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Cathy Ramey
Associate Editor
. . . Shouldn't happen to a baby!
The story of Angela Hall; her abandonment by the medical profession, and her eventual death make for dramatic reading. It's easy to sympathize with those who are outraged at Tucker and Davis, Odessa Harris, Floretta Moore and other mill workers who assured her death by failing to render proper medical care.
But if we strip her death of the emotional dynamics added by those who kill unborn persons routinely (yet have qualms about killing the born) the affect is that Angela Hall's death was no more tragic than the death of her child. It is a misapplication of our anger to get outraged over the "termination" of her older and bigger body, but to feel nothing more than a twinge of mechanical regret over the baby she paid Tucker to murder.
In fact (though no doubt we will be accused of having a callous attitude) her death might be less tragic and significant. After all, in a sane society we understand that God generally prefers the life of an innocent person over the life of the guilty. When an innocent person is murdered there is the burden of a senseless deed added to the loss. When a guilty person dies we understand there is a difference.
In eternity it will be those who have been proclaimed innocent by virtue of Jesus' atoning work on the cross who will inherit eternal life. The guilty will perish, so Scripture says. It is the reason that societies have historically allowed their governors the right to commit capital punishment. And it is the basis behind laws which allow the individual right of self-defense when you are attacked by an unjust aggressor.
Though there is certainly a broad element of tragedy in the death of Angela Hall, there is also an acknowledgment that God was not unjust in allowing her to die. She simply reaped a bitter crop from the seed she had sown in planning on and proceeding with the death of her own tiny baby. Even compelled by all of the "hard case" temptations that might have come her way, Angela Hall can not rightly be classified as a victim in the truest sense of that word.
So, we ought to stop and evaluate our fascination and anger when we read about maternal death stories following an abortion. It's right to grieve over the death of anyone, but we should be wary of reporting on, reading, and mentally assigning a degree of greater tragedy to the death of Angela Hall or any other woman who has sought out and purchased the services of an abortionist. Instead, we ought to warn them that He who does not allow a sparrow to fall without His consent may one day pull His hand of grace from more and more of these women who are killers in their own right.
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