Once in a while, despite all the euphemisms, a ray of truth filters into public life. One such ray shone in a New York courtroom last week as a judge sentences Dr. David Benjamin to 25 years to life in prison. Benjamin was sentenced for what the prosecutors called a “depraved indifference” to life. Benjamin is an abortionist. He was charged with murdering a mother of four who bled to death on a stretcher while Benjamin stood by, doing nothing, even impeding the efforts of paramedics to save her.
Benjamin addresses the court before sentencing. His long, rambling talk made no mention of the mother. But when he reached the portion of his speech where he called the aborted child a, “product of conception,” the judge interrupted. “The people in the audience are not familiar with the medical term,” the judge said. “The ‘product of conception’ is something we used to call a baby.”
The judge has it right. Dr. Benjamin showed a depraved indifference to the lives of that mother and her unborn child—and a depraved indifference to life often begins with a depraved indifference to words.
Gray Bauer works with the Family Research Council’s Washington Watch.
