Here's a few more tidbits:For every two babies born another baby dies in an abortion.
That's 1.2 million babies each year.
That's over 3,300 babies every day.
That's 1 baby every 25 seconds.
That's over 50 million babies since 1973.
And that's just here in America...
- Do You Know? At 22 days after conception, a baby's heart is already beating.
- Do You Know? At 6 weeks, brain waves can be measured. At 8 weeks, the stomach, liver, and kidneys are functioning, and fingerprints have formed. At 9 weeks, the unborn child can feel pain.
- Do You Know? That 700,000 abortions are performed each year in America after 9 weeks into the pregnancy.
- Do You Know? The overwhelming majority of all abortions, 93%, are done as a means of birth control. Only 1% are performed because of rape or incest; 3% because of fetal abnormalities; 3% due to the mother's health problems.
http://www.tnrtl.org/human_life_issues/human_life_issues_abortion_statistics.htm
What kind of nation have we become? I'm reminded of Casting Crowns' song, While You Were Sleeping, that has the line: "As we're sung to sleep by philosophies that save the trees and kill the children." (the complete lyrics to the song are at the bottom of this post) It's so true! In America today, people are more concerned with the trees and the dolphins and the rainforests than with the tragedy of the millions of innocent lives lost to abortion.
Today was "Red Envelope Day". I meant to blog about it a couple weeks ago when it was first brought to my attention, but obviously I didn't get around to it. The idea was for people to send red envelopes to President Obama, each envelope representing a child who never got the chance to live because of abortion. On the back of the envelopes is this simple message:
This envelope represents one child who died because of an abortion. It is empty because the precious life that was taken is now unable to be a part of our world.
The red, of course, is to symbolize the innocent blood that was shed. 149,981 envelopes were pledged to be sent today--I would guess that a few more than that were actually sent. What a simple, yet powerful message.
These precious babies have no voice because someone else is choosing that they will never live. That is so wrong. A couple weeks ago, I was "blog-surfing" (meaning I was reading somebody's blog, and they linked to another blog that looked interesting, which linked to another one that looked interesting, and so forth and so on) and I ended up on this one of somebody who obviously did not share my beliefs. One of her recent posts was a sort of "political survey", and some of her answers made my blood boil--and kind of confused me. She said that she was pro-abortion (well, she actually said "pro-choice", but I don't like that term--the baby has no choice, so how can that be "pro-choice"?). But then a couple questions later, it asked if she would support the death penalty for a mom who had killed her 5 children. She said, "absolutely. What kind of mom would kill her child?!" Hmmm....how about that "pro-choice" mother who aborted her baby?! It is not any different!
You've seen the counters on websites that add up the number of soldiers killed since the beginning of the war on terrorism (heh, that term is apparently about to become politically incorrect, too...but I totally don't care). And yes, every life lost is absolutely a tragedy. But why aren't people counting the casualties that are piling up in the most tragic war of all time--the war on unborn babies? More babies are killed through abortion every year than all the American casualties from all of our wars (Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War I & 11, the Korean War, Vietnam, and Persian Gulf Wars) combined. There are 1.5 million abortions per year; the total number of war deaths is 1,043,569. (http://www.californiaprolife.org/abortion/aborstats.html) Even if you add in the number from the war on terrorism--which I believe is just over 72,000--it comes out to significantly less than the annual number of abortions. (1,115,569)
I've put a counter on here, over to the left, that adds up the number of abortions since January 1, 2001, worldwide. I look at that number and I cry. I cry for the precious little voices that never sang, the sweet little eyes that never stared in wonder at God's beautiful creation, the darling little hands and feet that never ran or played or pitter-pattered their way through life, the little blessings that never wiggled and wormed their way into somebody's heart. And I cry for their mothers, who never got to hold their little ones and feel the utter joy that a baby brings, never rocked them to sleep and stared in love at their sweet sleeping face, never felt the pride in their child's accomplishments or the responsibility of raising this little one right. Because the world has managed to convince them that if they had a baby they'd be missing out on something, they're missing out on a whole lot more. They're cheating themselves out of the blessing that a child really, truly is--despite sleepless nights, responsibility, and embarrassing moments. They're cheating themselves.
I realize that probably anyone reading my blog already agrees with my stance on abortion, but it's just been on my mind and heart a lot lately, so I figured I'd vent a little here. And now I'll sign off...you're probably tired of hearing reading me go on and on!
All the lyrics to While You Were Sleeping by Casting Crowns:
Oh little town of Bethlehem
Looks like another silent night
Above your deep and dreamless sleep
A giant star lights up the sky
And while you're lying in the dark
There shines an everlasting light
For the King has left His throne
And is sleeping in a manger tonight
Oh Bethlehem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
For God became a man
And stepped into your world today
Oh Bethlehem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King
While you were sleeping
While you were sleeping
Oh little town of Jerusalem
Looks like another silent night
The Father gave His only Son
The Way, the Truth, the Life had came
But there was no room for Him in the world He came to save
Jerusalem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
The Savior of the world is dying on your cross today
Jerusalem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King
While you were sleeping
While you were sleeping
United States of America
Looks like another silent night
As we're sung to sleep by philosophies
That save the trees and kill the children
And while we're lying in the dark
There's a shout heard 'cross the eastern sky
For the Bridegroom has returned
And has carried His bride away in the night
America, what will we miss while we are sleeping
Will Jesus come again
And leave us slumbering where we lay
America, will we go down in history
As a nation with no room for its King
Will we be sleeping
Will we be sleeping
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