Every year for the January 22nd anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in this country in 1973 I write a pro-life letter to the editor for our local newspaper. Some years the newspaper prints it, some years they don’t. This was a year that, for no apparent reason, they did not print my letter so I’m posting it here on my blog. The letter is followed by some other bonus material.

2016 Pro-life Letter to the Editor

January 22, the day that the Supreme Court initiated the holocaust of abortion in our country through its Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, falls on a Friday this year. Friday is an important day of the week in the Christian community. It is the day that Jesus died on the cross as the once-for-all sacrifice for the sins of the world.

Whether or not people personally value the sacrifice Jesus made to pay for their sins on the cross, what Jesus does teach us is that the highest purpose in life is not to live for ourselves but to live our lives for others.

Whether we sacrifice ourselves in a thousand different ways over a lifetime of service to our families and loved ones or give ourselves for others in great acts of heroism, the way to supreme fulfillment in life is through sacrifice not selfishness, through commitment to causes greater than our individual selves.

Even people who live only for themselves still deserve the right to live. As long as people are alive they still have the opportunity to learn that the ultimate purpose of life is to give our lives for others.

Recent polls have shown that abortion does not even make it in the top ten of issues people are concerned about. It’s hard to remember a time when any issue that involved caring for others made it in the top ten. That’s not likely to change until we make the sacrifices needed to protect the weakest and most vulnerable members of the human race, the unborn.

And a few weeks back when President Obama emotionally announced the actions he is taking on gun control this is the response that Lutherans for Life published:

In your speech on January 5, you tearfully recalled the children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary. You said, “Every time I think about those kids it gets me mad.” We are glad it makes you mad. It should make us all mad. Murder is horrible. The murder of children, however, touches the very depths of our souls.

We have a favor to ask you. The next time you think of those children and it makes you mad, we ask that you take just a minute to try to understand people like us a little better. Please know that we are not radical right-wing extremists. But, it is a matter of fact that since Sandy Hook approximately three million children in this country have lost their lives through abortion. Every time we think about those kids it gets us mad. Millions like us feel the same way. We do not blow up abortion facilities or shoot abortionists. But like you, we feel compelled to do something. Political fears seem to hold Congress hostage on the issue so we do what we can in legal protests, marches, political action, and, most importantly, by reaching out to women in crisis pregnancies and offering them real compassion and help.

You correctly noted how gun violence strips its victims of their rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Every day, 2,800 innocent and defenseless children are stripped of those same rights as abortion violently rips them from their mothers’ wombs.

Mr. President, we hope against hope that your views on abortion change, though we suspect they are very deeply imbued. But we do ask that you use your deep-felt anger over the children of Sandy Hook and other victims of gun violence to strive to have some empathy for ordinary people like us who have the same deep-felt anger over the tragedy of abortion.

And this week in the news we keep hearing about the zika virus. Apparently this virus is so dangerous because if a woman gets it while she is pregnant it can cause serious birth defects in the unborn child. Once again, those of us who believe everything should be done to protect every unborn child are left to wonder why so much concern is being shown to one group of unborn children but not to all unborn children.