Is abortion painful for the child aborted?

Last week the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington passed a bill which would outlaw abortions when a child is more than 20 weeks old in the womb of its mother.  At 20 weeks it is a medical fact that the fetus or child in the womb can feel pain.  Back in the 80’s and 90’s, Dr. Bernard Nathanson, who had himself performed thousands of abortions, viewed an ultrasound of an abortion performed in the 20’s of weeks in the womb and became aware that the baby, shown in the ultrasound, was literally eliciting a scream when the baby was being cut to pieces by the abortionist.  

Experiencing this, he realized that he had actually been killing babies who felt the pain of the abortionist’s knife; he thereupon became one of the most staunch defenders of the baby in the womb, producing a documentary film showing what he termed was “The Silent Scream” of the baby being aborted.

Decades later we have Representatives who do more than just voice their opposition to “abortion on demand” for any reason, at any time; they have formulated a law limiting abortions when it is clear that the baby can feel pain in the hopes that sensitive people would be responsive to the pain and suffering of fellow human beings.  But to hear Nancy Pelosi put it: Republicans are just producing “more danger” for women.  Other Democrats in the U.S. Senate have declared this bill as DOA, “dead on arrival” in the Senate, meaning the bill will not even get a hearing, much less a vote.

I do not believe there is a single Democrat politician at any level of elected or appointed office who is more than perhaps “privately opposed to abortion” but certainly not actively opposed to abortion.  Starting back in the 80’s and 90’s, no Democrat was allowed to voice opposition to abortion at a National Democrat Convention; a prime example was Governor Casey of Pennsylvania.  

In Florida in 2010, a black lady, Daphne Campbell, a representative in the state legislature suffered all kinds of abuse from fellow Democrats when she voiced her opposition to abortion, finding her only comfort in support from Republican legislators.  The outlandish crowing of support by abortion advocates, with thunderous applause from the audience, for any kind of abortion at any time under any circumstances within their so-called “safe and legal” canopy at their 2012 Democrat National Convention was nothing less than a Democrat love of abortion as an instrument of power.

It is worth remembering that at this Convention, the mention of God was stricken from the Democrat Platform prior to the Convention by their platform committee and at one of the sessions on the floor of the convention, officials, fearing such a move might negatively affect the upcoming election, could not get, after several tries, even a majority vote from the delegates, much less than the required ⅔ vote to restore God back into the platform.

Nor is the the dedication to the power of abortion restricted only to Democrats; Republications in both houses of Congress who have had positions of power for decades are loath to publicly support such a bill as just passed by the majority of newly elected conservative Republicans who have regard for not only legitimate rights of women but equal regard for the human rights of the unborn struggling to be born.

Without our legislators, and all those in positions of power in government, respecting the natural human rights of all people, born and unborn, because these rights come from God and not from those  who deny God while using their positions of power to determine to whom rights are given, if any, there will be no peace, no justice, no freedom. 

Abortion is not only the curse of our age but may the harbinger of the end of civilization. Only through our prayers to God, asking for His mercy can we hope to recover the America that depends upon our Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

Fathers' Day and Humor

Years ago when my younger daughter was 10 years of age or so, I was driving the family at night on the highway leading to our home. My memory does not allow me to know exactly what the circumstances were but I do recall that my younger daughter was apparently a bit rambunctious and I roughly shouted at her that she be quiet. She was sitting in the back of the car and the silence of the four  of us in the car was deafening. I felt guilty that I had been so lacking in control in shouting as loudly as I did.

Out of the deadly silence came my daughter's voice saying sadly “nobody loves me”. The intensity of my guilt was matched only by the pain of emptiness of mind for any suitable response.  Then came a second cry from my daughter "nobody cares".  I don't recall my exact feelings but it was probably close to a desire to be propelled from my seat as a pilot ejected from a fighter in trouble.

What happened next brought all of us to the reality of the situation;  my daughter next said:
 "nobody picks me peaches and pears" quickly followed by "nobody offers me candy and Cokes", "nobody listens and laughs at my jokes", plus many other lines of a poem she had memorized which clearly demonstrated her use of humor to solve the silliness of my un-father-like shouting.

This Sunday is Fathers' Day and this event of many years ago was an invaluable lesson in bringing about a change in my approach to being a better father and most importantly the realization that humor can break the impasse brought about by a tendency to take a confrontation too seriously.

One example comes to mind when a family argument involving my two daughters, their mother and me.  My daughters left the scene hurt and angry; I followed them into the younger daughter's room, and closed the door; the three of us remained in silence for several minutes as I looked out the window at the garden waiting for an opportunity to calm the seething thoughts.  

All of a sudden my younger daughter (the same one who had memorized the poem some years before) asked what I was looking at outside the window.  Here was my opportunity to break the icy silence:  "I was looking at a bush and noticed a lady bug on one of it's leaves and the bug, on closer inspection, was being bothered by gnats crawling on its back, while the gnats seemed to be bothered by even smaller insects on their backs and these insects in turn...................".   At this point my daughters left the room, their minds seemingly cleared of troubling thoughts as they went about their normal activities.

My favorite Fathers' Day card is one that shows how important good humor is to a father who wants to be a good father to his children.

A letter to My Daughter

My Dear Daughter,

Below is a letter I left for Mom this morning after we had dinner with M at California Pizza  last night.  As you can tell I felt pretty low.

(Start of Letter)  Well, here I sit frustrated with very little sleep Monday morning 8:30 AM June 10, 2013. Frustrated because as I’ve always done my whole life - I leave things until the last minute and have none-the-less been able to accomplish what I wanted to. But you were right last night −  I let this thing go too long trying to do the things that need to be done in apartment 2112 and here it is the last day of our tenant’s vacation or trip to Arizona for whatever, and while I have bought the AC, I do not know whether I can put it in by myself today. Mosquitoes are flying all around me and I know I’ll be in more pain in just a little bit.

Sean has not responded to my calls and I guess I’ll have to go down to his house and see where he is, probably on vacation. I didn’t get a chance to get the number of this other fellow, whose name I can’t remember at the moment. And in addition to the AC, there are 2 other things that I have to get fixed, which of course I haven’t told you about, and that is one of the screens that Sean installed was damaged by stiff winds because it didn’t fit correctly. The second thing is an upper hinge on the upper cabinet door in the bathroom being completely rusted out. Why nobody spotted that I’m not sure. Anyway, those three things: the AC, the hinge, and the screen have to be fixed for inspection, which again I didn’t tell you about, before June 21.

I marveled at the quickness with which you accomplished the 2 major operations at 1513 of fixing the door and the bedroom AC. I could not have done that. I would’ve gone along with the thousand dollars the other guy wanted to repair the windows and the door. So everything negative you said about me is true. Even though I’ve tried I’ve screwed it all up. I’m afraid it’s only going to get worse which is why I wanted to get out of this business about the fixing up of the apartments. Sometimes I have the energy and sometimes I don’t. The problems of back pain is for the most part solved but not completely. The bladder problem has come to be a nightmare and I’m not sure what, if any, resolution there is going to be to that.

In the old days I had just enough energy to manage to get things done, not necessarily in the best way, but at least done. Now I don’t know when I’m going to be able to do something or not. At dinner last night I just got so frustrated being judged by M as I had been by you about the matter of our grand-daughter  and her iTouch or cell phone. In regard to my relationship with our two daughters we have a major disagreement but I am convinced that when I stand before God, he will not condemn me for what I’ve tried to do. He may condemn me for a lot of other things but I sincerely believe he will not condemn me for having done what I’ve always thought best for both our daughters; so you and I will always have to agree to disagree although we don’t agree to disagree do we?

I am what I am. Some things I am willing to change, others not. But you continually judge me; many times you are right but I’m not sure it helps me to do better and become better with your constant finding fault at all times. So there we are. In the matter of apartment 2112 you have had me correctly pegged.  (end of letter)

What happened next was that Sean, a good handyman, sent me a text saying he was available to help.  He ended up installing the new AC and is fixing the other items by tomorrow.

The strange thing is that on my way to the Condo to meet up with Sean I was terribly depressed and in pain from my bladder problem so I just pulled off to the side of the road screaming for help from God that he give me some sign that he would help me from wanting to just die (which can happen from continued severe depression).  Just moments latter I got a call from the office of my psychologist, to say I had an appointment with him Wednesday morning.  To me, that was what I needed to restore my self confidence and the depression immediately left me.  I have come to understand that God responds to me in ways like this.

After your call I was mocked and condemned for taking the position that I believe my way of handling my daughters' difficulties is righteous and conforms with what God expects of me as a father;  I did not relate any of our conversation but said only that I spoke with you and intend to do so in the future as is my right.  I am no longer depressed.

I shall call B, our grand-daughter, in the morning at about 10 AM my time.  Thanks for giving me a call and please continue to do so.

Love, Dad

When Catholics Were Cristeros

While viewing films on Netflix it was my good fortune to come across a spectacular new movie "For Greater Glory" dealing with the Communist Government of Mexico attempting to wipe out the Catholic Faith in the 1920's. The film brings to modern audiences a time of oppression given little attention in the decades since the 20's and practically forgotten until now.  Such a film is needed at this juncture in our American history when an oppressive government is doing all it can to abolish American ideals of:  Liberty, Trust in God and "from many different and separate people becoming one people".

It is not that such oppression is as bad as was the oppression of Catholics under the Mexican President P. E. Calles or that suppression of our people should result in organized armed rebellion against our government as was the case in Mexico when Catholic men and women became fighters known as Cristeros, fighters for Christ.  The point to be realized from this film is to understand that the tyranny of oppressive governments is always brought to an end by the self sacrificing of its martyrs who trust in God for the fulfillment of the salvation of their people.  A young boy of 14, who refused to deny his faith but instead gave his life continually responding "Long live Christ the King" to each demand to deny and live or be executed, did more to bring about the end of this war against the Mexican Catholic faith than those fighting in the armed rebellion.  Without the blood of martyrs there can be no peace from oppression.

We should pray in groups for the saving of our American Principles and speak out against wrongdoing even if we must suffer the consequences.  We must speak out against the government's use of the IRS, the EPA, and other government agencies to intimidate those who speak out against government wrongdoing.  If we trust in God to accomplish the good needed to stop government oppression, we will see the miracles He can perform.

Click on the link below to read a summary of the film "For Greater Glory" and then definitely see the film.

When Catholics Were Cristeros

The Little Martyrs

King Herod listened to the three wise men of the East following a star directing them to the birthplace of a newly born baby who was to be a savior king for all people.  King Herod directed the men to Bethlehem, asking them to return with information about the baby's whereabouts.  Herod wanted to kill this savior king because of jealousy.  When the wise men did not return, Herod ordered his soldiers to kill all the new born babies of the Bethlehem area.  His parents had fled into Egypt with their savior king, Jesus, before this slaughter of "the holy innocents"; these innocents were the first martyrs of the Christian Church.

Today in America we have a similar slaughter of innocent babies within the womb and without as evidenced by the Gosnell holocaust.  Planned Parenthood is responsible for hundreds of thousands of such killings every year.  Christians have long wondered whether these killings are martyrdoms; that is, they wonder whether the souls of these babies enjoy the happiness of Heaven for all eternity.

To help in arriving at an answer to this vital question let us consider the rationale of the abortion industry in justifying these killings.  Planned Parenthood had its beginnings under various names back in the late 1800's and early 1900's.  Margaret Sanger is considered its founder.  She and many others believed in Eugenics which involves the "purification" of races, societies and populations by weeding out people considered to be mentally inferior or defective.  Various techniques to accomplish this weeding out process were considered and implemented.  Voluntary and forced sterilization; propaganda  in education, using even the churches, to discourage families to limit family size to no more than one or two children or no children at all; abortion.  It was eventually determined that the most "efficient and effective" method was abortion.

What followed was was a bevy of "euphemisms" in propaganda to make abortion sound like something it was not.  The name Planned Parenthood is itself a euphemism used to hide the fact that their main business is abortion in the hundreds of thousands every year.  The saddest thing of all is that negroes were considered by the early eugenicists to be the most defective and undesirable in the population so that they have been the main targets for abortion.  Recent statistics show that 41% of all pregnancies in the U.S. end in abortions while 60% of all African American pregnancies end in abortion.  One of the reasons for this is that most Planned Parenthood clinics are located in economically poor districts of large cities in America.  Gosnell's clinic was in a poor black community in Philadelphia.

The point to be made here is that Eugenics/Abortion, founders/providers had and have no belief in God and see nothing at all evil in trashing His human creations.  Hence abortion is primarily a crime against God in His Goodness and Love by hating His human creations.  In effect, every abortion provider who contributes to an act of abortion contributes to an act of hatred for God, whether that provider realizes it or not.

This concept alone when compared to the act of hatred for God manifested by Herod in the killing of the innocents, whether he realized it or not, makes abortion of a human child ending in its death, an act of martyrdom.  Thus we have some fifty million martyrs to honor since Roe v Wade in January, 1973 and Christians can have confidence in these millions of little martyrs being happy in Heaven with a Merciful God for all eternity.

Another question might arise: whether a woman having an abortion is guilty of such an act of hatred for God.  There are many reasons for stating NO in almost every case.  In my next post I would like to develop this theme.