On my way to work, I pass a group of two or three people who are holding signs and pamphlets outside an office building.  These people have been there for as long as I’ve taken this route (two years) and they don’t let the weekend stop them.  When you get within a few feet of them, you notice some things.  One, these men and women are senior citizens.  Two, they look a little crazy.  Seriously:  hair pointing in all directions, layers and layers of clothing (long pleated skirts and sweatshirts for the women, Members Only-type jackets and sweatpants for the men), gaping, twisted mouths instead of smiles.  Finally, the signs they’re holding are pictures of developing and aborted fetuses.

Last week, I read more about the massacre at Fort Hood and the charges to be brought against Nidal Hasan.  One of the women he shot and killed was a female officer who was pregnant.  Officials are still deciding whether or not to charge him for a fourteenth murder, that of the unborn child.  The basis for that charge would be the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, also known as Laci and Conner’s Law.  You know why.

The people I pass on the way to work are repugnant to me.  The other day, I watched as they banged on the glass doorway of the building in an attempt to get the attention of a man and women standing at the front desk , checking in.  I can only assume that abortions are provided in one of the offices and one of the protesters’ tactics is to try to divert people from keeping their appointments.  I have daydreams of yelling to the protesters about the difference between fear and love, and telling them about Midtown Pregnancy Support Center, which is about ten blocks from where they’re standing.  It’s a non-profit agency that provides counseling and material support for women who are facing unexpected pregnancies.  Post-abortion counseling and support groups are also available.  In other words, they hope you don’t get an abortion but if you do, they’re not going to start hating you.

But an abortion is a choice.  And when the baby is an unwelcome surprise, its termination is legal.  When the baby is a planned addition to a family and is wanted and nurtured and anticipated, his death at the hands of another is not a choice, it’s a murder.  Where is the logical integrity in this double set of rules?

And where is the spiritual integrity in hating or intimidating someone until they do what you believe is right?  Where was the scare tactic in Jesus’ response to the prostitute who washed his feet:  “Your sins are forgiven”?  Fear changes actions, not hearts.  And unchanged hearts are the stuff of criminals and Pharisees.