A Gift from God

A Gift from God by Scott Walker

An unborn child is a human being

The Washington Times Section B Page 1 - Friday, June 28, 2019
Reprinted by permission

Our son Matthew turns 25 on Sunday. He is our gift from God.

Literally. The name Matthew ultimately comes from the Hebrew name Mattityahu – which means a gift of Yahweh.

Tonette and I chose the name Matthew purposely as he is our first born. You see, my wife was a widow before we met and she didn’t know if she would ever get married again – let alone have children. So he really is our gift from God. A year later, we were blessed again with Alexander.

We still have our first baby picture of Matt – an untrasound. Months before he was born, the image showed him on his side with his hand out and his thumb in his mouth. He was sucking his thumb.

Tonette and I were pro-life before we saw that ultrasound but looking at our gift from God made it indisputable. It was further proof of the sanctity of life.

It is why I was honored to sign so many pieces of pro-life legislation during my two terms as governor of Wisconsin. One of those laws requires anyone seeking an abortion to get an ultrasound. The technician has to point out the unborn baby’s visible organs and external features.

Despite the rhetoric from the abortion industry about an unborn child just being tissue, an ultrasound shows the actual baby. Our hope is that this will create a bond that convinces her to save her child.

We still have our ultrasound pictures of Matt and Alex. They are their first baby; photographs.

Around the time that Matt and Alex were born back in the 1990s, Bill Clinton declared that abortion should be safe, legal and rare. Today, that rhetoric wouldn’t even come close enough for the pro-abortion extremists who control the national Democrats. Today, radical Democrats require support for abortion-on-demand all the way through birth.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam unintentionally exposed just how extreme Democrats have become on abortion when he said in January that: “The infant would be delivered; the infant would be kept comfortable; the infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desire, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”

Just so we are clear, Mr. Northam, who happens to be a doctor, is saying that a baby would be born, that baby would be kept comfortable and then they would decide whether to keep the baby alive or kill the baby.

A piece of tissue does not need to be kept comfortable. An organ does not need to be kept comfortable. Only a human being needs to be kept comfortable.

As I have said before, if the family takes that baby home and decides to end the life of their child after they leave the hospital, they would be guilty of homicide. Killing a baby after birth is more than infanticide. It is more than live-birth abortion. It is murder.

So goes the party that once thought abortion should be safe, legal and rare.

Even Joe Biden had to backtrack to appease the abortion profiteers. The former vice president who has consistently been wrong on abortion at least acknowledged that taxpayers who did not share his view on abortion should not be asked to pay for it.

Sadly, that shred of decency was too much. For Mr. Biden to be a viable Democrat in the presidential sweepstakes today, he must bow at the altar or those who believe in abortion under any circumstances. He flip-flopped and now says that taxpayers should foot the bill for abortions.

In Wisconsin, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoes four pieces of pro-life legislation late last Friday afternoon. One of the bills he vetoes came about because of the words of Mr. Northam in Virginia and because of legislation passed there and in states like New York and Rhode Island. It is sad that protecting a child from death by abortion after they are born isn’t worthy of being the law in Wisconsin – or any other state for that matter.

Ultimately, we have to change the hearts and minds of the American public. The only good that has come out of things like the debate on radical legislation in Virginia, New York and Rhode Island is that the public is seeing just how extreme supporters of abortion really are these day. Polls this year show the shift toward pro-life positions.

For me, the best way to explain it is this: What if a deranged person attacked a pregnant woman and ultimately killed her unborn child? Would you send her a get well card or a sympathy card? If you would send a sympathy card, then you, too, recognize that her baby was a human being – just like our son Matthew was 25 years ago.

Home Page
Issues For Life Topic Page