Disturbing News

I just read an article that was, in my mind, very disturbing. A 20-year old student from USC had given birth and threw the baby in a dumpster behind a restaurant. The coroner said the baby was born alive charging her with murder. Her high-priced defense, with medical expert witnesses, said no, this was not a case of murder. The judge dismissed the charges because of these expert witnesses. She is still however, being charged with child abuse.

This is what is disturbing (beside the obvious, imho), she mysteriously gave birth to another baby two years prior - no baby was found. She went to the hospital and said

"the baby was stillborn, and police could never find the baby's body to verify her claim"

.Friends and family are thrilled for her-that the charge of murder was dismissed. Her high school guidance counselor raved about her:

"She's one of those memorable kids. Probably [ranks in] the top 10 kids of all time that I've ever worked with academically."

Okay, all my opinion here but...here's a young lady, probably from a fairly wealthy family (to afford USC and the well-known Mark Garregos to defend her) having two pregnancies and both of them ending mysteriously, perhaps by her own hand. There is something very dysfunctional here - in regard to her understanding of reproduction, her family relationships and support and what is considered moral.

I really can't get over the audacity of this gal. To have given up, to throw in a dumpster, children (not a child but children - 2!) after giving birth, after feeling their movements in her womb, seeing their faces, feeling their fingers. I have to wonder if she feels totally alone in this world, no one to turn to in times of personal crisis. Or if she did turn to someone, what kind of advise did she receive?

"She's a wonderful lady." "We couldn't be happier for her." This is what her friends, family and acquaintances have to say. To charge her with murder, according to Dr. Hodgman, director of pediatrics at Keck school (with 40 years of experience examining newborn deaths), would be a "miscarriage of justice". Apt words but I would apply them to two other individuals.

Am I sympathetic to Miss Ashcroft's feelings? A little. I believe she needs intense counseling to help her understand the depth of her actions and healing when she acknowledges that she threw away two precious lives.

So I am disturbed, angry and praying.

Deserving Better

A couple of years ago I was introduced to a group called Feminist for Life. Here is the mission statement for FFL (www.feministsforlife.org):

If you believe in the strength of women and the potential of every human life, If you refuse to choose between women and children, If you believe no woman should be forced to choose between pursuing her education and career plans and sacrificing her child, If you reject violence and exploitation, Join us in challenging the status quo.Because women deserve better choices. .

That last statement - Because women deserve better...- struck a chord in me. I saw that relevant to so many other issues of our day. When someone argues against global missions in favor of embracing universalism I say, "The unreached deserve better." When I hear the arguments regarding homosexuality and accepting it as an inherent lifestyle, I say, "They deserve better."
The gospel, the good news, is so much better than what the world has to offer, which is a compromise against the holy -- You can't attain perfection, holiness, righteousness on your own so accept who you are. You can't change on your own." And that's right -- we can't change on our own. But on our own we can WANT to change.
I say all this because I read a FANTASTIC article about a woman who recently came out from her homosexual life and into the better, more deserving good life (the gospel). Her name is Charlene Cothran and here is her story: http://www.venusmagazine.org/cover_story.html