Heartbeat Laws Are Not a 'Terrible Mistake,' President Trump

I happened to be reading The Scalpel and the Soul by Haywood Robinson and his late wife, Noreen Johnson, when former President Trump disparaged the heartbeat law for the protection of unborn children in the womb as “stupid” and “a terrible mistake.” His later offer to pardon the pro-life protesters who have been arrested because of the FACE law and his vague words about a federal law limiting abortion (as if he could get something like that through Congress and get around the various state constitutional amendments proclaiming a “right” to abortion) cannot make up for a tacit consent/approval to the destruction of the unborn baby whose heart has already begun to beat. Freeing pro-lifers is a good thing; tolerating abortion at any time, but especially after the baby has a heartbeat, is just plain wrong.

It reminded me of John Greenleaf Whittier’s poem “Ichabod” about Daniel Webster’s betrayal of the abolitionists regarding the Missouri Compromise: “So fallen! so lost…Revile him not, the Tempter hath/ a snare for all;/ And pitying tears, not scorn and wrath, / Befit his fall!”

The architect of overturning Roe v. Wade now wants to change laws protecting unborn human life. Obviously, this is a political gambit. His rival, Governor DeSantis, is in favor of the heartbeat laws, ergo, Trump is against. He is probably listening to the commentary of the liberals who saw that pro-life, anti-abortion is a loser issue for Republicans. So, he is willing to jettison the sanctity of life for whose votes, exactly? Are the suburban women going to rush to him now that he has “moderated” his position on life?

While president, Donald Trump achieved many pro-life goals. But now he hides in ambiguity, trying to sound ethical while opening a loophole for abortion that should outrage many of his supporters. As Whittier wrote, “Then, pay the reverence of old days/ To his dead fame;/ Walk backward, with averted gaze, / And hide the shame!” Pro-lifers should be outraged.

It was a coincidence, perhaps, that I was reading this book, which is a searing mea culpa about abortion that includes tragic family details—like the fact that Noreen aborted her sister’s child and her sister ended up without children—at the same time Trump waffled on life. But it was providence which made me open the book two days before a man walked in my rectory pleading to talk to me about his guilt for participating in an abortion over forty years ago. He said he could not believe that he had consented to his future wife’s abortion because it came before their wedding date. “My pride destroyed my child,” he said. Tears were in his eyes, and I saw that he was not only repentant but disgusted with himself.

I told him that God is merciful and that we are not our mistakes. We are different from them and learn from them. When we repent, God gives us a new life. I said that Jesus even indicated that those forgiven more will love the one who forgives more (Luke 7:37-43). I showed him the book, which happened to be on my kneeler in the chapel, and he was moved to know that abortion providers also repented. He was especially interested in the remark by Noreen Johnson that she learned never to look at the face of the woman getting the abortion in order to de-personalize what she was doing into a mere medical procedure.

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