Last month both morality and parental rights faced another head-on assault by two of our three branches of government.
First, Federal Judge Edward Korman ruled that young girls of any age should be given the sole and unsupervised ability to choose whether or not to purchase over the counter Plan B “morning after” pills.
Following Judge Korman’s decision, President Obama announced this week that he was personally “very comfortable with” the decision of his administration to establish an age limit of 15 years of age to purchase over the counter “morning after” pills “based on solid scientific evidence.”
While we could debate whether such a decision ends a pregnancy or not, I hardly believe that I will persuade the millions of pro-abortion supporters that a child of just a few days old is human when they are perfectly convinced that snuffing out the life of a child 20 - 25 weeks or later in the womb is merely a “choice” and not murder.
What this decision has highlighted though are three disturbing realities that reflect the depths to which our nation has sunk, led by our courts and President, and enabled by a passive populace.
First, I was troubled to hear the judge, the President and other activists citing “solid scientific evidence” as the reason to arrive at this decision. What was missing though in their reasoning or conclusion was something that should always trump science: ethics or morality.
While science may arrive at certain facts (which are often reversed or overruled as new science is discovered), what sets man apart from animals is his ability to choose between right and wrong, good and evil. And yet, as we see all too often in our nation, the morality of a decision is discarded for scientific, political or expedient reasons.
At the end of the day though, when an aborted (or murdered) child lies lifeless outside of his mother’s womb, no rational person can look at that corpse made in God’s image, and proclaim: “look at that non-human blob.” No, we all know instinctively in the core of our being that what lies in front of us is as human as you and I are. No amount of “scientific evidence” or political argument can change this truth.
The second disturbing reality of this whole matter is the utter hypocrisy and double standard that our government is demonstrating to our young girls.
Consider that our nation’s underage girls are admonished to look to their parents for guidance when it comes to viewing a PG13 movie. Further, young girls 15 or 16 years of age are prohibited from attending a R rated movie unless they have a parent or adult with them. Yet these same girls are being told by their government and affirmed by Obama that its alright for them to make their own decision on whether to terminate a pregnancy -- without any parental or adult input or even their knowledge.
Now, an honest person with any degree of common sense should be willing to acknowledge the utter hypocritical, if not immoral, position that both the Judge and Obama are asserting regarding Plan B.
Finally, let’s consider what this decision is really establishing: government ultimately possesses the final control and say-so over the daughters of every family in America.
We are to ignore the fact that it was the parents who conceived the child and nurtured and raised her. Ultimately, the government is asserting that its authority trumps parental rights. This isn’t the first decision to reflect this attitude, but perhaps it is one of the more significant and far-reaching ones.
Consider that Obama, this judge, and HHS are telling you as a parent that you can no longer supervise what your daughter as young as 15 can ingest (or perhaps even younger if the judge’s ruling prevails). Even worse, you no longer even have the right to know that your daughter might have been raped, given that a 15-year-old girl is a victim of statutory rape if she finds herself considering Plan B.
So, while the court, federal agencies and our Activist-in-Chief President may assert “solid scientific evidence” as the reason for their decision, I would assert that what has been lost in the shuffle has been the morality, the double standard, and ultimately the assault on parental rights.
In the final analysis though, does America even care? Will our nation, founded upon Judeo-Christian values, wake up from its self inflicted stupor and begin to retake what is rightfully ours? Is there anything that will jar the masses to sit up and say “no more”?
While I pray we will, I fear we won’t.
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” John Adams, Founding Father and second President of the U.S.
“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin condemns any people.” Proverbs 14:34 (NIV)
Mark West
Ooltewah
* * *
While I agree with some of your statements, I also believe that my version of morality is different from yours, from the lady down the street, and from the man who mows my yard. Few people have the exact same version of right or wrong on every aspect of life - which is why we all have individual personal convictions. I'm torn on this and I believe there are pros and cons either way. Right or wrong is not a line in the sand.
I also believe that a majority of those who scream about abortion and birth control (especially for those who can least afford to have children) do very little to promote children's rights and welfare once they are actually born. If they did, there would be no need for abortion, or foster care, or feed the children.
I'm not pro-abortion by any stretch, but perhaps we could all look beyond our self-righteous morality and try to help the ones who already are. Then worry about the ones who might potentially be.
D.J. Locke