As you listen to this song, it describes the millions of people (a number of 27 million is listed in the song), predominantly women and girls, caught in some form of slavery; most likely sex trafficking. As Derek Minor notes in his first verse, this is definitely not the picture that God paints in the beginning of Genesis when describing creation's experience of the world. This song urges those of us who have a voice, and are not silenced, to speak about the injustice and ills found in our world; to let the rivers and waters of justice roll. There's a biblical calling to do so, both in the old testament and new. Some come to see that what they've been doing is unjust.
As I listen to this song, I can't help but think of other voices that can't speak; those children who are aborted. With the recent Planned Parenthood investigations from the Centers for Medical Progress, the facts and environment surrounding abortion are making their way into the public square. People who have never had to think about the details of an abortion are hearing them in casual conversation. Whether you are pro-choice or pro-life, hearing the explicit practices of crushing a tiny human has to rattle something inside you.
This past week's video from the Center for Medical Progress featured their visit to Houston's Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast Regional Headquarters. I haven't made it through the full 5 hours of video yet, but what I've heard has been heartbreaking. Not surprisingly, the video begins with discussion about allergies from Houston's air and our city's terrible traffic.
Within the first 25 minutes or so, the tone is set. Melissa Farrell, Director of Research at Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast here in Houston remarks about the hope she has in expanded abortion clinics in Louisiana, and the extreme frustration felt knowing that Planned Parenthood is not able to perform abortions at this time. The happiness she shows toward the possibility of more abortions ought to cause us to pause.
If there's one thing that comes from the investigative work of Centers for Medical Progress, it's that we're being exposed to the abortion industry at depths we never knew about before. Some who have been staunchly pro-choice are taking notice and reconsidering. The public hasn't thought much about, and truthfully hasn't wanted to think about, any of the other details surrounding abortion. At the 24:30 mark of the most recent unedited video, Melissa Farrell is asked about her perspectives about abortion in culture today. She says,
"I think, unfortunately our society has become too complacent. Where some of this radicalizing, has, ummm, been able to flourish. And, I think part of it is education. That people make statements about abortions causing breast cancer or birth control causing autism, or things like that. And the general public is so ill-educated that they don’t understand."Well, the American public, and the world at large, is learning more about abortion. Likely not what Farrell wants us to know, but instead the details of the ugly, capitalistic bureaucracy of fetal tissue. What we've seen has certainly brought many out of a sense of complacency. Now, it looks like the ones who are haggling over fetal tissue are the extremists. We've all been educated to make more educated claims about the abortion industry.
Some may not find medical research with aborted baby's body parts to be anything of shock. But after seeing the casserole dish full of fetal body parts, there has to be some form of reaction. The potential that each one of those children had, is lost. Those are hands to hold, not to be sold. So, for the voice they'll never have, I want to at least ask that we speak and pray about the tragedy among us. Pray for those caught in this discussion. Pray for those abortion workers who are now facing questions about their activity in this area of women's healthcare. Let's be a voice for the culture of life in what seems like a celebrated culture of death, especially for those whose voices will never be heard.
