Opinion by Jim Denney

This past Tuesday, on the 46th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a law allowing the abortion of babies up to the moment of childbirth. Then he ordered the Freedom Tower lit with pink lights to celebrate this victory for “choice.” The pink glow from the Tower is an affront to America’s conscience.

Photo by Luigi Novi, released to the public domain.

Advocates of unrestricted “choice” claim the unborn are formless clumps of tissue that magically become babies as they pass through the birth canal. No, a baby in the womb is a human being, genetically distinct from the mother, with a soul and a right to live.

America was founded on the principle that all human beings “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Removing restrictions on third-trimester abortion is the legalization of infanticide and a violation of the founding principle of this nation. 

Other states are seriously considering similar bills. Why are politicians hell-bent on legalizing the slaughter of infants? There is no voting bloc demanding unrestricted abortion throughout all forty weeks of pregnancy. Polling shows that only 13 percent of Americans favor such wide-open abortion laws (see Gallup’s breakdown of public opinion on abortion here).

Politicians are snubbing the will of the vast majority of their own voters. Why would they do that? Politicians like Governor Cuomo know they can get away with it. Government no longer serves the people or obeys the Constitution. Abraham Lincoln said that America fought the Civil War so that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” But today we have government of the lobbyists, by the lobbyists, for the lobbyists.

Extremists pressure groups write huge checks to politicians, and the politicians do the bidding of the lobbyists, not the will of the people. So we are increasingly being governed by extreme laws and regulations, written by extremists with power and money, in direct violation of the conscience of the people.

One state considering similar legislation is Virginia, where Governor Ralph Northam, a pediatric neurologist, has publicly advocated a law that would allow newborn infants to be killed outside the womb (see a Washington Post video of his statement here; his disturbing pro-infanticide remarks begin at about the one-minute mark).

Kathy Tran, the sponsor of Virginia’s so-called “Repeal Act” (the infanticide bill Governor Northam supports) is a member of the Virginia House of Delegates. While testifying in support of her bill, she was questioned by another delegate, Todd Gilbert.

Watch the video here, and see her repeatedly dodge Gilbert’s questions.

At the 57-second mark of the video, Gilbert asks if the bill allows abortion up to the moment the mother is dilating. Tran, a mother of four, visibly winces at the word “dilating.” She tries once more to avoid the question, but Gilbert asks again, and she finally admits, “My bill would allow that, yes.”

Tran now claims she misspoke. But when politicians say “I misspoke,” they simply mean, “I let the truth slip out.”

More experienced politicians like Andrew Cuomo are skilled at never letting the truth slip out. Last month, in a speech supporting New York’s bill to eliminate abortion restrictions, Cuomo said of two recent Supreme Court appointees, “Kavanaugh is going to reverse Roe v. Wade. I have no doubt. Gorsuch is going to reverse Roe v. Wade. I have no doubt.”

Cuomo knows better. He’s a demagogue, intent on frightening uninformed supporters. He knows that two justices can’t reverse Roe v. Wade. He also knows that, even if Roe v. Wade were reversed, it would not end abortion in America. A reversal of Roe v. Wade would merely allow states to write their own abortion laws as the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution intended.

When Cuomo ordered the lighting of the Freedom Tower, its pink glow fell upon the National September 11 Memorial at its base. There the names of some 3,000 people who died in the 2001 attacks are inscribed on the parapets surrounding the waterfalls. Included are the names of eleven women. After the name of each one is the phrase “and her unborn child” (see the photo above).

We used to mourn the slaughter of the unborn. Now, at the very site of the September 11 Memorial, we celebrate the “right” to kill unborn children.

So I’m sad and I’m angry and I fear for my nation. I pray for my nation. And I can’t be quiet.

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” Isaiah 5:20

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Note: Don’t miss my interviews with Christian romance writer Robin Lee Hatcher (author of Who I Am With You and An Idaho Christmas: Past and Present), and Christian science fiction writer Kerry Nietz (author of Amish Vampires in Space and Fraught). Visit my website at Writing in Overdrive. See you there!
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Note: Battle Before Time, the first book in my newly revised and updated Timebenders series for young readers, has just been released in paperback. Click this link to learn more.

And if you’d like to learn more about how to write faster, more freely, and more brilliantly than you ever thought possible, read my book Writing In Overdrive, available in paperback and ebook editions at Amazon.com. —J.D.

Jim Denney also blogs at Writing in Overdrive and Walt’s Disneyland.