In what can only be described as a “house of horrors,” abortion provider Kermit Gosnell stands trial in Philadelphia, charged with the grotesque murder of at least seven infants, allegedly born alive after botched abortions only to be brutally killed moments later.
As this nearly month-long trial continues, it paints the stark and unmistakably abhorrent reality of abortion. While the national mainstream media has been all but silent about this trial, the headlines coming from local media coverage have been morbidly graphic. Babies born alive and then allegedly killed in truly barbaric ways.
The details emerging from this trial are too graphic for us to even put into words, yet our society allows this same unspeakable torture of another human being to occur just so long as the baby is still inside the womb.
The Gosnell trial in conjunction with a Planned Parenthood lobbyist’s recent admission that the abortion giant has no issue with this life-ending practice is lifting the veil of secrecy from an industry long shrouded from public scrutiny.
The Planned Parenthood lobbyist testified against a state law that would protect babies born alive after a botched abortion from being left to die, or worse yet, killed. She was asked about Planned Parenthood’s position on whether an infant born in this situation should receive medical care, she repeatedly testified, “That decision should be between the patient and the health care provider.”
Public outrage ensued. Planned Parenthood later removed their opposition from the bill, essentially arguing that this “extremely unlikely and highly unusual” set of circumstances doesn’t really happen.
That’s just undeniably false. As Democrat strategist Kirsten Powers noted, “The Gosnell case suggests otherwise.”
The fact is this situation does occur. And is it really at all likely that abortionists such as Gosnell are reporting this dastardly act? In fact, such gruesome practices are often only made public by whistleblowers or, in Gosnell’s case, a criminal trial.
But the question remains: How can killing a newborn infant be illegal and shocking to the collective conscience, yet ending that same life moments, days or weeks before be perfectly legal and socially acceptable as long as the baby is still in the womb? There is no logical answer.
Aside from how a baby receives food and oxygen, what changes occur to make the baby human out of the womb but something other than human the second before? Does the baby’s brain magically begin activity; does his or her heartbeat suddenly begin; does the baby abruptly begin moving on his or her own after birth? No, of course not. A baby possesses all of these qualities of life in utero.
Matthew and his wife are just days away from the birth of their third son. Is his child any less human today than if he had been born yesterday? While to those of us in the pro-life community these have always been simple questions, the logical answers are now becoming apparent to many others as well.
The horrific nature of the Gosnell trial puts this in perspective. When you understand how abortions are performed, you recognize the profoundly inhumane way these innocent infants are killed or mutilated during the course of an abortion.
You don’t have to be a person of faith to recognize the horror of abortion.
The legal and societal sanctification of abortion is the greatest human rights travesty of our time. It’s time for it to end. Every human deserves the protection of the law and the right to life.
Jordan Sekulow is executive director of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ). Matthew Clark is an attorney at the ACLJ. Follow them on Twitter: @JordanSekulow and @_MatthewClark. This column originally appeared on The Washington Post.
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