“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair”

Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities[1]

These brilliantly written words could easily have been describing five days in January in the U.S. On January 18, we witnessed the best of times. Thousands of citizens gathered in Washington, D.C., to support the lives of the unborn. Braving the hazy, wintery weather, they marched to the Supreme Court building to demand an end to the murdering of innocent children still in the womb. Since the devastating Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, more than 60 million babies have been destroyed. Think of that number. That’s almost one out of every five people alive in America today. Not surprisingly, the media found a way to divert any anger at this slaughter away from its perpetrators and onto a group of Catholic school boys.

Four days later came the worst of times. As people smiled behind him and statehouse legislators cheered him on, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the “most aggressive” women’s reproductive rights bill in the nation.[2] Hailed as a protection against what President Donald Trump might do to limit a woman’s right to choose, this law extends far beyond just a shield against a Roe v. Wade overturn. With Cuomo’s signature, abortion and the fetus were removed from the criminal code and placed instead under health laws. Thus, if a pregnant woman is assaulted and loses her baby, there would be no prosecution for the loss of that life. Also, no longer does one have to be a doctor to perform an abortion. Now one need just be a “medical professional” to end the life of a baby.[3]

However, the most heinous aspect of this new law is that a baby can be killed up to the time of birth and even past. New York State Right to Life chair Christina Fadden said, “RHA [Reproductive Health Act] has made abortion a ‘fundamental right’ and prohibits all limits on abortion. . . . RHA has expanded abortion-on-demand in New York past 24 weeks—well past when unborn children feel pain, are viable, and suffer during the course of an abortion—and up to birth.”[4] But the violence doesn’t even end when a child leaves the womb. If a child survives an attempted abortion and is born, it is not protected by any law. The medical professional may still end that life. “[The law] de facto permits infanticide of the sort that the notorious Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell was convicted [of] only recently,” writes Americans United for Life (AUL) president Catherine Glenn Foster.[5] Picture that: a child somehow survives the attempt on its life inside the womb only to face death outside the womb.

The night of the signing, the top of One World Trade Center was lit up pink celebrating this law. It is a fitting tribute to our American culture of death. How can God truly bless a nation that rejoices in the murder of its most innocent? How can we as a nation hope to be a beacon of hope to the world, if that beacon is lit pink to honor the removal of hope from the most helpless. The Church must be on our knees. True change will not come in the courts and statehouses of our country. Change must begin in the hearts of people. Of course, we must pray for the legislators and the judges. But pray also for the doctors and the medical professionals who are destroying so many lives. Ask God to show them the truth of what they are doing. Let them see the reality of their sins. Pray that, as the Lord changes hearts one by one, those ones will turn into tens which will turn into hundreds which will turn into thousands upon thousands. Only when there is heart revival will we leave our winter of despair and begin our spring of hope.

-Joel

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[1] Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. Penguin Books, 1999.

[2] Andrusko, Dave. “NY Gov. Cuomo Signs ‘Most Aggressive’ Abortion Law in the Country.” NRL News Today, 23 Jan. 2019, www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2019/01/ny-gov-cuomo-signs-most-aggressive-abortion-law-in-the-country/.

[3] Marco, Tony. “New York Puts in Measures to Protect Access to Abortion Even If Roe v. Wade Is Overturned.” CNN, 23 Jan. 2019, www.cnn.com/2019/01/23/health/new-york-abortion-measures-trnd/index.html.

[4] Strode, Tom. “N.Y. Abortion Bill: ‘Alarming in Every Sense.’” Baptist Press, 24 Jan. 2019, www.bpnews.net/52299/ny-abortion-bill–alarming-in-every-sense.

[5] Ibid.