Recently, I went through a very painful experience. My left foot became severely infected, and my doctors informed me that there was no way I could survive without amputating the foot. They recommended a below-the-knee amputation.
As I write this, it is six days since my surgery on December 2nd, 1994. I can still feel pain emanating from the leg, and plenty of it. My doctors tell me this discomfort is normal; the pain is a natural consequence of the operation and a sign that the leg is healing.
But this essay isn't about me. It's about some people who, like me, have been the recipients of amputations. But unlike me, they weren't anesthetized before the operation began, nor were they given pain-killers afterward.
Who are these amazing people? Supernormal yogis from far-off lands, able to control their minds and bodies through some ancient mystical discipline to the point where they feel no pain? No, these people live much closer to home. In fact, one of them may live next door to you, and he may be the next one to undergo an amputation without anesthesia. In fact, he will probably be forced to endure the excruciating agony of multiple amputations and even complete dismemberment--all without the benefit of pain killers.
By now, I'm sure you've figured out that I'm talking about abortion. Before you object that unborn children can't feel pain, examine some recent evidence on the subject. A study commissioned by a London hospital has determined that the unborn fetus can feel pain. The study was conducted by Dr. Nicholas Fisk at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital. Dr. Fisk reports finding a dramatic rise in fetal stress hormones when researchers inserted needles into fetuses for blood transfusions. By comparing these hormones to similar ones produced by children and adults in response to painful stimuli, Dr. Fisk rightly concludes that the fetus can feel pain. And I'm sure there are plenty of his colleagues throughout the scientific community who, if they are willing to be completely honest with themselves, will back him up.
Pro-lifer's have known this fact for years--abortion not only kills children, but it also does so causing the child a great deal of pain. It is often done using surgical techniques--such as the D & E (dilation and evacuation), the D & X (dilation and extraction), and the D & C (dilation and curettage)--that would have made the Marquis de Sade dance for joy. These techniques make it seem as if the objective is not only to kill the child, but also to make him suffer as much as possible while doing it.
Why bother with an essay on fetal pain? Is the fact that the child feels pain going to be sufficient to deter some mothers from "choosing" to murder their sons and daughters? I should certainly hope so--as the Lord says, "If you expect to obtain mercy for yourself at Judgment Time, you must show it to others."
What kind of people are we, to allow such abominations to occur to our children? What does it say about us, as a nation, as we idly stand by and watch as 1.6 million children a year are murdered in the name of "freedom of choice?" If this "choice" is going to continue to loom on our horizon, I fear Divine Retribution is at hand for our nation. As Thomas Jefferson put it so succinctly: "God, who gave us life, gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are a gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever." May God have mercy on us all.