January 22, 1973 is a day that has gone down in infamy. However, unlike December 7, 1941, another day of infamy, the death and destruction did not occur on that day but has continued since that time and has snuffed out the lives of countless more than those killed on that day. Since 1973 there have been 35,000,000 babies killed [this article was penned for January of 2001; the numbers here and current events mentioned below are a year old. ~ Editor], over 1.2 million per year. Furthermore, the attack on Pearl Harbor was against armed shipping in the United States Navy and not against the innocent unborn in the womb.

Last year congress passed a law to ban what has become known as "Partial-Birth Abortion." That bill was vetoed by President Clinton. Hopefully, with a new Congress in session and a new President having been sworn in, Congress will again pass such a bill that George W. Bush has already indicated he would sign such a bill into law.

I believe that it is vital that we understand what "partial-birth abortion" really is so that we might encourage our congressmen and senators to ban the practice as a first step to overturning the Roe versus Wade decision legalizing abortion that has enabled a vast number of our innocent, unborn children to be murdered. Note the following excerpts from a statement made by a nurse before a House subcommittee considering the Partial-Birth abortion ban bill.

I stood at the doctor's side as he performed the partial-birth abortion procedure - and what I saw is branded forever on my mind. Dr. Haskell brought the ultra-sound in and hooked it up so that he could see the baby. The baby's heartbeat was clearly visible on the ultra-sound screen. Dr. Haskell went in with forceps and grabbed the baby's legs and pulled them down into the birth canal. The he delivered the baby's body and the arms -- everything but the head. The doctor kept the baby's head just inside the uterus. The baby's little fingers were clasping and unclasping, and his feet were kicking. Then the doctor stuck the scissors through the back of his head, and the baby's arms jerked out in a flinch, a startled-reaction, like a baby does when he thinks that he might fall. The doctor opened up the scissors, stuck a high-powered suction tube into the opening, and sucked the baby's brains out. Now the baby was completely limp....That baby boy was only inches, seconds away from being entirely born, when he was killed. What I saw done to that little boy, and to those other babies, should not be allowed in this country.

Yes, Partial-birth abortion is a horrendous thing. Indeed abortion itself is a horrendous thing that takes away the life of the innocent unborn child. Now, as of September 28, 2000, we have the "morning-after" pill. This provides a way for women to kill their unborn child pharmaceutically rather than surgically. As Christians, we must stand opposed to the taking of innocent human life in abortion, whether surgically or pharmaceutically. That life begins at conception and that which is in the womb is an unborn child is clearly taught in Scripture (Genesis 25:21-22; Psalm 139:13-16; Jeremiah 1:5; Luke 1:41). Furthermore, the killing of innocent blood is clearly condemned in the Bible (Exodus 23:7; Proverbs 6:6-17).

Let us pray and work that this country might stop this slaughter of innocent babies in the womb through a reversal of that horrendous January 22, 1973 Supreme Court decision.

A woman does have the right to control her own body, but the unborn child is not her body. The genetic code of the unborn is different from the mother's. The unborn may not even be the same sex as the mother. The unborn may even have a different blood type. Thus, the unborn is a new, unique human life. Let us always seek to protect human life (Proverbs 6:16ff).