Perusing the usual feed of news and editorials yesterday found me stumbing upon this particular Newsweek article from Sarah Kliff entitled, “Watching My First Abortion.” Indeed, the title nearly gave the impression that Ms. Kliff had just come from watching a daughter’s first dance recital or a nephew’s first little league game. Yes, clearly, there was some emotional conflict, just as there might be when little Johnny strikes out and sticks his lower lip out and lowers his head as he slinks back to the dugout. But that is just it. Despite the emotion of the moment, watching her first abortion was, well, so utterly okay and, frankly, just another actitivy on just another day.
Within the article–which you should read for yourself–it appears that the only things at risk are time and money. Notice that she and others are “killing time” in the waiting room. Notice that one young woman was “scraping up” money for the abortion. And yet, despite the references to time and money being so threatened, the living being in the mommy’s womb is nothing more than “pink fluid” moving ever so quickly through a vacuum tube.
I wonder if Ms. Kliff cannot now sleep at night, if she is now sick at her stomach, or if she is questioning why in the world Newsweek has assigned her to the abortion beat. I hope she is restless about these things. What I suspect, however, is that whatever emotions she displays because of this particular assignment are more about the unusual novelty and bewilderment of having laid eyes upon such a “minimally invasive” procedure. The utter inability to recognize that a human life had just been snuffed out is beyond my ability to comprehend. And this speaks volumes about the hardness and self-absorption of our culture today.