Slavery, Abortion and You

To the Editor:
Two hundred years ago the villages of Africa were regularly attacked. The attackers knew there was money in kidnapping. Slaves fetched a pretty penny. So the ships ran. The plantations grew. Since the crimes happened half a world away, people did not pay attention. Since the crimes did not seem to affect the men and women of England directly, they found no reason to shake off their ignorance.
Then Olaudah Equiano wrote his book describing his kidnapping and years of bondage. And an artist rendered a diagram of the conditions on a slave ship. Josiah Wedgewood formed the famous cameo with an African in chains along with the question, “Am I not a man and a brother?” And William Wilberforce graphically described slavery on the floor of Parliament.
And things changed. The slave ships stopped running. The slaves were freed. People actually worked politically to bring relief to the oppressed, even if they did not seem to economically benefit from their freedom.
Today we find ourselves in a similar situation. Though abortion has only been legalized for about 40 years, we have become accustomed to it. Many of us have grown up with Roe v. Wade as a reality. There are those who profit from this reality, like the plantation owners long ago—the doctors and their staff. And, as in England long ago, it seems so easy to turn a blind eye. Then, the problem affected people who were invisible because they lived half a world away. Now, the problem affects people who are invisible because they have not yet been born. So it seems there are plenty of reasons not to change the status quo.
But now, as in the early 1800s, something has happened that has shocked us. The sale of baby parts reminds us that, even if the baby parts are not sold, the babies are still killed. And when an organization refers people to abortion clinics, they are as guilty as those who assisted in kidnapping African slaves. The activity of organizations such as Planned Parenthood or other similar organization(s) in Cape May County shows us that the problem is very, very close to home.
Things can change. We can ask for our county government to cease any and all funding for Planned Parenthood and/or related organizations in Cape May County. Why not now? Why not here? Why not us?