February 15, 2012
From the Desk of Carol Soelberg:
There is a reason pro-abortion advocates don’t want pregnant women to have the life-changing experience of viewing an ultra-sound of their unborn child! This week, our life issues expert , Melissa Anderson, shares her personal experience in realizing the realness of life. We suggest it is imperative for you to not only know how important and impactful ultrasounds are, but to motivate you to get involved and make ultrasound laws a reality in your state or country.
Seeing is Believing!
The First Time
I remember my first ultrasound like it was yesterday. I was pregnant with my first child. I was also nineteen and scared out of my mind. Not only did I not know how to be a good mother I didn’t know much about pregnancy, labor or childbirth. All I knew was that when I followed the instructions on the drug store pregnancy test, two pink lines popped up. That meant my first baby was growing. That meant I’d get nauseated and fat and hopelessly emotional. That meant that in nine months I’d see a baby that would either look like me or my husband. I hoped for her sake she wouldn’t have her daddy’s nose.
But the drug store pee-stick didn’t really mean I was pregnant until I heard the most amazing sound; the rhythmic beating of a little heart. Then she was real. Then she was mine. With the sound of a little heart and a screen displaying a tiny facial outline, my baby girl was mine. She’d be beautiful and kind and smart and graduate from school at the top of her class and cure hunger in China and raise a family of her own and make me a grandma and when I was old and my limbs were falling off, she’d be there to laugh at me. I saw her whole life. Nine months later I held my baby in my arms, listened to her little cry, pulled her to my breast, and laughed when I told her that my worst fears for her were realized: she had her daddy’s nose. My poor child. It didn’t start with a drug store stick. It started with the rhythmic beating of a preborn heart.
Why an ultrasound?
The question of whether a woman should be required to have an ultrasound prior to an abortion is a question now pending in the legislature of several states. As the fight continues, I urge citizens to petition lawmakers to pass mandatory ultrasound legislation in your own areas. I don’t just urge you. I urge with all the passion I possess. Fight this fight.
There are two large reasons for passing mandatory ultrasound legislation. The first is best explained through the scientific work of Dr. Stanley Milgram.
I would bore you to death with the entire book long explanation of his research, but I’m afraid if I did that you’d stop reading and then where would we be? So instead I’ll give you the short version. Dr. Milgram was a social psychologist who worked at both Harvard and Yale Universities and was a leading social scientist of his time. Dr. Milgram set out to test an individual’s threshold of obedience to perceived authority. His findings were quite terrifying in that he was able to prove in this social experiment that individuals have a certain instinct to obey authority despite the demands of their own conscience.
Furthermore, during the course of his experimentation, Dr. Milgram was able to identify many different aspects of human behavior beyond obedience to authority. Dr. Milgram proved that individuals are much less willing to harm a person who is close, within sight, or can be identified as human. Humans protect humans, unless they can be somehow removed from the plane of human existence.
There exists within individuals, members of the human race, an instinct to the preservation of human life and dignity. We watch the evening news and ask, “How could they?” As a society we cannot understand the child abducted, the mother killed or the college student shot outside of his dorm. How could they? However, strip the essence of humanity, subtract the human instinct, and anything is possible. We separate the “them” from the “us” and we are able to act in ways which we would otherwise view with utmost disgust.
“Yes” to ultrasound.
Ultrasound places the preborn infant on the plane of human existence. A heartbeat. A hand. A mother contemplating abortion. An ultrasound has the potential to save a life by giving the pregnant mother the opportunity to recognize the humanity of her preborn infant. A heartbeat is a sign of life. Not impending life. But life. Think about it. A ceased heartbeat is a sign of death. Wouldn’t it stand to reason that an existing heartbeat is a sign of life?
The second reason for passing mandatory ultrasound legislation is the very reason pro-abortionists tout: choice. Where is this grand choice when women are not given pertinent information prior to accepting an abortion? Where is this choice when women are not allowed to know the development of their preborn infants prior to making the choice to obtain an abortion? Where is this choice when women are denied information before making the most lasting choice of their lives? We do not ask for ultrasounds to coerce, but to educate.
Texas has just enacted legislation requiring women to obtain an ultrasound before consenting to an abortion. Support this type of legislation. Ask for it in your own states. Give women the information needed, the knowledge of their child’s life.
Action Items:
Giving voice to those who can’t speak for themselves.
1. Encourage and support laws in your state or country that require ultrasounds before abortion. Go here to see what the laws are in your location.
2. Volunteer to work with United Families International to organize a pro-life voice in your location.
3. Speak often and positively about your own experience with the gift of giving life.
4. Be philosophically and financially supportive of crisis pregnancy centers and of adoption.
5. Love your own children and give them an upbringing that is reflective of your reverence for life.
Melissa Anderson is a lawyer in San Antonio, Texas. She is the mother of seven crazily adorable children and an author of children’s books. In her spare time, Melissa volunteers extensively with Court Appointed Special Advocates educating the community on issues related to child abuse and neglect.