Where Does The Real Problem Lie?

As I read through all the articles I've seen regarding the Kermit Gosnell case, I've been thinking. What is the real issue? Is there one particular aspect of Gosnell's practice that the media is trying to highlight? What is the base reason he is even on trial…where does the problem lie?

Is the real issue the cleanliness of his clinic? I've read sentence after sentence in many articles that highlights how "disgusting" his clinic was. Graphic paragraphs about blood stains on the table, instruments not being sterilized properly and a cat living in the clinic are scattered throughout the articles that talk about the case. An unclean clinic is a health hazard and can allow unwanted infections in the people who are meant to stay alive in the clinic, but is that the real issue?

Or is it the severed baby parts that he kept in jars? This one makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up and brings me to tears almost every time. I haven't seen anything (yet) that explains WHY he was doing that. Obviously he had a reason of some sort, but given that he regularly took babies from their mothers' womb, is that behaviour SO much worse that it's worth locking him up? I'm not sure.

Maybe the real issue is that he kills babies after they are born alive, rather than in the mothers' womb. I suspect this may be part of the real reason he's on trial, but really, is the line between right and wrong when it comes to abortion really as thin as the opening to the birth canal? Is that the line where one goes from a trained health professional to a heartless murderer? Ugh, my heart is aching just writing this. Of course that's not right. OF COURSE it isn't. But it's the accepted way, and children are dying by the thousands because they are on the "legal" side of the birth canal line. 

"If you can't see, hear, or feel something, it doesn't exist" (Horton Hears a Who) is how we as a society have excused abortion up until this point. We just ignore what it really is, and the Gosnell case is making that really hard to do. 

He's also being charged with performing abortions past 24 weeks, which is illegal in Pennsylvania and 39 other states. Are we as a society still going to accept abortions before 24 weeks after this? Probably, but we HAVE to know that it is not as simple as "emptying the uterine contents" or "tissue". Are we appalled by his actions because the babies LOOKED like babies? If that's the case, he is being singled out unfairly, because he is most definitely not the first doctor to do that. 

For some people, I think the biggest issue is how he treated the patients. I've seen in articles that they were not treated with basic dignity and respect, but were sat on blood stained blanket, and neglected.

I'm done for now. I can't end this with an answer for what the biggest issue is and why everyone is so appalled by Gosnell, because I believe people will have different reasons; maybe one that I mentioned, maybe a combination of them all. No matter how this trial ends, here is what I believe personally:

Abortion is the killing of a child, whether it's done at 3,12, 24, or 30 weeks of pregnancy. It is a baby. Anyone who has performed or helped with an abortion can't deny that.

The patients…the women who get abortions are not cold blooded killers. I can't speak for everyone of course, but I believe strongly that a huge percentage of women who get abortions are scared for one reason or another. Whether it's financial, health, relationship, or some other reason, they feel that getting an abortion will help. I believe that rather than fighting for better, safer abortions, our energy would be better used by supporting our fellow women with the other things  that have led them to the point where they feel that they even need to make this decision. I can't imagine that it's an easy decision for anyone to make, no matter what their situation. 

My heart goes out to any of you who have been faced with it.

 I believe that women are mislead terribly about abortion, on every level. I hope that by the end of the Gosnell case, if nothing else, the misconceptions about abortion are exposed.

This post may seem fragmented…I have no idea because I just wrote what came out. I know I could go so much deeper in many of these areas, but right now I'm not going to. I just….had to say this. 

As I've been writing, a picture of Danica is visible on my screen….one that I took as she was starting to cry. I meant to put it in the trash because it's not a picture I would normally post. As I write this though, I keep glancing over at it, and it just seems to fit. It fits how I'm feeling right now, and always have about this very sensitive topic. It's how I feel for the babies….for the women….even for the doctors.