By Renee Scheidt

One of the hot-button issues of the coming November election is abortion. The practice of killing a baby in the mother’s womb was outlawed in America until January 1973 when the Supreme Court ruled the Constitution gave women that right. I was a 17-year-old high school senior when Roe vs. Wade became the law of the land.

I am ashamed to say I paid no attention to it. I didn’t have sense enough to know the consequences of this major decision. Caught up in my own dreams of soon going to college, it wasn’t pertinent to me or anyone I knew. Fifty years later, I am grateful that I have grown to understand the evilness and immorality of what playing with life and death so flippantly does to a nation.

Back then, even through the presidency of Bill Clinton, abortion was considered a last resort. “Safe, legal and rare” were Clinton’s words. In cases of rape, incest or endangerment of the mother’s life, abortion was looked upon as a necessary evil.

Those days are now long gone. Elected Democrat leaders overwhelmingly support abortion at any time during the nine-months of pregnancy, despite the science of embryology. Late-term abortions are viewed no differently than abortions performed in the first and second trimester. It matters not that the baby is past the age of viability. Liberals believe it is their right to choose whether the child lives or dies. The life of the baby is inconsequential.

One of the techniques the left uses to soothe a pregnant mother’s fears regarding abortion is to simply use different words, those that are easier on the ears. Don’t call it what it is, a preborn baby. Call it a fetus, just a glob of cells and tissue. By pretending there is a difference, the conscience doesn’t feel so guilty.

This same word game is played regarding the purpose of abortions. It’s no longer a rare event used in extenuating circumstances. It’s a vital part of a women’s “reproductive health rights.” It sounds so good, doesn’t it? Until you understand that by this they mean no restrictions whatsoever should be placed on abortion. If a woman becomes pregnant due to unprotected sex, abortion is just another means of birth control. There is no longer a need to practice safe sex since a female can have the baby sucked out of her womb whenever she chooses or killed with a saline injection. Easier still, take the abortion pills you receive in the mail. Choose your poison and don’t think twice.

The inconsistency of the so-called intellectuals advancing these methods is stunning.

Why can a defendant be convicted of the wrongful death of a pregnant mother’s baby if It is only cells and tissue? Why would I be declared guilty of a felony for destroying turtle eggs found on the beach, but no one turns a head if I end the life of my preborn baby?

Why do prenatal doctors do surgery on babies in the womb if there is really nothing there? All this makes about as much sense as a screen door on a submarine.

Because the Supreme Court recently overturned the 1973 decision, the matter has been sent to the individual states to determine their own policy. Now the left is crying like a baby. Though restrictions have been put on abortion, there is no state where abortions are completely banned.

My questions are: What about the cries of the baby being put to death? When did abortions become just another method of birth control? What happened to ”rare”? When did a woman’s right to choose overtake that of the unborn’s right to live? What happened to adoption? How many of us living today would never have seen the light of day had abortion been legal when our mothers were expecting? Why don’t women abstain from unprotected sex and thus alleviate this issue?

A nation that no longer values the life of the unborn opens the door to other convenient killings as well. But no worries — the left won’t call it that. They’ll sing the glories of euthanasia while assisted suicide helps old folks “die with dignity.”

Renee Scheidt lives in Salisbury.