ON THE SANCTITY OF LIFE

By Diane Beall Templin

I am Pro-Life -100% with NO EXCEPTIONS. I believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and that God is the Creator of life and that life begins at the moment of conception.

How I wish that I had heard or read Mother Theresa's 1994 statement before I had an abortion. She stated:

"I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade her with love, and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave even his life to love us. So, the mother who is thinking of abortion should be helped to love, that is, to give until it hurts her plans, or her free time, to respect the life of her child. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts. By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems. And, by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take the responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. That father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So, abortion just leads, to more abortion. Any county that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion."

Another quote that puts the abortion issue is a larger social perspective was that of President Ronald Reagan, reported in the book Abortion and the Conscience of America as "Regrettably, we live at a time when some persons do not value all human life. They want to pick and choose which individuals have value. We cannot diminish the value of one category of human life-the unborn-without diminishing the value of all human life."

Dr. Phil Stringer in his article in "The American" on Restoring Law and Order in a Society Out of Control Points out that once a society has accepted the premise that unborn babies can be killed simply because they are inconvenient and they cannot protect themselves, that society is doomed to lose all respect for human life. He asks, "what is the ethical difference between killing a helpless baby and an inconvenient invalid? What is the moral difference between exercising choice about killing the unborn and practicing euthanasia towards the aged?

Dr. William Gaylin told the American Association of University Women: "It used to be easy to know what we wanted for our children and now, the best for your children might mean deciding which one to kill. We have always wanted the best for our grandparents, and now that might mean killing them"

Chuck Colson in his "fiction" entitled "Gideon's Torch points out that the late term abortions and partial birth abortions are increasing as those with AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases put pressure on elected officials and candidates for research on live "fetal" tissue.

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THE HAND

A picture began circulating in November. It should be "The Picture of the Year," or perhaps, "The Picture of the Decade." It won't be. In fact, unless you obtained a copy of the paper you probably will never see it. The picture is that of a 21-week-old unborn baby named Samuel Alexander Armas, who is being operated on by a surgeon named Joseph Bruner. The baby was diagnosed with spina bifida and would not survive if removed from the mother's womb.

Little Samuel's mother, Julie Armas, is an obstetrics nurse in Atlanta. She knew of Dr. Bruner's remarkable surgical procedure. Practicing at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, he performs these special operations while the baby is still in the womb.

In the procedure, a C-section removes the uterus and the doctor makes a small incision to operate on the baby. During the surgery on little Samuel, the little guy reached his tiny, but fully developed, hand through the incision and firmly grasped the surgeon's finger. The photograph captures this amazing event with perfect clarity. The editors titled the picture, "Hand of Hope." The text explaining the picture begins, "The tiny hand of 21-week-old fetus Samuel Alexander Armas emerges from the mother's uterus to grasp the finger of Dr. Joseph Bruner as if thanking the doctor for the gift of life."

That picture should be shown on every television newscast and run in every newspaper in America. It won't be. Why? Because it is a graphic reminder that growing in the womb of his or her mother is a baby. It is not a "glob of tissue," or "product of conception." That pre-born baby is a human being with all the emotions, will and personality of any human being. That picture says it in a way that a thousand words cannot. Little Samuel's mother said they "wept for days" when they saw the picture. She said, "The photo reminds us my pregnancy isn't about disability or illness, it's about a little person." That's what it's always been about!!

"The Hand" of the fetus. You can see the actual picture, and it is awesome...incredible. If you have the capability, here is the website. The accompanying story is also VERY moving! Here is the picture: http://joseromia.tripod.com/bighand.gif http://joseromia.tripod.com/ bighand.gif If that doesn't work, here is the main page and you can click to see the larger view: http://members.tripod.com/~joseromia/samuel.html