ABORTION, DOES IT REALLY MATTER?- GOODMORNING

Abortion: Does it really matter?

by James Sterling

Within the Christian community there is a subtle but distinct lack of concern for the growth of abortion which finds its roots in apathy. The mentality is one of what other people do with their bodies has no effect on us as individuals.

This is such a multifaceted flawed philosophy that only 2 points will be addressed for brevity.

First, we must acknowledge that the ethic of an abortion based mindset places minimal (if any) value on human life. All of the arguments concerning the actual starting point of human life are mere smokescreens to cover this ideology. One extremely fraudulent line of reasoning is to kill a baby only in the case of preserving the life of the mother. However, if this philosophy has any real value for human life, why is the child not considered equally as important as the mother?
Additionally, to demonstrate how the absence of respect for an unborn child can easily be translated to an absence of respect for human life in general, the following cases are presented as evidence:

On January 22, 1999, the 26th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, pro-abortionist Eric Laquinne Brown of Pontotoc, Mississippi strangled to death his pregnant ex-girlfriend Shorlonda Moore and left the bodies of Moore and her preborn child in a burned-out car in Memphis, Tennessee. In November 1999, Brown received a life sentence for the murder of Moore and a concurrent 20-year manslaughter sentence for the killing of her preborn child after pleading guilty to the charges (Memphis, Tennessee).

Erik Bullock of Little Rock, Arkansas, wanted his girlfriend, Shawana Pace to have an abortion. She refused, so he hired three thugs to kick her repeatedly in the belly and kill her full-term preborn baby. Pace pleaded for her baby’s life as she was kicked, choked and punched on August 26, 1999. One of the attackers told her “Your baby is dying tonight.” Pace had to have her spleen removed, and also suffered a broken left wrist, black eye and bruised face. Bullock and the three thugs were charged with capital murder in the first test of Arkansas’ new Fetal Protection Law. A jury convicted Bullock of capital murder (Little Rock, Arkansas).

Matthew Bullock strangled his girlfriend to death. She was six months pregnant and he did not want his baby. So he decided to abort both her and her preborn child. He then tied up her body and hid her in a closet (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania).

Carolina Panthers football player Rae Carruth’s girlfriend, Cherica Adams, was eight months pregnant. He did not want to pay child support, and demanded that she have an abortion, but she refused. So he hired a hit man to shoot Adams. Carruth and three accomplices laid a trap, and Carruth helped close it by blocking Adams’ car so another man could pull alongside and shoot her. In March 2001, Michael Kennedy pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Adams’ death. The triggerman, Van Brett Watkins, also confessed (Charlotte, North Carolina).

Raymond Gregg’s live-in girlfriend, Angela Russell, was pregnant, and he was not happy about it. So he solved his `problem’ in the most direct manner possible. He admitted to police that he killed Angela, and then buried her body in woods off Statem Gap Road in Hamblen County. In October 2003, Gregg pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was given the maximum possible sentence, 25 years in prison without parole (Morristown, Tennessee).

Carlos Herrera and Brenda Chavez were having an affair, and Chavez became pregnant. Herrera did not want the child, so he solved the problem in the most efficient way possible. In February 2001, Herrera and Chavez met for one of their late-afternoon trysts at the Southern Ute Sand and Gravel pit. Herrera beat Chavez to death and disposed of her body and vehicle by running the vehicle off a steep embankment into a grove of trees (Durango, Colorado).

High school student Tanika Fox of Greensboro, North Carolina, was pregnant by her boyfriend Shawn Kristopher Holliman. He did not want to be a father, and demanded she get an abortion. She refused. So, on December 14, 1999, he shot her twice in the head at point-blank range. He was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. In 2000, the students at Tanika’s high school dedicated their yearbook in her name (Greensboro, North Carolina).

Tammy Lynn Baker of Charlottesville, Virginia, was eight months pregnant by her boyfriend, Coleman L. “Mike” Johnson Jr. The only problem was that he did not want the baby to be born. He had demanded that Tammy Lynn have an abortion, but she had refused. So he planted a pipe bomb on the sidewalk outside Tammy Lynn’s apartment. She picked it up, it exploded, and both she and her near-term preborn baby were killed instantly. In May 2001, Johnson was convicted of capital murder (Charlottesville, Virginia).

Deborah Denise Randall was eight months pregnant by her boyfriend Richard Johnson and was happily awaiting the birth of her child. The only problem was a major one — Johnson was 18 years older than her and did not want his baby. He beat her up repeatedly, at one point squeezing her as hard as he could to induce miscarriage. When repeated beatings did not cause her to lose her baby, he emptied his pistol into her, firing bullets into her head, neck and chest (Richmond, Virginia).

Pro-abortionist Edward Lewis LaGrone had repeatedly molested ten-year-old Shakeisha Lloyd, and she learned that she was 17 weeks pregnant. He offered to pay $1,500 for her to get an abortion, because he wanted to cover up his sexual abuse. She did not get the abortion, so LaGrone decided to abort not only the preborn baby, but Shakeisha’s entire family. LaGrone went to Shakeisha’s home and shot her uncle. Then he opened fire on two elderly women, Zenobia Anderson, 83, and Caola Lloyd, 76, who was blind and bedridden with cancer, killing them both. Shakeisha paused to pick up her 19-month-old sister and shield her behind some boxes. She was shouting to her mother to hide when LaGrone walked up to her and shot her in the head, killing her instantly. LaGrone was convicted of multiple counts of capital murder and was sentenced to death (Fort Worth, Texas).

Tjane Charmeise Marshall’s girlfriend, Shameka Fludd, was already the mother of two children, and was four to five months pregnant with his child. Marshall did not want his baby. He said that the unborn child would “ruin his life” and that “he was going to do something about it.” He certainly followed up on his threat. In May 2003, Marshall borrowed a rental car from a friend, drove to Fludd’s apartment, where he shot her in the head, killing her instantly (Baltimore, Maryland).

Roger Lee McBeath killed his former girlfriend, Ashley Lyons, who was 5-1/2 months pregnant with a preborn baby boy she had already named Landon. He shot her in the head three times with a handgun to make absolutely sure she was dead. Ashley kept a journal for her little boy. On October 31, 2003, she wrote “Your father wanted me to have an abortion. Your father told me he was going to commit suicide, that you would ruin his life.” McBeath was charged with first-degree murder (Lexington, Kentucky).

Teshibra Bell, who was only 15 years old, met a man at a convenience store in Southern Dallas. The man, pro-abortionist Shannon Meshack, was 25 years old. She eventually began to have sex with him. In June 2003, Teshibra was five months pregnant with Meshack’s baby. She was looking forward to having the child, but Meshack did not want a child. So he strangled Teshibra. He then dragged her body into his back yard, piled up some debris, and tried to burn her (Dallas, Texas).

In January 1999, Joseph P. Minerd firebombed Deana Mitts’ Connellsville townhouse, which killed Mitts, her 3-year-old daughter Kayla, and her unborn child. He did this since co-workers refused to help him use a stun gun to shock Deana into a miscarriage of his child. Witnesses heard Deana screaming in agony after the explosion, and saw her engulfed in flames “like a human torch.” Three-year-old Kayla was so badly burned in the fire that her bones fractured from the heat. United States District Attorney Leo Dillon said “It’s hard to imagine more anguish than Deana and Kayla Mitts endured before they died.” Minerd was sentenced to life in prison for the murders and was prosecuted under the same law used to convict Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania).

LaMarr Parr of Massillon, Ohio, was charged with the September 16, 2000 fatal stabbing of his ex-girlfriend, Jean K. Toles, and the killing of her 2-1/2-month-old preborn child. She wanted the baby and he wanted her to get an abortion. After he killed her, Parr dumped her body in a ditch (Canton, Ohio).

In October 1995, Joseph Peck beat and murdered his 25-year-old wife Jennifer, who was four months pregnant, because she refused to have an abortion. He stuffed her body into the trunk of her car at the Clique Lounge on North Dale Mabry. Homicide detective Greg Stout said that “We believe that because his wife had become pregnant and would not get an abortion, that he began making threats to her.” He was indicted on first-degree murder charges by a Hillsborough County grand jury (Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida).

Jerold L. Ponder and Zaneta Browne were carrying on an affair, and Browne was 14 to 15 weeks pregnant with boy and girl twins by Ponder. Ponder urged Browne to get an abortion, but she refused. So, on July 14, 2002, Ponder and his wife Keya shot Browne, a 29-year-old Rochester mother of three, in the face and back of the head on land owned by Jerold Ponder’s family in rural Orleans County (Rochester, New York).

Lawrence Rivera of Barstow, California, killed his pregnant girlfriend, Kristina Garcia, in May 2002. Rivera had a previous manslaughter conviction on his record, and was also implicated but never charged in the manslaughter death of his live-in girlfriend’s daughter in Germany in 1998. His former wife testified that “if I didn’t get an abortion that he would pull it out of my stomach.” Rivera is still at large (Barstow, California).

38-year old Kevin Robinson repeatedly stabbed and killed 15-year-old Daphne Sulk in November 1997 because he had gotten her pregnant, and she refused to get an abortion. Authorities found Sulk’s frozen body at a highway rest stop. In December 1998, Robinson was convicted of murder (Laramie, Wyoming).

A jury found pro-abortionist Alfred E. Smith guilty of second-degree murder in the death of his ex-girlfriend Denna Moody. Smith killed Moody in April 1997 because she refused to abort their preborn child. Her charred body was found in her burned car near the Van Nuys Amtrak station (Los Angeles, California).

Nathaniel Dee Smith killed his 21-week pregnant girlfriend Lorena Rivera because she refused to have an abortion and he didn’t want to pay child support. He beat her and shot her twice, then buried her body in a garbage bag in a shallow grave. Smith was charged with first-degree murder in Rivera’s death and manslaughter in the death of their unborn child. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma).

Sean Steele had impregnated his 15-year old girlfriend, Barbara Watkins, and she was seven months pregnant. Steele pressured her to have an abortion, but she refused. So Steele told Barbara that they were going to buy baby clothes. Instead, he lured her to a wooded area, smashed her with a rock, stabbed her repeatedly with a broken beer bottle, and finally strangled her and left her body in the woods. He confessed to the killing after construction workers found Watkins’ decomposed body in a wooded ravine (Cincinnati, Ohio).

In October 2002, after an argument in which he demanded that she have an abortion, Jesus Villagomez stabbed his pregnant girlfriend in the stomach. The stab wound resulted in the death of her 18-week-old unborn child (Las Vegas, Nevada).

In September 1999, Brodie Edric Walradt raped, tortured and murdered Beth Kennard, who was near-term and had already named her preborn baby Alexis Ann. She had refused his demands to have an abortion. He suffocated her and bludgeoned her with a log. Wadradt received a life sentence for his crimes (Seattle, Washington).

Lavern Ward of Chicago was upset that his girlfriend Debra Evans was pregnant with his child and would not consent to getting an abortion. So, in November 1995, he shot her in the head and killed her. Then he stabbed Evan’s ten-year old daughter in the neck and killed her. Finally, he hacked the unborn child out of Debra’s body. He then abducted her seven-year old son Joshua and stabbed him to death. Ward was convicted of three counts of murder, two counts of kidnapping and one of armed robbery for looting the home (Chicago, Illinois).

16-year old Stephanie Nicole Burnett of Athens, Georgia, told her boyfriend, Matthew John Wiedeman, that she was pregnant. He demanded that she have an abortion, and she refused. So, in April 2002, Wiedeman attacked her from behind with a heavy solid steel barbell, while a friend, Raymond Soto, stabbed her with a long-bladed knife. Deputy Coroner Grover Tuten said “I think it’s one of the most gruesome [murders] I’ve ever seen.” A Richmond County grand jury indicted Wiedeman and Soto on charges of malice murder (Athens, Georgia).

Pro-abortionist Garrett Wilson began to sexually molest 12-year-old Debbie Oliver, and emotionally browbeat her into having at least four abortions before she was 15 years old. He finally married her in 1980 when she could not have another abortion because she was too far along. Baby Brandi Jean was born shortly after the marriage. Wilson took out extensive life insurance policies on the baby girl and then smothered her to death when she was just two months old. He took the resulting $40,000 settlement and bought a brand-new Pontiac Trans Am. Wilson married Missy Anastasi in March 1986, and, in March 1987, they had a child, Garrett Michael. Wilson bought $150,000 of life insurance on the five-month-old baby and then smothered him to death. In July 1999, a jury took just two hours to find him guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Garrett Michael, and he received a sentence of life in prison without parole.

The point in the evidence of these cases is if you can justify taking the life of one pre-born human, you can soon justify taking the life of a post-born human. Pro-abortionists call this a scare tactic. The aforementioned cases testify quite the contrary.

Secondly, if one imagines that a pro-abortion attitude in our country will have no direct affect on their personal lives, the parallels should be noted between the reasoning for abortion and euthanasia (some of these points overlap):

1.) The life is unwanted.

Abortion: A baby simply is not desired.

Euthanasia: The person is simply not desired to remain alive.

2.) To avoid pain and suffering.

Abortion: Personal pain and suffering and in interest of the child’s suffering (such as cases of disease, abnormalities, and bringing the child into a hostile environment.

Euthanasia: Pain and suffering of the individual as well as the emotional stress on the loved ones.

3.) To avoid a terminal illness.

Abortion: Preservation of the life of the mother.

Euthanasia: Ending of the life of the one who is ill.

4.) Quality of life.

Abortion: Having a baby can be very costly and reduce the style of living one is accustomed to. The pregnancy can cause additional weight gain and change the shape of the mother’s body. General responsibility to care for the child also requires times and restricts lifestyle. Stress levels increased.

Euthanasia: Maintaining a terminally ill patient is extremely expensive and may restrict previous lifestyles. Stress levels increased.

5.) Lack of money.

Abortion: See above.

Euthanasia: See above.

As of April 1, 2002 (ironically ‘Fool’s Day’), Holland legalized euthanasia. However, it had been practiced for 10 years prior without prosecution. Abortion was debated in the Netherlands during the 70’s with limited legalization. However, in 1981, it was extensively legalized and government funded.

Therein lies the trend. The same ethical system that approves (or ignores) abortions will subsequently approve or ignore euthanasia. It all has to do with the value of the life of a human being. So if one thinks abortion has no ramifications on them personally, in a waning and overpriced medical system we may find ourselves at the mercy of doctors determining whether our lives are worth living when either aged or exceedingly ill – just as an unborn child is at the mercy of the whims of people.

The Savior of mankind had the attitude of not preserving Himself from the pain and torture of the cross. In other words, He suffered to save us. Can we not do the same for our children? Can we not do the same for ourselves and each other?

Abortion does matter. Consider carefully who your elected and appointed officials are and what their ethic is concerning this – because ultimately, it will affect you and your house.

-James Sterling, D. Min