Injustice

     Today I heard news about an abortion doctor in Philly who has been accused of murdering numerous babies following late-term abortions in the sixth, seventh, and eighth months. Now, my personal opinion about abortion is that it is wrong. It should only be considered in extreme cases. But, in this particular case the doctor delivered live babies - babies who could have survived except he used a scissors and severed their spinal cords.
     As a woman struggling to conceive, this seems unfathomably cruel. At six, seven, and eight months a woman can feel the life inside of her move and grow. One would hope she has bonded a little with her precious baby by this point. I just cannot understand how she could go to a clinic and snuff out that little life. There are millions of women weeping for their inability to even become pregnant. Millions of women long to feel their child kicking and moving in their wombs. Their empty arms ache as they remain barren. What a cruel world where one suffers for what another throws away!!
     Where I work there is a woman who became a first-time grandmother last March. Her beautiful granddaughter was not supposed to be born until June. She weighed just two pounds at birth. Because she was wanted, because her parents loved her, she is now eighteen pounds and thriving. She is a wonderful miracle. Babies bigger and more viable that her were killed by this diabolical doctor. I just can't wrap my brain around this. People in the media say that more affluent women cannot understand how a less fortunate, low-income woman might feel about the burden of another mouth to feed. To this I will say two things. One, even the poorest woman has access to various forms of birth control. No, none of them are 100% effective. But, that leads to number two; why wouldn't adoption be a better option than death?
     In Nicaragua, there is an alarming trend for mothers and fathers to leave their children with grandparents, siblings or other family members so they can work in Costa Rica, the US, or Spain. I know of one woman, close to my age, who left her son age seven and twin daughters age 3 with her younger sister (age 19) who also has a son age 2. She went with her mother to live and work in Spain. Three children in addition to her own son was too much for the younger sister. So, the boy is with a different aunt and the twins are with their great-grandmother, who's health is beginning to fail. These precious little girls are basically left to run around the small farming community, bouncing from their grandparent's home, to their own (empty) home, and my in-law's place. My sister-in-law told me that one time a few weeks before we were there visiting they could not find one of the twins. She was nowhere to be seen. They worried that she might have fallen in the river. After frantically looking all over for her, my sister-in-law walked about 15 minutes (after crossing the river) north and found the little girl visiting with another family because she wanted a special drink only they make. When we were there, one twin came over to the house and I was talking to her and taking her picture. Her shorts were open, so I asked her if she wanted me to close them. She told me her sister wet her pants (she didn't want to admit that she actually wet her own pants). I reported this to my mother-in-law but they had no clothing for her to wear (since their youngest daughter had just turned 15) and no one was home at the house where her fresh clothing was located. She spent the day in her soiled shorts. I tell these two stories because it breaks my heart when I think about a mother abandoning her children to earn a few extra bucks. I guess it's something of a cultural issue more than anything, but after the wait we've had (and continue to have) to conceive our own baby, I cannot imagine leaving him or her with someone else while I work thousands of miles away.
     I suppose my post today has not been the most up-lifting thing to read. I just needed to express my disgust for such an unjust world. My heart breaks for all those precious little lives who will never know love, never feel a warm embrace, who were never given a chance.