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Rally Speech - March 5, 2005
A while ago someone asked me what they could do to help end abortion. I answered them, "Pray." "Is that all I can do?" they asked. My answer to them was, "Prayer is the most powerful thing that anyone can do." So I ask all of you to begin to pray every day for an end to abortion...
"O, Lord, Creator of us all, we ask you to open our hearts and minds and touch them with the Truth. We especially pray for those who fail to recognize and respect the sanctity of life in themselves and in others. We ask that you bring about a guick and peaceful end to abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia. Please grant your strength, guidance and protection to everyone who works to end these and all other forms of violence against the helpless among us. "
God said, "See, I have set before you life and death. Therefore, I say to you, choose life."
It has become increasingly obvious to me and to many others over the past 32 years that the lines have been clearly drawn. On one side, we have the culture of death. These are the ones who not only believe in, but promote euthanasia, infanticide, assisted suicide, and abortion on demand for pregnant women at any stage. These are the ones who would let the most vulnerable and frail among us go without care. Very simply and bluntly put; they would kill them.
On the other side, we have the culture of life; those who believe in the sanctity of life, who know without thinking, that every human life is precious and has an infinite value and potential. These are the ones who
know that there is an intrinsic right to life. This is the unalienable right to life, spoken of by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence. It can not be earned, or granted by someone else, but was
given by our Creator and should be taken by no one.
In addition to this obvious distinction is a vast contrast in the way we advocate our viewpoints. The culture of life relies on the Truth that can not be disputed. The culture of death has spun a tissue of lies to promote their cause. Remove the tangled web one strand at a time and you'll find at the center those who paranoically and irrationally defend the right to kill their own unborn children. You might say that we have the Right to Life versus the Right to Lie.
Take a look with me back in time. Those of you who are near my age, were just finishing high school when the Women's Liberation Movement was getting started. Many aspects of Equality for Women were too long overdue. I believe in Equal Rights for Women. I also believe in Equal Rights for Men and for Children. At what point was it decided that equality for women necessitated legalized abortion? At what point did hundreds of thousands of women allow themselves to be deceived into believing that the only way for them to achieve equality was to be given a sweeping right to kill their own unborn babies? Someone, assisted by the United States Supreme Court, declared that women have a Constitutional right to abortion based on their right to free choice, the right to privacy, and the exercise of their religious freedom.
It may come as a shock to those of you who don't know me that I am Pro-Choice. I believe a woman has the right to choose what to do with her own body. It is a question of timing. I believe we should make our choice before we make a baby. Are we to believe that American women are not strong enough to say, "No." Are we to believe that American women have no will power? Are we to believe that American women are not smart enough to use any of the many contraceptives available to them? The obvious exception being rape, women had reproductive freedom long before abortion was legalized. Do you remember Lysistrata? Aristophanes, an author in Ancient Greece, wrote about a very creative strike by women. They refused to share the marriage bed with their husbands until their conditions were
met. They effectively ended a war by their action. Do you remember Prudence and the Pill? What an uproar when the birth control pill first came out. American women were saying, "Free at last." in a totally
different context than the one Martin Luther King, Jr. intended. If the right to choose does, in fact, exist; then is it retroactive? I married my husband 32 years ago. If I decide in the morning that I don't wish to be married, do I have the right to choose to kill him? No, I made a responsible choice when I walked down the aisle, and I involved him and his life in my decision. Civilized adults live with the consequences of their
decisions, and find other means of dealing with their problems. (By the way, that is a completely hypothetical comparison. My husband is the love of my life and we have been together since before Roe v. Wade.)
Perhaps the most subtle lie that has been promoted is that there is a right to free choice in the United States Constitution. I challenge anyone, anywhere, to show it to me. I will buy them dinner in the nicest
restaurant in Big Timber if they can. Hand in hand with the so-called right to free choice is the right to privacy. It has long been acknowledged that a person's rights have limits. They end where another person's rights begin and are not absolute. The right to excercise one's religion unobstructed by another person or by the government also has its limits. We do not permit certain acts that are considered to be immoral by society as a whole. One obvious example is the Mormon's belief in polygamous marriage. Another is the belief by certain Native Americans in the Sun Dance, which was deemed barbaric and therefore outlawed by the U.S. Government. Certain religions over time have even promoted human sacrifice. Do any of us in our defense of religious freedom believe that these things are right? How much freedom is permitted under the guise of the right to privacy? If that right were absolute, then God help us all.
For some reason, Roe versus Wade has become a citadel for all those who defend the Culture of Death. It has dehumanized an entire class of Americans and deprived them of their rights without due process of law. And it is based on one of the most monumental incidents of perjury in history, resulting in more than 4000 executions daily for 32 years. Jane Roe, the plaintiff in that case, has since maintained that she gave perjured testimony when pressured by advocates of abortion rights. She further has said that it is her greatest desire to see Roe versus Wade overturned.
Another major lie, and this one is a whopper, is that the pro-abortion side cares about women, while the pro-life side doesn't. Look at this statement logically. Who is trying to make a buck? Who has the greater personal motivation? Abortion is big business, and they surely will not give up the money without a fight. The members of the Right to Life are working hard at putting themselves out of business. Most are unpaid volunteers. What do we have to gain by making abortion illegal? When we win this battle, we will still go on with our lives as usual. The people at Planned Parenthood will be unemployed. By the way, if they were doing the job the government commissioned them to do, there would be fewer and fewer abortions and fewer unwanted pregnancies. Are they teaching women to prevent unwanted pregnancies? Or are they just preventing unwanted babies? A comparison of Planned Parenthood's services in the areas of abortion and prenatal care shows that whatever they say about being "pro-choice" rather than
"pro-abortion", Planned Parenthood's plans typically don't involve parenthood. A very tiny percentage of abortions are performed to save the life of the mother, or in the case of rape. Just as we justify any case of self-defense, most of us believe that a woman is entitled to an abortion if her life is in danger. This brings me to another lie. I will give them credit for creativity on this one. This is the health exception in most pro-abortion legislation. Perhaps some of us have been smart enough to investigate and see through this one already, but did you know that an exception to save the health of the mother is nothing more than a thinly veiled disclaimer designed to take all the meaning out of an anti-abortion statement? Health exceptions include physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects. What more sneaky way to disguise a pro-abortion bill than by adding the phrase, "except where the health of the mother is at risk?" This pretty much covers everything from a case of heartburn to missing church on Sunday.
Ironically, while lining their pockets with blood money, they claim that we are the violent ones. They repeatedly accuse us of being radical and maintain that we bomb their clinics. Montana Right to Life has now and always has had a written policy forbidding its members from breaking the law or violence of any kind in trying to prevent the killing in the womb. If Martin Luther King, Jr. whose birthday we commemorate annuallly were alive, I have no doubt that he would be on the side of truth, compassion, and equality. He would find peaceful ways to end the violence in the womb.
The members of the other side frequently call us hypocrites because we don't take a strong stand against capital punishment. First of all, many of us are opposed to capital punishment. But there is a vast difference between executing a convicted murderer who has had the benefit of a jury trial and due process of law, and executing a tiny one whose only crime is that she exists. As for hypocrisy, which is the National Political Party that claims to be compassionate? What can we say about a party who has in their platform a right to abort human babies, but cries when we chop down a tree? Where is the justification for a political party that demands legislation to protect predators such as wolves and grizzly bears, forbids the destruction of an eagle egg, and claims to be concerned about the welfare of poor children, while destroying thousands of unborn human infants daily? I have a motto too, "Save the baby humans!"
Other lies the death culture relies upon include, but are not limited to the following: Legalized abortion is safe. The procedure is painless. Abortions are only done when necessary. Abortion clinics follow the same legal, safety and privacy practices as any other medical facility. Legalized abortion will reduce incidence of child abuse. The statistics show that all of these statements by the pro-abortion industry are in fact false. They are fond of telling us that with legalized abortion every child will be a wanted child. I've got news for them: Every child is wanted by someone. The truth is that not every woman is unselfish enough to carry that child for 9 months and then give it up for adoption.
This brings me to the biggest lie of all. This lie tells us that the baby in utero is not a person, is not a human being, is in fact nothing at all. Scientifically speaking, she is alive and has met the criteria of a human being since conception. She has unique DNA which has never existed before and never will again. Many times she has a different blood type than her mother. Often, she is a different race than her mother. About half the time he is a different sex than his mother. Sonograms show that the baby in the womb has recognizable facial features. He responds to his parents' voices. He recoils from the abortionist's instruments. He even screams in pain. In spite of the irrefutable fact that science and medicine have shown that unborn babies are human beings in every way, our society and legislation have yet to reflect that. It is time that they did. To paraphrase another author, if it kicks, if it sucks its thumb, if it hiccups- it's a baby. No amount of lies will ever change that fact.
How do we fight the culture of lies? How do we defeat the culture of death? There are 3 ways that I can think of:
1) Education - You know you have the truth on your side. Speak out against the tyranny of abortion.
2) Vote! Choose the person who gets your vote carefully. If you can not find it in your heart to vote for the pro-life candidates then at least do not vote for the pro-death ones.
3) Prayer - There is nothing more powerful than prayer.
With these three tools available to us, and with the truth on our side, I know that we will win; so don't be discouraged, and never, never give up!
God bless you all.
Lianna
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