attempt to earn favor.
The God of the Bible has a very different view of children. Israel was to treat their children differently than the pagan nations around them.
“You shall not behave thus toward the LORD your God, for every abominable act which the LORD hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.” Deuteronomy 12:31 (NASB)
I believe each life has purpose and meaning. We are each made in the image of God. There is no less or more important. When we stop protecting the most vulnerable among us, our society has lost its foundation.
To quote Fern…”This is the most terrible case of injustice I ever heard of.”
I pray our country changes direction.
For further study: Jeremiah 1:5; Mark 10:14-15; Romans 5:6
Windows of His Grace 