VIEW from the top
July 12,1999
LELAND ACKER chreporter@mediactr.com

It's one of the most controversial hotbutton issues in the political arena, ranking far above the issues of homosexual rights, supplyside versus demand side economics, immigration or the war in Iraq. Discussion of most of these issues usually result in an agreement to disagree.

Abortion, on the other hand, rarely results in a situation where the one party can respect the other party's viewpoint. There is no "moral-equivalence" on the issue of abortion. Pro-lifers believe abortion is murder. Pro-choicers believe pro-lifers want to deviously infringe on a woman's rights.

"Can't you just believe abortion is wrong, but respect my right to accept the practice?" someone may ask me. The answer is no. After all, that would make me pro-choice. So, why am I pro-life and anti-abortion? Is it my upbringing? Church affiliation? While those influence my thoughts and beliefs, I was faced with the awful truth of what abortion is on July 12, 1999.

Jessica and I had been married for three months. I was working for KJCS-FM of Nacogdoches as an overnight DJ and Jessica was managing a McDonalds.

She was two and one-half months into a pregnancy with a baby we believed to be a girl. We had a day off, so we decided to leave Nacogdoches and take a drive to the Davy Crockett National Forest, then on to Crockett to enjoy lunch at a local cafe. While at the cafe, Jessica noticed something was wrong, so we rushed home to a local emergency room. We waited there for a significant amount of time until a nurse ordered a pregnancy test (the pregnancy had already been confirmed) and advised the ER doctor what she believed to be a miscarriage in progress.

The doctor walked in, told us there was nothing the hospital could do, go home, rest, hope for the best.

We were charged $1,500 for that service. Two weeks later, a bill for $50 came from a doctor we had never seen who was charging us for reading the pregnancy test. We went to my grandparents house, where Jessica rested in bed until she eventually lost the baby.

Babies who are only two and one-half months along are very small, but their bodies are formed. This baby had two arms, 10 fingers, two legs, tiny buttocks and 10 tiny toes.

That baby we laid to rest in the Providence Cemetery was not a clump of lifeless cells, it was a deceased baby. We named her Alexandria, and bought her a memorial marker.

God healed our wounds. He provided us with three healthy, beautiful children. He blessed us with a strong, thriving marriage. He even provided a way for us to pay off an ER bill where minimal services were provided for maximum prices. He taught us and strengthened us, but, we still remember that little baby that didn't make it.

So, don't ask me to respect views in support of abortion, and don't come after me with a series of "what-ifs." Those babies who have yet to be born are human lives, in genetics, form and function.