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Faith & Culture(The following was originally a Facebook comment.)
by Rod D. Martin
September 26, 2012
Please don’t be too hard on these mothers. You’re certainly correct in what you’re saying, but the sad reality is that far too many of these women are really just scarred little girls, frequently forced and all of them lied too.
No one thinks of this side of it: folks on our side rightly feel as you do, and folks on the other side want to keep things sunny and talk about “wanted children” and “choice” rather than the actual ugly facts.
But when pro-lifers in South Dakota attempted (and succeeded, briefly) to get their state legislature to ban abortion outright — hoping the Supreme Court would take the case and overturn Roe — they took this un-taken approach and put before the legislative committees over 200 women who’d actually had an abortion. Most of them — even 30 years later — suffer from some form of PTSD. They wake up in the middle of the night screaming. Some have been unable to work for most of their lives, consumed with grief. Large percentages testified through tears that they had been taken to the abortionist by someone they trusted who lied to them about what was going to happen: a boyfriend, a father, in many cases an incestuous father or a many-years-older boyfriend of an underage girl. A significant number had been raped repeatedly, impregnated repeatedly, and aborted repeatedly, more or less at gunpoint by these older abusive men. Not one of the women who testified, whether coerced or not, said she would do it again.
An almost unanimous state legislature — both parties, both houses — voted to ban abortion. Only by skulduggery was this overturned. But we are working hard to get this testimony before the Supreme Court, and we believe we may have just won the key Appeals Court ruling necessary to clear the way for exactly that.
Abortion is evil. It is murder for profit and for selfishness. But the “self” is frequently not the woman herself, and even when it is, she frequently survives in a world where she’s no longer able to have children, or at the very least saddled with the immensity of the realization of her guilt. Frequently this makes these women militants, desperate to cover for and justify what they’ve done: I don’t think it’s an accident that the number of women who’ve had an abortion in this country is pretty similar to the number of women who self-identify Democrat. But just as often, these women are tragic afterthoughts of someone else’s agenda: a husband, a boyfriend, a father, Planned Parenthood, anyone but their child. They are perhaps more than any among us to be pitied, and if Saul of Tarsus could be redeemed after his complicity in Stephen’s murder, we must do our best here to show these women Christ’s love, and help them use their unique testimonies to bring light to the world and an end to this holocaust.
Rod D. Martin is a leading futurist, technology entrepreneur, author and activist from Destin, Florida. He was part of PayPal’s pre-IPO startup team, serving as special counsel to founder and CEO Peter Thiel, and also served as policy director to former Governor Mike Huckabee. He is Founder and CEO of The Martin Organization, whose portfolio of companies includes Galectin Therapeutics (NASDAQ: GALT), Advanced Search Laboratories, Proxomo Software, Agincourt Ventures and the 10 X Fund. His charitable and church work is central to all he does, and he further engages our culture as President of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies (NFRA), as founder of The Vanguard Project, as a widely sought-after speaker and as author of such books as his forthcoming The Imperative of Excellence.
Rod is one of our nation’s leading minds. He’s smart, original, and very committed—a combination that one rarely finds.
Rod Martin and [former Howard Dean campaign manager] Joe Trippi are America’s two foremost experts on online politics.
Rod Martin is a Reaganite-Thatcherite conservative…[and] a man who has spent much of his life ministering to and working for the benefit of others. I know Rod as an advocate for freedom, a leader who understands the real changes we need in Washington, and who has the drive and ability to make those changes happen.
Rod Martin is the kind of dynamic leader who has the knowledge, ability and experience to lead us successfully into the 21st Century. His vision for America is compelling.
Rod Martin literally wrote the book on excellence. Humble yet brilliant, a man of love and compassion, with penetrating clarity he illuminates the world around us, and we are both stirred and enlightened.
Rod Martin is a born leader and an outstanding political mind. Anyone who takes him on is going to have a serious fight on their hands.
Rod Martin is a man of uncommon vision and character. Ever since I first worked alongside Rod in the early days of PayPal, I’ve been struck by his powerful vision for the future. Rod understands the intersection of technology, politics and culture in a way that few others do.
Rod Martin wears with uncommon grace an uncanny ability to link his vigorous faith to the practical challenges of both the business world and the political arena. Yet the respect he shows for others carries a warmth and modesty that are both too rare among those who are strong advocates of feisty positions.
America badly needs more leaders who really get the future. We need more Rod Martins.
Rod Martin is a modern day philosopher-statesman. He is a capitalist intellectual, a conservative iconoclast, a gentle adversary and a kind prophet. He inspires us towards a fresh national vision built upon the original founding principles.
Rod Martin is not only effective and efficient, but he is also perceptive, wise and gracious. He gets things done. He is a great friend and a great ally.
Rod is one of the sharpest, most gracious men I know, and one of the most gifted political thinkers today. His ability to analyze issues and communicate thoughtful insights on them have earned him the respect of people across the political spectrum.
I am proud to have been Rod Martin’s friend for a quarter century, and I can tell you that he is one of the finest men and most outstanding leaders in our church and in our country today. He has a knack for turning everything he touches to success.
Rod Martin is a cornucopian entrepreneur and eutropic thinker whose influence radiates through an array of companies, institutions, movements and churches. A renaissance American, he is also a prolific friend of freedom and faith around the globe.
If Rod Martin represents the next generation of leaders, America has nothing to worry about.
A leader and a servant, in public life and in private, Rod Martin strides at the top of his profession, and has nowhere to go but up. He is in the truest sense of the word ‘outstanding’.
Rod Martin is undoubtedly one of the most accomplished thought leaders today. He is a wonderful mentor, a humble role model, and a deep inspiration for the next generation of scientific innovators and entrepreneurs.
Rod’s achievements pale beside his character and his brilliance. He sees what others can’t. He leads when others won’t.
Rod Martin is one of America’s finest young minds.