A fait accompli

The dehumanization of unwanted unborn children is a fait accompli.

Fait accompli is French for "I don't care what the weight is or the gender of the person singing, or even if cigars have been handed out. It means "It's over. It's done."

The attitude that unwanted unborn children are "different" from born children has reached those we would once have though most protected from such a dehumanizing bias.

I recently spoke in a Sunday morning service in very pro-life, pro-home school church in one of American's most conservative cities. The message I gave that morning was JFA’s hard-hitting and heart-breaking 30 minute presentation entitled, “Facing Abortion.”

It’s the pro-life PowerPoint presentation to end all pro-choice confusion and sentiment. You would expect it - I wrote it. And that morning I delivered it to a full church.

One of the first people to greet and thank me after the service was a young man who introduced himself as Hanley.* (Name changed for privacy)

“I really enjoyed your presentation,” he said, and then almost in the same breath added, “I have a friend who’s 17. She told me about 3 weeks ago that she was pregnant and planning to get an abortion.”

“Wow…your girlfriend?”

“Oh no, I’m only 13. My dad would kill me if I did something like that!”

“Got it. So Hanley,” I asked, “what did you say when your friend told you she was planning to get an abortion?”

“I told her it was a bad idea, but then I didn’t know what else to say.” He looked distressed.

“Did you tell your parents or her parents or anyone about the situation?” I asked.

“O no, she made swear not to tell anyone. She knows a lot of people in this church and is also home-schooled. She didn’t want her parents to find out."

“So do you know what happened?” I inquired.

“Yeah, I called her later that week to see how she was doing – she told me that she had already had the abortion."

“How is she doing now?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen or talked to her since.”

“Does anyone else know that she got an abortion?”

“I don’t think so. She made me promise not to tell anyone.”

With the utterance of those words Hanley’s face went white and his voice quivered, “Oh no, that’s my dad coming over to tell you what a good job you did this morning. PLEASE don’t tell him what I just told you."

(to Hanley's father) “Hi...thank you. Yes, I met Hanley. We’re having a great conversation. Thanks again, good to meet you too. Talk with you a little later.”

After Hanley's father had left and Hanley began to breathe again I said, “Got a question for you.”

“Okay,” Hanley said gamely.

“What if your 17-year old friend had told you that she was going to kill her 2-year old brother, but asked you not to tell anyone. Would you have remained silent?”

“Oh no, that would be totally different,” he quickly shot back.

“How would it be different, Hanley?” I asked.

Hand under chin, Hanley visibly considered my question. After about 15 seconds, a wry smile broke across his face. He said, “Really wouldn’t be different, would it?”

Listen up. The bad news is that if a 13-year old home schooled boy in a pro-life church in the heart of conservative America believes there's a moral difference between killing born and unborn children, for all practical purposes, the dehumanization of the unwanted unborn child is a fait accompli.

The good news is that the cultural attitude that Hanley had assumed was not consistent with his personal faith. Once better informed and then challenged to consider his previous bias, Hanley dismissed any difference between killing unwanted unborn and born children.

The mission of Justice For All? Train thousands like Hanley to make abortion unthinkable for millions, one person at a time.