Jay’s mother was a nurse-anesthetist who ran an abortion “clinic.” One day he came out of the building with his father, a  pharmacist, to speak with us as we picketed and prayed there.  I would guess he was about 7 or 8. His father said, “Show them your shirt.” Jay proudly displayed his T-shirt which read, “I was chosen.” The incident prompted the following letter to his mother, Dee.   Dee had the impression that she was serving womanhood by providing the opportunity to get rid of unwanted babies and had even received some publicity describing the nobility of her calling.

Dear Dee,

I don’t know if you noticed, but I did not respond to your News-Times article nor to the piece about you in the Ridgefield paper. Nor did you receive a letter from me when I first met your son, Jay, in his “I was chosen” shirt, though I did write one at the time. There were things I wanted to say to him, things I thought he needed to consider, but I felt that a kid has the right to respect his parents, if at all possible, and perhaps he was too young  and perhaps everyone did not know what his mother did for a living. Well, they do now. Jay is no longer quite as insulated as he was, and, anyway, I am writing to you, not to him.

I don’t even know exactly what I want to say but I’ll try not to repeat the stuff that has already appeared in the newspaper. I do remember that on meeting Jay I thought what a bright and handsome boy he was, proud of being “chosen.” And I wanted to ask him, “Jay, did you have other brothers or sisters that weren’t chosen? Probably equally bright and handsome? Would you not be an only child if other brothers or sisters who were conceived never saw the light of day? Perhaps it is nice having your own phone and going to a fancy school now, but when you get older nothing replaces brothers and sisters.” Has he asked you that question yet? He’s smart; he will.

Has he asked you at what age a preborn baby is too old to be aborted? Has he asked you the difference between killing a baby two months before birth and two months after birth? Has he seen the babies in the premature nursery at the hospital and asked why they are not fair game? When you tell him what a noble thing you do when you get rid of babies that may be “defective,” has he asked you what would happen to him if he should he have an illness or an accident and become defective? (I pray that your husband doesn’t turn out to be some kind of quiet Kevorkian at the other end of the spectrum.) [Her husband was a pharmacist.]  Does Jay say as proudly to his friends as he did to me, “My mother owns this place.”

If you were moved by religious arguments you wouldn’t be in the killing business for, as you well know, “Thou shalt not murder” is one of the ten commandments and Genesis 9:6 says, “Whosoever shall shed man’s blood, his blood shall be shed.” The Old Testament also tells us that God hates hands that shed innocent blood. God knows you’ve been told! I would worry about that meeting. Believe it or not, we care about you as well as those babies you kill and the mothers who would be better off with some other kind of “help.”

I’m sure you know that some of your clients are HIV-positive and I trust that you are making every effort to prevent contagion among your staff and between patients. HIV can be spread by blood on intact skin and 50 HIV viruses can go through the pores in a latex glove all at once, they are so much smaller than the pores. How do you sterilize your suction tips or do you use a fresh one each time? I’d really appreciate your answer to this as I’ve been wondering for some time. It seems to me that an abortionist could spread AIDS just as easily as a dentist but it would be much harder to pin it down as your customers are more promiscuous.

You probably think we are stupid to be out front praying all these years but you must figure (A) we really want you to stop, and (B) we really believe there is a God who hears us. From what I can tell, your “business” is doing well and it’s time you started doing something with your life that would really make you happy. You’ll never be happy doing something that God hates. Fortunately, he is always ready to forgive and even forget.

This goes to you with a prayer for you and your family. Scripture says, “I set before you life and death. Choose, therefore, life.” Life is God’s choice! Nurses and doctors are supposed to be life-savers not life-takers. Please join the ranks of the other abortionists who stopped because they just couldn’t stomach it any more and see how good your heart feels. Shalom.

There was no response to my letter and we never saw Jay again, out front with Daddy, in his “I was chosen shirt.”