LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: With abortion, what kind of nation have we become?

Is it any wonder that Dr. Ben Carson and Donald Trump have the lead against all the other Republicans running for office of the president? Why? They are not politicians. The country seems to be fed up with all the political play going on.

Republicans butting heads with the Democrats: if the Republicans like an idea, the Democrats are sure to hate it, and vice-versa. Frankly, I am definitely fed up with the two parties who are governing (if that is truly what one can call it) our country.

For instance, take the debate about defunding Planned Parenthood. One side says it will cause a government shutdown if the Congress does not stop funding Planned Parenthood, and the other side says, “Go ahead, it’s an election year and you will look like fools.”

The problem here is that we aren’t talking about dollars and cents or even about the government. We are talking about babies being murdered and their bodies being cut up and sold to the highest bidder. What kind of a nation have we become? Ultrasonography for baby imaging has improved greatly in the past 35 years, so much so that a baby’s features can be as clearly seen as if looking at a photograph. Ultrasonography can clearly see the beating heart of a five-week-, 35-day-old fetus. The days of saying “Oh, it’s just a glob of tissue” are over, and we all know better now. You can hide under your hat if you want to, but it is an undeniable fact that it is truly a baby in the womb, not a blob of tissue.

We have laws that protect the rights of the most violent criminals, that protect the rights of terrorists, that protect the rights of animals, but not one law to protect the most innocent and vulnerable citizens among us, the babies in the wombs of their mothers, because politicians have willingly sold their souls to get into or remain in office.

I think it is utterly unbelievable that any politician, local, state or federal, especially female politicians, stand up in front of their colleagues in government and defend Planned Parenthood for selling baby parts. Oh, they argue about protecting the mother’s right to privacy. Privacy for what? Killing the child within them?

How can the same group of people condemn ISIS for beheading our citizens to the point of sending troops and bombs to kill ISIS leaders, then, ignore the plight of innocent babies being killed by abortion and their bodies cut up for sale, and force us to be complicit in those horrible acts of violence by forcing us to pay the bill?

Mr. Matthew Clark wrote in a recent article about the “federal government’s Selective Investigative Panel (H. Res. 461: Establishing a Select Investigative Panel of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. Introduced: Oct 6, 2015 114th Congress, 2015-2017, Status: Agreed To (Simple Resolution) on Oct 7, 2015, this simple resolution was agreed to on Oct. 7, 2015.) tasked with investigating Planned Parenthood.

He states, “The abortion lobby as a whole has given six members of Congress” who are on that panel “hundreds of thousands of dollars.” In fact, he calls them “the abortion industry’s dream team.”

He writes, “according to data compiled from the Center for Responsive Politics and the Federal Election Commission, these six members of Congress alone, picked by none other than House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, have received directly from Planned Parenthood in excess of:

• Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.): $41,485

• Rep. Susan DelBene (D-Wash.): $19,232

• Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.): $13,115

• Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.): $5,785

• Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.): $4,800

• Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.): $2,500.”

These panel members are far more than abortion-rights supporters; these are members hand-picked by the abortion industry. They are practically on Planned Parenthood’s payroll, and the abortion industry as a whole has been stuffing these members’ campaign coffers with hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The abortion lobby known as Emily’s List has given ranking members of this panel (who are supposedly investigating the abortion industry’s legally dubious practice of selling aborted babies’ body parts to pad their bottom line) gave Rep. Schakowsky over $64,000 in direct campaign contributions and has handed Rep. Susan DelBene over $48,000,” and he goes on and on about money handed to representatives in Congress by Planned Parenthood, stating that “in all, Planned Parenthood has handed over more than $305,000 to the six Democrats appointed to the Select Investigative Panel to investigate Planned Parenthood.”

Additional members of the Selective Investigative Panel appointed by then-Speaker of the House John Boehner are: Chairman Marsha Blackburn, Representatives Diane Black, Mia Love, Vicky Hartzler, Dr. Larry Bucshon, M.D., Dr. Andy Harris, M.D., and Rep. Sean Duffy.

Again I ask, what kind of a nation have we become?

I can only reflect Mr. Clark’s assertion that this is “far beyond a conflict of interest.” It is totally outrageous and indicative of a government gone way astray and into corruption. As Rep. Steve Russell of Oklahoma solemnly warned in a recent House Committee hearing: “We can carve up a child and call it a choice. We can destroy human life and call it health care. We can make the killing of children legal and pretend that it’s beneficial. We can cover acts of barbarity with the veneer of civility. But we cannot escape our accountability before the Creator of life.”

Rose Pritchett

Felton