The End of Abortion

On August 19, 2015 the Center for Medical Progress released yet another video detailing the closed room practices of Planned Parenthood and their partner StemExpress in procuring fetal body parts.  These groups have been harvesting the organs of aborted babies, exchanging money, and using the flesh for scientific experimentation.  It is sickening.  The videos are not for the faint of heart, but if you desire to watch you can find them here.

In the most recent video a former procurement technician for StemExpress, Holly, relates the story of how she came to know she could no longer work for this agency.  She tells of how another technician called her into a room where she was cleaning a newly aborted baby (so newly aborted that the heart would still beat when pricked by an instrument) to prepare it for organ harvesting.

Holly was told that day she would be harvesting the baby's brain.  The other technician began the process by making an incision under the baby's jaw and through the bottom lip with scissors.  She then handed the fetus and scissors to Holly and instructed her to finish cutting through the baby's face in order to remove the brain.

This is brutal and disgusting.  The treatment of this baby, a precious creation of God, is indefensible.  It should move us all to revulsion.  Yet there is more than just the treatment of the baby here.  There is also the intended indoctrination of Holly.

Hearing Holly retell of her experience I was reminded of C.S. Lewis' novel That Hideous Strength.  Toward the end of the novel a character named Mark is taken to the so-called "Objective Room" where he is instructed to stomp upon the face of Christ as depicted upon a life size crucifix.

Until that moment Mark had always dismissed Christ and Christianity as superstition and nonsense.  Now, being asked to show great disrespect to an artistic depiction of Jesus, he begins to reconsider.  "Well, if so, what is there objective about stamping on the face?  Isn't it just as subjective to spit on a thing like this as to worship it?  I mean--damn it all--if it's only a bit of wood, why do anything about it?"

It is explained to Mark that he is being asked to stomp upon and insult the crucifix because he was raised in a Christian culture.  This is part of his initiation into a secret society.  He must first renounce all other sources of authority before he can move further toward the inner circle.  And the crucifix is the supreme example of other authority.

Holly, the ex-StemExpress technician, was made to cut through a dead baby's face in order to harvest its brain.  Why the face?  Why not the side, or back, of the head?  Why was Holly made to do it when the other technician was far more comfortable with it?

Well that is just it, isn't it?  This was part of Holly's indoctrination, her initiation.  A baby is not really a baby.  It is only tissue, only a fetus, and she is shown this by being forced to cut through the baby's face.  She must reject what her eyes plainly tell her, that this is an innocent life, and become callous to the reality of her new occupation.  

Mark finally refuses to stomp on the crucifix, even though he still rejects the Christian faith.  He runs from the Objective Room and eventually ends up safe with his estranged wife.

Holly went through with the procurement.  She finished the cutting, extracted the brain, and disposed of the rest of the baby's body.  But she was done after that day.  She knew, she says, that she could no longer work in that industry.

When we come face to face with true evil our conscience goes one of two directions.  It grows callous and dead to the evil, accepting it as the new normal.  Or, the conscience screams and howls for us to flee.

Flee like Holly from sin and evil.  Flee like Mark to Christ, even if we are not sure about Him.

I am not sure where Holly stands today.  The videos are not much interested in her spiritual journey.  But I pray that she has been called by the Gospel to the Christ who became a fetal human being for her.  I hope that she has received consolation for her blood-stained conscience in the blood of Jesus.

And I hope the same will be true for all of the technicians, doctors, mothers, and fathers, who have participated in the murder of these children.  I pray those of us who have been silent far too often (myself included) repent of our laziness, receive forgiveness, and continue to strive to a day when abortion will be unthinkable.

The thing is, even if Planned Parenthood is de-funded, there is still much work to do.  Even if abortion is made illegal by an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, our task will not be fully accomplished.

There will always be pregnant teens who will need the forgiveness of their sins and the support of their churches to make healthy decisions for the sake of their babies.  There will always be men who need training in and reminding of their responsibilities as fathers.  Children need to be uplifted as precious gifts of God, as arrows in the quiver of a warrior.  

This is a long road.  It requires endurance.

First the conscience is pricked.  These videos have done that for us just as Holly's experience did it for her.  Then comes repentance and forgiveness in Christ.  And the fight continues.  The Spirit motivates us to take up the banner of those who are innocent, those who are broken, those who are hurting, and to do all that we can for them.

"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.  So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everything, especially to those who are of the household of faith." (Galatians 6:9-10)