Roe Vs. Wade, What Has Become of Us?

This is a re-run of an article I wrote for a dear friend's magazine last year. I present to you:
Roe Vs. Wade, What Has Become of Us?

(This article I have written here was recently published in an online publication, I was going to post in increments but decided to post it in entirity and simplify a bit.)



The year? 1967.


There she was, my first grade teacher, Mrs. Fischer. The typical 60s flip hair-do, orange dress with white polka-dots, matching shoes, a sunshine face was Mrs. Fischer. It was spelling test day and we first graders were attentively listening to each word as the sun streamed into the bright classroom, you could hear a pin drop.



The spelling word at that moment? "Baby".



She said the word, baby with a smile so radiant as she placed her hands upon her stomach, discreetly yes, but yet to me? A most sensitive and perceptive little first grade girl? I knew exactly what was up. Mrs. Fischer was going to have a baby. Yes! I just bet she's having a baby! Sure enough, the end of our first grade school year was ended rather tumultuously with one substitute teacher after another and I was never to see Mrs. Fischer again...she was home with her baby. She chose the best thing, to stay home with her baby. Even though it was hard for me as a little girl and I missed Mrs. Fischer greatly, I knew she was doing the right thing, enjoying motherhood and saying phooey with the rest.



The moral climate of those years were changing; just the year before, we Kindergartners all said our prayers with little bowed heads over saltine crackers and orange juice for snack time.



"God is great, God is good, thank you for our daily food. Amen."



I remember the children, us little girls in our sweet cotton dresses, I remember the little boys in their cotton button up shirts tucked in trousers with leather lace up shoes, hair parted on the side neatly. No matter what economic class we were from, we were neatly, modestly and sweetly dressed.



As that first grade year progressed, it was noticeable to me that the prayers over our food had mysteriously vanished. Time was changing and things seemed to be darkening to this little girl, I could feel it in my bones and most sadly in my innocent heart.



I remember sitting in front of my grandparents' home they ran their fishing business from, sitting upon the steps on a large, vast pier as the sailboats and shrimpboats would come in on the sparkling bay for the evening, In my little girl solitude, I would hear clanging at the shipyard not far away. My Italian grandma enjoyed reading and she usually had some Life and McCall's magazine around....Finding those Betsy McCall paper dolls in the McCall's magazine was a huge treat, kind of like finding a really good treasure in the bottom of a Cracker Jacks box....Every now and then I'd look over her Life magazines as I'd sip on my soda and quietly munch chips as my bare feet felt the texture of those wooden steps...There in those magazines I would see in living color the culture changing for the worst, the waif-look model, Twiggy, presented as the norm for body types, the brash fashions with go-go boots and fishnet stockings, me thinking my legs didn't look much like Twiggy's and where was Shirley Temple? Stories about members of that band called the Beatles...and I knew. I knew. I knew in my little girl's heart that things were going down fast and a darkness was coming over our country, and what was worse, this great country, America the Beautiful was letting the darkness pour in. This country of ours who had lent it's hand to my Italian and German immigrant grandparents who were now proud American citizens, my father and my uncle and great uncles who proudly served this country and made something of themselves. But Joltin' Joe had left and gone away, it was most apparent to me back then.



Years would go by and in the liturgical church our family attended I was surprised to see the new priest walking down the hall with a Hawaiian shirt on one Wednesday afternoon as I attended a catechism class...He was so different than the sweet priest who braided my long hair just the year before in his white collar whose resemblance and mannerisms were something of a Bing Crosby to me. Sadly, The Bing Crosby priest had left and gone away too. Now we had the mod guy with the long hair and the Hawaiian shirt. The same mod guy who had our church sing "Imagine" by John Lennon in a Sunday service. The song that starts with... Imagine there is no Heaven.


The years were eking by, man's knowledge was ignorantly being placed over any knowledge of the Lord in this new modern era this country seemed so proud of. The tower of Babel was once again being built it seemed.



The year. 1973.



Man had been on the moon, and I was sitting in classes with those very astronaut's kids, some of them later becoming friends of mine. Nixon was becoming president and our junior high looked like the gates of hell had been turned loose in it. Long gone were the sweet dresses and little boys with lace up shoes and neat hair. In place of it all were mostly hip-hugging jeans, guys with brushes stuffed in their back pockets to brush their long hair with and some dating at the age of 12 and all that went with that. I had found a small group of sweet girls to be friends with, we would spend our time drawing people, horses, animals and the like in our quiet world away from the hellish life we were surrounded by.



That year, 1973. There was no teacher saying the word, baby with such sunshine smiles. No. That was the year the country decided it would start seeing the babies as "choices". It was the year of Roe verses Wade. It was the year they turned the baby, the innocent child into a choice.


But where was the baby's choice in the matter?


Life went on and the hellish atmosphere didn't stop much, in fact, it intensified into high school, heavy kissing in the halls, smoking was fine and allowed as long as it was outdoors, you could smell an occasional whiff of marijuana in the breeze as you walked outdoors to class. And now it wasn't just the students who were in the mire but many of the teachers too as they tried to impose liberal beliefs on us in what most would think was a model high school. For many, those who had no Christian training at home, the liberal agenda quickly stuck and entrapped. For few of us, we fought it like mad trying our best to hold on to what was right and good. We tried so hard to hang on to the beliefs we were brought up with as contraception was brazenly taught to us in mixed coed classes adding to the confusion. Joltin' Joe had left and gone away. Where was the real choice? Where was my choice to live a Godly moral life free and with honor as these liberal ideas were being forced? How many little unborn babies were murdered at the core of this new "freedom" - on the altar of "choice"?



Those who were supposed to be open minded, were they really open to the choice of the baby? Are they now really open to Christian principles and moral absolutes? Perhaps the lack of absolutes is really an absolute they say they don't believe in?

Let's think...

At the very least, if prostitution is illegal, and that involves a person's body shouldn't that help us to see abortion for what it is, that there is another body involved? A most innocent body? If a pregnant woman is murdered and it's considered double homicide, shouldn't that help us to see what is transpiring here and the wickedness and cruel torture involved in these barbaric acts? As suspecting tests are administered as to the unborn baby's health, do we to play God and say who is worthy to live and who is not? Heaven forbid!


Where was the outcry then and now? Perhaps part of it was the fact some of us then were so embarrassed by what was going on we didn't tell our parents what was transpiring in the schools. Perhaps we noticed our parents on the passive side when Roe vs. Wade transpired and people seemed more interested in Watergate than living babies. Perhaps we were becoming some pretty mixed up kids. Who wouldn't be? Some of us were desperately trying to hold that rope while double standards were at play. Our relatives coming back from college never the same with lost convictions. Our teachers who we were taught to respect, shoving liberal ideas contrary to the Bible down at us.





What happened to me? By the time I graduated high school, of course I had been marred in various ways by it all, we can't place our kids in Alaska and expect to grow a palm tree. Please don't be deceived on that, be careful where you place your children and under whose authority whether it be the school or the church, be careful of the companionship that surrounds your children no matter what the age. I don't think the Bible is kidding when it reads, He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. Proverbs 13:20. Homeschooling is a wonderful option by the way, we've homeschooled for over 20 years and it has been a huge blessing to us.

A year or so after high school I was to meet my husband to-be at an Italian wedding, he had recently dedicated his life to the Lord. We've been married for almost 30 years now, serving the Lord together. We've been blessed with four lovely daughters.




The year. 2010.

What happened to "Jane Roe"? Her real name, Norma McCorvey; a Christian now, she is a vocal anti-abortion advocate. She never had the abortion fought for in Roe vs. Wade giving birth to a baby girl, giving the baby life choosing adoption.

She said:

"I think abortion is wrong. I think what I did with Roe vs. Wade was wrong, and I just have to take a pro-life position on [abortion]" ("World News Tonight," 8/10/95).

McCorvey was . . . haunted by simple things like empty swings in a playground. "They were swinging back and forth but they were all empty. And I just totally lost it, and I thought 'Oh my God. The swings are empty because there's no children, because they've all been aborted'" ("World News Tonight," 8/10/95).

~ "Jane Roe" Norma McCorvey





One thing I knew when I turned my life completely to Christ and started understanding scripture more; and that is that I wanted to be serious about my walk with Christ. God forbid that my children would see passivity or compromise in me, when it came to a loving Christian walk or when it came to our stand for the babies. The babies who have no choice.

Our kids know, I hope they know and see what is important by our actions by what we do. Do we stand for what is right? Or do we play it safe and not rock the boat forgetting that what we do for the least of these we have done it unto Him? Do we put them in the same environment some of us were placed in? ...God forbid.



What can we do? Be educated on the facts. When allowing a doctor or any medical professional whether it be a midwife, surgeon or nutritionist to attend to your needs ask them where they stand on abortion. This will reflect on their ethics in how they will treat you. It amazes me, the people who say they believe in what they call choice (the prodeath agenda), but fail to think about the end result of it when carried through. What they may perceive as inconvenience will affect them in old age. Just look at the people who were passive about the healthcare bill, ignoring the abortion portion of it but then suddenly when they noticed euthanasia in the bill, they became most concerned.



Prayerfully participate in the life marches. Vote prolife! Support prolife candidates! That is the very least we can do. Take that stand. There are simple things you can do such as display a life bandor wear a precious feet pin, committing to pray over the lives of these little unborn babies. If you are a stay at home mom, be the best stay at home mom and wife you can be. Put your all into your home and make that home a peaceful place where the Lord dwells, make your home a peaceful sanctuary and refuge. Give your children the real deal, not synthetic Christianity...If you give them the real deal they will recognize the counterfeit easily. As a stay at home mom you can also write letters, and have your children write letters on behalf of the unborn to the proper officials. Pray together daily as a family for the unborn that the scourge of abortion would end.

There are many prolife pregnancy centers that would greatly value your time depending on your season of life, there are many in need of counselors, people to organize their maternity and baby clothes rooms, just do simple cleaning. Most clinics will appreciate gently used maternity clothes or baby items. Perhaps monetary gifts to keep those clinics running with supplies etc. And remember, many lobbyists are fighting the fight, many organizations fund these lobbyists working hard for the rights of our unborn.



Commit to living a godly life. Shine light to others, don't marginalize the Christian walk with compromise allowing darkness in. Let's be found blameless as we stand for the unborn.

That way you will be able to determine what is best and be pure and blameless until the day of Christ. ~Philippians 1:10



As I trod this highway of life, our entire family has participated in prayerful pickets, counseling and general support of our unborn babies. Our daughters are active in prolife activities as well. My oldest daughter at 27 is a counselor at a prolife clinic as she also shares a message on abstinence and the gospel of Christ to those who come into the clinic. She is well qualified to do so, a living testimony at 27, she's single, saving her first kiss for the altar. Parents, expect much! Pray hard, do hard things for Christ! He is Faithful!



Please remember. It is a Child not a Choice. I believe little unborn babies should also have the choice of what to do with their bodies. One day as you grow older there may be others who take your choice away. Remember, your thinking now, your stand now for the unborn and all innocent life, may affect you when you grow older. It may affect you in less than ideal situations.... Just ask Terri Schiavo's family. See her timeline here.

If only wombs had windows and we could hear the silent screams of the babies. Some are worried about torture when abortion is the ultimate torture, and to an innocent baby! Oh please don't be as the church once was in Nazi Germany as the schools changed and indoctrinated the students and most said nothing. Please don't be like the churches then as the boxcars with innocent Jewish grandparents, parents and children were on the way to the death camps screaming desperately for help, and the churches sang their hymns all the louder to cover what they perceived as uncomfortable noise. Please hear the screams of the unborn with your heart!



If you have been deceived and have been affected by this atrocity and holocaust this country calls choice, please know God will forgive a repentant heart and He is there arms open wide. He can make beauty out of ashes.


One day your little grandchildren or great grandchildren may ask:



"Where were you when they were killing the babies? Did you try to stop it?"



What will we say about the year 2010?



What will you say on judgement day as the Lord asks you what did you do to the least of these?



Hear are some facts and helpful links about the unborn:

Partial Birth Abortion

Diary of an Unborn Baby starting at Day 1.

National Right to Life (a wealth of information)

Who is Funding Abortion? Let's be aware of who we are giving God's money to.

Precious Feet

Do Precious Feet Save Lives? (very interesting testimonies)

Get the pin

Get a life band



Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, "But we knew nothing about this," does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?

~Proverbs 24:11-12



Truly I say to you, In as much as you have done it to one of the least of these my brothers, you have done it to me. ~Matthew 25:40b


You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully
made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. ~Psalm 139



Feel free to visit me also at thats-italian.blogspot for family friendly movie classics, many are gems from the 40s and sweet recipes to make you smile.