by Lynette Auch
The Alpha Center, a pregnancy center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, that my husband and I support, held their annual fundraiser event in April with featured speaker Dr. William Lile of Pensacola, Florida.
Dr. Lile has delivered over 4,000 babies in his medical career as an obstetrician/gynecologist. He also is a medical advisor for the Florida Human Life Protection Amendment and a member of Focus on the Family’s Physicians Research Council.
In 1999, Dr. Lile and a business partner bought out the practice of the largest abortion services provider in Pensacola. On day one, any and all abortion services and abortion referrals were stopped immediately. Today, that clinic’s abortion equipment is now used to demonstrate the brutality of abortions performed in all three trimesters. The tools of modern obstetrics have become the tools of Dr. Lile’s pro-life ministry! That’s because Dr. Lile believes that the life and personhood of the pre-born can only be understood through love and empowered education. This decision was the beginning of Dr. Lile’s venture into what has become a second career of providing education on abortion procedures for the pro-life and Christian communities through speaking appearances and articles and videos found at ProLifeDoc.org.
Being an obstetric nurse, I found Dr. Lile’s real life stories absolutely fascinating as he spoke of and showed pictures of various fetal surgeries and occurrences. Laser vascular surgery can be done to cure twin to twin transfusion syndrome (when one baby is getting all the nutrients and blood flow from the placenta while the other one is literally starving). Another miraculous procedure is fetal open heart surgery to remove a teratoma tumor developing on an unborn baby’s heart. Delayed interval delivery can occur when, during a twin pregnancy, a mother’s bag of amniotic fluid ruptures prematurely, causing premature delivery of one baby. If the bag of amniotic fluid remains intact for the second baby, that baby has a good chance of delivery closer to term gestation. In one particular instance, the second twin baby was born six weeks later.
I do not share these modern medical procedure stories to show the greatness of mankind, but rather to reflect on the greatness of the Creator God who gave man the ability, understanding, reasoning, and wisdom to apply these potentially healing procedures. These types of surgeries and medical procedures uphold the moral belief that the unborn baby is a patient—and if it is a patient, it has rights protected under the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) defines informed consent in committee opinion number 439 as, “the principle of respect for patients as persons.” Per ACOG, “Seeking informed consent expresses respect for the patient as a person; it particularly respects a patient’s moral right to bodily integrity.” The intentional taking of the life of the pre-born thus violates “the patient’s moral right to bodily integrity” (ProLifeDoc.org).
According to Dr. Lile, “Pre-born babies are patients who deserve the rights and protections applicable to children and adults.” His mantra is “A Patient Is a Person No Matter How Small” (ProLifeDoc.org).
This belief flies directly into the face of those who would legislate and legalize infanticide.
In April, “ … despite overwhelming public opposition, California’s Assembly Judiciary Committee voted 7-2 along party lines to pass AB 2223 … This deadly bill doesn’t merely codify the right to kill unborn children throughout all nine months of pregnancy. It would even decriminalize ‘perinatal death,’ opening the door to killing newborn children days or even weeks after birth. Inside the hearing room on April 5, pro-life citizens outnumbered abortion supporters by over 20-to-1. On the phones, the ratio of call-in comments was even more lopsided. But despite dozens of opponents still waiting on hold and hundreds more unable to call in due to overloaded lines, committee chairman Mark Stone cut off debate after 30 minutes of opposition testimony” (www.californiafamily.org/2022/04/assembly-judiciary-committee-approves-infanticide-bill-but-the-fight-is-just-beginning).
Despite the evil of this legislation, I am encouraged by how the pro-life community came together by over 20-1 in opposition to this deadly legislation. God’s family pulls together and is strengthened in times of persecution, and we are reminded of Christ’s promise in John 16:33: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
I recall Dr. Jean Garton, first president of Lutherans For Life, stating that once one has seen the atrocity of abortion, one cannot unsee it, and God holds us accountable to “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute” (Proverbs 31:8).
That is why Lutherans For Life presses onward, equipping Lutherans and their neighbors to be Gospel-motivated voices For Life.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for opening our eyes to see the atrocities. Use us as Your instruments to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves and to remind others that Christ has overcome the world. Amen.