Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

“You shall not murder.

• Exodus 20:13

“Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael. “Because I know the harm you will do to the Israelites,” he answered. “You will set fire to their fortified places, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women.”

• 2 Kings 5:12

But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes who were about to be murdered and put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Because Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram and wife of the priest Jehoiada, was Ahaziah’s sister, she hid the child from Athaliah so she could not kill him.

• 2 Chronicles 22:11

Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had demolished; he also erected altars to the Baals and made Asherah poles. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them. He built altars in the temple of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “My Name will remain in Jerusalem forever.” In both courts of the temple of the Lord, he built altars to all the starry hosts. He sacrificed his children in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, practiced divination and witchcraft, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.

• 2 Chronicles 33:1-6

WARNING:  This post is graphic in nature.  I cannot write it any other way.  It shaped my wife’s views on abortion, even though she had always been against it.

My wife worked surgery in Texas in a time when Roe vs. Wade may have been decided by the Supreme Court, but it was still against the law in the state of Texas.

She worked at a hospital in Port Arthur, Texas, us meeting through a fellow employee and friend.  The hospital has been torn down since my wife and I left the area.  She continued to work until the summer when we planned a big trip.  She quit since she did not have enough vacation time and the time would allow her to devote more time to her college studies.

But one incident nearly stopped her employment before that point.  It was the summer after our wedding.  We had just moved to a nicer and quieter apartment, closer to the university, in Nederland, Texas.

She came home about mid-shift that night and I asked what was wrong.  She was very agitated.

She gave the following story:

“We had a very unusual case that came up tonight.  The hospital never has scheduled surgeries on the second shift.  But this doctor who has a bad reputation had a D&C (dilation and curettage) on a young girl who should not have the kind of problems that a D&C would be needed.  I was the scrub tech.  I had to know for sure what he was doing.  I had to have the right instruments and arranged in the right order so that he never had to tell me what to give him next.  This doctor had a reputation for doing things that were not legal, but fudging the diagnosis codes to make sure the insurance would pay up.

“I asked him, ‘Is this an abortion?’  He reacted violently, cursing at me for making such a suggestion.  I asked again because he cursed.  He did not deny.  He took a breath and then answered, ‘This is not an abortion, and never accuse me of such a thing again or you will not work here anymore.’”

“Then, we went into the surgery, and we started the procedure.  When we got to the part where he was to remove the offending tissue from the incision, the first piece seemed to look like a baby’s leg, but I shook my head.  I thought it was just my imagination, knowing what this doctor’s reputation was.  Then, the second piece of tissue from the incision was clearly a forearm…

At this point she started to shake.  I had been seated, doing my homework when she came in.  I jumped up as she said…

“The forearm had a perfect little hand, and five … tiny … perfectly-formed … fingers.”

By this time, she was sobbing so that she could not talk.  I gave her a bear hug, necessary or she would have fallen.  We stood in the dining area of our great room in that position for about an hour.  Then, she finished her story.

“I turned to the doctor and shouted, ‘You lied to me.’  His assisting nurse, the anesthesiologist, and the circulating nurse all laughed at me.  I stormed out of the room.  The scrub tech has to stay by the doctor’s side.  I have thrown up in my mask.  I have gone to the bathroom in my scrubs, but I have never deserted a doctor.  The patient deserves my attention through the whole procedure.  I am sure they will fire me when I go back tomorrow.  It is a fireable offense and I know of no one who has not been fired for that offense.  What hurts the most is they were all in on it, and the doctor picked me to scrub, knowing I would not approve.”

Now, the sobbing began for fear of her losing her job, but by now, we had both sat down.  She did not lose her job due to the doctor needing to admit he did an illegal surgery, causing my wife to walk out.  His fear of jail time saved my wife’s job, but only for a few weeks.

To clarify, since this was something illegal, he was carving up the child in the womb to disguise what he extracted.  These days, they remove the child, and the doctor gives it to the nurse with the instructions on how to kill it if it is viable enough to remain alive.  I have heard that in some cases, the child is given a poison.  One such case was reported on the 700 Club and the child survived the poison.  The nurse took the child to the nursery, and they gave her a foundling status.  The child’s life was a wreck of foster homes and orphanages but she finally accepted Jesus and everything turned out okay.  A child supposedly killed as a result of abortion.

But years later, they were discussing repealing Roe vs. Wade.  And they were discussing only abortions for rape and women who would possibly lose their life if they went full term.  My wife again became agitated, and she said that when you give a doctor anything discretionary, some of those doctors, most of them, will error toward making a buck.  Suddenly, you’ll have thousands of pregnant women who will die if the abortion is not done right away.

Some people heard my wife’s comments and got huffy about how cruel my wife sounded, but my wife knew. All the doctor has to do was change a little 3- or 4-digit diagnosis code and what was illegal becomes “legal.”

My mother did not want me although my Dad did, to run the turkey farm that eventually failed.  If abortion was legal and socially acceptable at the time of my birth, I would probably not be here.

I have an eleven-year-old granddaughter who was diagnosed as Down Syndrome in the womb.  Several people counseled my son and his wife to have an abortion.  They did not have the abortion, and my granddaughter did not have Down Syndrome.  It was a wrong diagnosis.  She is a wonderful little girl, my little princess who loves to have flying bear hugs.

These may both be great reasons for me to want abortions abolished, but the one that causes – every time I think of it – a lump in my throat, tears in my eyes, a weakness in my knees, and a few sobs are the words of my loving wife.  I can close my eyes and still see her swaying as she was starting to collapse and her sobs.

You can argue about choice all you want, but I see it as murder, due to these words:

“A hand and five … tiny … perfectly-formed … fingers.”

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.