Do pro-lifers have a ‘choice’?

On the west coast of the nation, the battle for life continues. The debate in British Columbia is not over the rights of the unborn, but whether there exists a democratic right to oppose abortion. I say “democratic,” because the abortion industry doesn’t really care if you don’t like abortion. You can oppose abortion all you want. The difficulty arises in this province when you actually do something about it.

And thus we have Cecilia vonDehn. The vonDehns were going through their own struggles this past summer, as the ongoing illness of their adopted daughter Nettie continued to occupy their time. Nettie vonDehn was 15 years old at the time of her death. She died this summer from a brain tumour. Surrounded by those she loved and who desperately loved her, she lived and died cared for.

Even the happy members of the Health Employees Union were present, assisting the family with palliative care. Which is the truly ironic aspect of this story. Since we’ve been bombarded by the news that health-care workers in British Columbia were trembling at the very thought of working with the cleaning company that the vonDehns own. I guess they managed to set aside their fear for a few days and do their job.

Meanwhile, pro-abortion journalist Kim Bolan had worked hard at trying to discredit the vonDehns, writing the fascinating story for her newspaper, the Vancouver Sun, about how evil the cleaning company that the vonDehn’s is and how they should not be cleaning a Children’s Hospital that provides abortions.

I’m still trying to figure this one out. One of the nurses at the hospital suggested in a news story that those who so publicly oppose abortion should not have access to patients. As my wife and I prepare for our own 15-year-old daughter’s surgery at the hospital in question, I am left to ponder: will I be banned from the hospital? Since both my wife and daughter have picketed before, on the abortion issue, will they also be banned, or have a police guard to ensure they have no contact with other patients at the hospital? And why is a Children’s Hospital doing abortions anyway? Such are the questions one asks when sitting in the back yard, looking up at the stars, and asking the really deep questions about life.

But back to the vonDehns. This family has bent over backwards helping those in distress, including adopting a handicapped baby who needed a loving family to care for her. Their biggest crime was purchasing a house next to Vancouver’s first abortuary. The photo album they have displays the pictures of the many babies that “got away” – lost business to B.C.’s abortion industry.

That, of course, totally and completely annoys the so-called pro-choice crowd. Because you can choose anything you want, as long as it is abortion. On campus, if you oppose abortion, you must do so quietly, and not in any public forum. If you are a physician, then you can be as pro life as you want to be – as long as you refer for the abortion your patient demands. If you are a medical school student, stay tuned. Your going to have to learn how to perform abortions – whether you want to or not.

Such is life in a “pro-choice” world. Choose abortion or else.

The vonDehns greatest crime is and always has been that their family has lived their faith. That terrifies the abortion industry more than anything. Because if enough people put feet to their prayers, and actually act and live out the pro-life ethic, then the abortion industry is doomed.

So it did not surprise me that the Vancouver Sun’s Kim Bolan would pick up her pen and aim for the vonDehns.