Life begins before birth

A paragraph from the Christmas story in the new scriptures, Luke 1:7, is quoted here:

And in those days, Mary went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Judah, and entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elizabeth. And it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the holy ghost, and she spoke out with a loud voice and said, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is it that this blessing is upon me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, as soon as the voice of your salutation sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed are you who believed, for those things which were told you of the angel of the Lord shall be fulfilled.

It is the joy of the unborn child that made him stir in the womb. The unborn John would not have responded to the sound of Mary’s voice with “joy” if his mortal life had not begun before birth. She was in the end of the second trimester, in modern pregnancy vernacular. John would not be born for another three months. But his life, ability to respond to the environment outside the womb (including sound), and ability to experience “joy” are all described in this paragraph.

The United States has approved and helped to fund with taxpayer subsidies the abortions of now some 70 million unborn children. It is more state sponsored killing than Hitler inflicted. More than Stalin killed. More than Pol Pot killed. It is within the upper range of the estimated number killed by Mao Zedong. The United States is now reconsidering the outcome of Harry Blackmun’s majority opinion in Roe v. Wade. It is time to end a tragedy that should never have begun.