What I saw this morning made me think
Published September 26, 2015
by Matt Caulder, Capitol Connection, September 25, 2015.
This morning I held my wife’s hand as we got a sneak peek at our daughter, Lilly.
As the ultrasound tech moved the scanner over my wife’s belly and I sat there staring at the screen, catching glimpses of arms, legs and her beating heart, it occurred to me that just three weeks ago my wife could have chosen to kill her.
The state Senate passed a bill yesterday defunding organizations like Planned Parenthood and banning the sale of fetal body parts, which explains my train of thought.
In North Carolina it is legal to abort a child up until the 20th week, and North Carolina is on the conservative end of the spectrum.
In Virginia, Massachusetts and Iowa abortion is legal up until 25 weeks. That is a point after the time my wife and I found out she is a girl (I’m still a little bit in shock), and after we gave her a name and felt her first kicks and punches.
The NC legislation was made in reaction to videos showing representatives of Planned Parenthood discussing the sale of the remains of unborn children and also sifting through the remains of aborted children.
As I sat there watching the valves of Lilly’s heart opening and closing, and listening to her heartbeat, I was in awe of what my wife and I had created, and horrified that some people look at that screen and see anything less than a life.
But worse there are people who look at her little body and see $$$, people who know better and chose to ignore that fact.
No baby is a problem. Life is a miracle. No qualifiers.
We as a society now know too much about how a baby develops to believe an unborn child in a “collection of cells” or a bundle of unformed tissue.
At two months, my daughter had arms and legs. At three months she had fingertips. At four months Lilly had a name and all of her fingers and toes, and she was already getting in plenty of time punching at my wife every time she wore a seatbelt.
Now at five months Lilly can definitely hear me talking to her, though I have been talking to her for months already. My wife is heading off to her first baby shower and I am preparing for my new pink life.
Every day is a celebration because Lilly is growing up so fast.
One bright spot in all of this is that more than ever since the “right” to an abortion was created in the Roe v. Wade case in the early 1970s, women are agreeing with me that baby’s lives are worth saving.
Abortion rates in the United States have fallen from a high of 100 abortions for every 1,000 live births, or 10 percent of all pregnancies, to about 70 abortions for every 1,000 live births, or 7 percent.
While it isn’t a lot of change, it does mean that 30 more babies live today for every 1,000 live births than did in the years following the Roe v. Wade decision.
Another positive sign is that it is now becoming more acceptable to grieve the loss of a child to miscarriage.
It used to be that expecting mothers and fathers would silently struggle through their pain after losing a child before they even had a chance to hold her, but now many hospitals offer funerals for late-term miscarriages, and funeral homes provide services too.
In the face of this recognition of human life, even before birth, it seems crazy to turn around and say that it is completely fine to choose to end the life of a baby of the same age under some “right to choose.”
Something else that boggles my mind is the complete lack of standing that the father has when it come to a decision to abort an unborn child.
The mother has all the say in whether or not to abort her and the father’s baby.
The dad has no legal standing when it comes to these decisions, but when it comes to paying child support the government sees fit to force him to pay.
How does it make sense that I, as a father, have no way to protect my unborn child from abortion, but if I do not want to be involved financially, the courts will still hold me responsible?
Don’t get me wrong, I believe that every father is responsible for every child they bring into this world, but I also think that a father should have rights when it comes to his children.
But my main point is that while I look at the screen and see a little baby, even at 12 weeks, and I keep her 12-week picture on my desk, plenty of people still don’t see her for what she is — a life, a child, a daughter. It is good to see that the legislature is willing to fight to protect more sons and daughters.
http://nccapitolconnection.com/2015/09/25/what-i-saw-this-morning-made-me-think/
September 26, 2015 at 1:35 pm
Norm Kelly says:
Congratulations! Enjoy all the pink.
I am the father of 2 boys. When my son & daughter-in-law told us they were having a daughter, I wasn't sure how I was going to like a girl. Turns out, this is AWESOME! I now have 1 grand-daughter and 1 grand-son. We spend lots of time together and it is truly the highlight of my days. I am so thankful that my son & daughter-in-law chose NOT to abort! Every child is a miracle and gift from God, regardless of your religious preference. There is no other way to think or talk about a child!
As for the rest of the confusion about abortion, child-rights, fathers-rights, or any of the other nonsense involved, one must remember that this is a lib scheme. There is no logic required in ANY lib scheme.
When a woman chooses to kill her unborn child, it's 'her right'. If an auto accident were to happen where the unborn child doesn't survive, the person causing the accident is accused of murder. In one instance, libs tell us its a mass of tissue, in the other instance those exact same libs tell us its a human being. No logic. No thought process.
A father has no rights until AFTER the fetus becomes a child. Or, in lib speak, until the tissue mass becomes a human being, only the mother has rights. After the tissue mass becomes a human being, the father has one and only one legal right. Support. Since the father does not carry the tissue mass to term (when it becomes a human being), the mother is the one who suffers through pregnancy and delivery so it's her decision to make. The father is not allowed to ask for their child to be brought to term and in custody and support of the father. Because libs make this rule also, there is no logic. And no thought process. Because if you thought or brought logic into the picture, you would realize that the father has the same rights as the mother in the ENTIRE process. From conception through birth, until age 18 when libs consider the human being an adult. Unless we are talking socialized medicine, in which case those same libs say that the human being is not an adult until reaching the age of 26. See, no logic. No thought process. Nothing that stands up to scrutiny.
So long as the father pays support, the mother retains full control and authority of the child/human being. Even if the father has no visitation rights/option, the liberal legal system insists that financial support is the sole responsibility of the father. And the father also gets no say in whether the mother actually spends the child support money on the child. And if the father takes mom to court because she is wasting the support money on her own vacations, cars, boyfriends, etc, the father is slapped down by the lib legal system quite frequently and quite hard. (I know. there are exceptions. but too few to matter. there are as few exceptions in fathers rights as there are instances of Billary telling the truth! ok. so there may be more instances of fathers rights being upheld. but you get my point!) The father is reminded that his only responsibility and right is that of support. If he doesn't like that mom isn't buying the child school clothes with the support money, the courts response almost always is that dad can buy the clothes on his own for the child (with no reduction in child support payments, of course). Again, no logic required. No thought process required. Cuz if you start thinking about it, the lib scheme falls apart. Like every lib scheme.
It is truly good news that our state is taking the right and proper steps to minimize abortions. Changing adoption rules is also a good place to go. Defunding Planned Parenthood is an excellent start. Wanna bet libs at the central planner level, led by the current abort-at-any-costs occupier, will take this to court to force our state to spend the money on abortions anyway?! Based on how libs have reacted to everything else involving abortion reductions, this is certain. Libs at the central planner level will insist that the videos, and all other documentation, are false, and need to be ignored. If it cramps the lib scheme, it must be a lie. It is illogical to believe that aborted tissue mass has any value or can be used for anything at all. Remember, it's only tissue. Tissue is useless and disposable.
What lib has ever accepted ANY control, restriction,oversight of anything related to abortion. Even when our legislature said that abortion clinics had to meet the same standards as other surgical facilities, libs were beside themselves with anger. Since it's a womans right to choose to kill her unborn child, there's no government regulation allowed. Not even to say that surgical standards need to be upheld. Kinda like the back room, dirty, illegal abortion clinics of the past libs warn us about. But, for some reason that libs can't explain, they tell us that these unregulated, uncontrolled abortion clinics with no discernible standards are safer for women to use. And if women are not allowed to have abortions, it's only because white, conservative, men hate women and want to control their lives. A womans entire medical/health situation is relegated to second class simply because it's not quite so easy for her to kill a kid. Doesn't matter that she can still get mammograms, pap smears, xrays, etc. Her health is greatly, severely impacted if she can't get an abortion. But only in the mind of libs. (mind? who am i kidding?)
