HIS HANDS ARE DIRTY

     She sat arranging the work on her desk.  One could detect anxiety in her voice as she said, "Oh Lord, I hope he's not on that list".  Someone asked, "What list?"  "The list of Ob/Gyn doctors who signed a statement saying they are for abortion", she replied.

     She proceeded to say that she had found an Ob/Gyn doctor with whom she and her husband were very pleased.  "My husband and I have decided that we are not going to let anyone else, except this doctor, work on me", she said.      

She was pregnant.  She was pleased with her doctor.  I hoped her doctor's name was not on the list.

     A few minutes later, she cried, (almost as if in disgust,) "He's on here."  I looked up from my desk.  She was sitting at her desk, both hands clutching an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper.  It was the list.  I had been unaware of its arrival; However, she had it.  Again she said, "He's on here, my doctor, his name is on the list."

     I, being the only ordained minister in the office, tried to console her.  I said, in effect, 'Well, maybe he just doesn't understand'.  I began to list various reasons as to why some people follow certain courses of action.  She listened, but one could easily sense that she was not satisfied with my explanations.  I suggested that she and I talk to the doctor.  Maybe we could change his mind.  That idea seemed to enjoy a somewhat better reception.

     She rose from her desk and (apparently) went outside.  When she returned to the office, she said, (as if to everyone), "If he does abortions, I can't let him work on me, his hands are dirty".

     Her words reached to the essence of my being.  How right, how true, how profound they were.  It was as if God had momentarily pulled back the dim mirror and allowed us to see, for an instant, the true horror of abortion.

     I felt a little guilty.  After all, I was the minister.  I should have realized the truth of her words.  But I hadn't.  It had taken a mother, in whose womb a second trimester baby was pulsating, to understand the true horror of performing an abortion.  She was right.  HIS HANDS ARE DIRTY.