by Teri Ong
Sunday, January 20, 2019 was a momentous day for our family. Our eleventh grandchild was born. That same day in Washington D.C. a March for Life was being held, as it is every year, to mourn the atrocities committed under Roe v. Wade, and to encourage the rightful pursuit of Life. While pro-life people were marching to uphold innocent life, others were marching to support what they euphemistically call “the woman’s right to choose.”
That phrase fits G. K. Chesterton’s definition of an “evil euphemism.” An evil euphemism is essentially a lie. One of his examples is the phrase “free love,” which, as he points out, describes something that is neither “love” nor “free.” The woman’s “right to choose” is neither her legitimate “right” nor her legitimate “choice.” It was a very evil day when we decided as a society that a mother can murder an innocent baby with impunity, and that the choice is no more significant than choosing to have a botox treatment carried out by a technician.
Later that same week, the state of New York passed legislation that makes abortion legal up to the moment of birth. The old phrase, “What a difference a day makes,” should now be “What a difference a minute makes.” It could be the difference between life and death for some perfectly healthy, bouncing baby.
Logically, the baby is no less human, no less viable, no less full of creative/productive potential, no less capable of feeling pain and pleasure, a minute before birth than he or she is a minute after being born. Have we really lost our minds? Chesterton, in Heretics, described our society: “Millions… call themselves sane and sensible merely because they always catch the fashionable insanity, because they are hurried into madness after madness by the maelstrom of the world.” (p. 28) How else could we celebrate as a right the destruction of fully-formed, independent human beings for one pitiful reason– because they are unwanted by their mothers? My mind keeps coming back to this truth:
35 “For he who finds me [godly wisdom] finds life
And obtains favor from the Lord.
36 “But he who sins against me injures himself;
All those who hate me love death.” Prov 8:35-36 NASB
There is no other answer: we have rejected godly wisdom as a society, and we have embraced a culture of death. When Governor Cuomo signed the legislation in New York, there was a great roar of approval and applause from the crowd who witnessed the event. He ordered that key buildings around the state would be lit up with pink lights to signify the great “victory” for women’s rights. Another evil euphemism! Someone in conservative media said that pink is the color of “blood mixed with mother’s milk.”
How is it a victory for women when statistics show that more potential woman than men are killed in the womb? How is it a victory for women when the legislation also removed the requirement of having a dangerous procedure (abortion) carried out by a qualified medical doctor in a medical facility? How many women will die because they “chose” to have their baby killed by a cheap technician? How many women will be scarred for life and made callous to the cries of the innocent and helpless because there were plenty of accessories to murder for a price?
There have been untold consequences for individuals and for our nation for the millions of abortions that have been performed since the procedure was legalized. And now that we are doubling down on our love of death, we must remember one thing. Maybe we can “choose” to do evil, but God reserves the right to choose the consequences.
25 ‘Cursed is he who accepts a bribe to strike down an innocent person.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ Deut 27:25 NASB
The following Scripture, Psalm 10, expresses the attitude of so many people in America today.
4 The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek Him.
All his thoughts are, “There is no God.”
5 His ways prosper at all times;
Your judgments are on high, out of his sight;
As for all his adversaries, he snorts at them.
6 He says to himself, “I will not be moved;
Throughout all generations I will not be in adversity.”
7 His mouth is full of curses and deceit and oppression;
Under his tongue is mischief and wickedness.
8 He sits in the lurking places of the villages;
In the hiding places he kills the innocent…
11 He says to himself, “God has forgotten;
He has hidden His face; He will never see it.”
Let us not neglect to repeat the prayer of David in this dire circumstance:
12 Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up Your hand.
Do not forget the afflicted.
_____________
References:
Chesterton, G.K. Heretics/Orthodoxy. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000.
Chesterton, G.K. Stories, Essays, and Poems. “On Evil Euphemisms” (p. 208-211) London: J.M. Dent & Sons LTD, 1941 ed.
