My first editorial ever published was this one. Violence against our unborn teaches our children to use violence to resolve conflict. Violence begets violence.
The loudest voice I have ever heard in the debate came from the testimony of a Holocaust survivor. In a documentary used to teach the Holocaust in our schools, a female survivor from Budapest spoke to an interviewer. She said that the people in Hungary did not initially believe the reports that were coming out of other countries. They did not believe the reports stating “they were ripping babies apart.” Her testimony touched my heart and as a result I wrote my first editorial against abortion that was published in The Press in February 1998:
Letter to the Editor:
“I hope this letter is redundant because we remember and learn through repetition. I recently attended a workshop on the mandated teaching of the Holocaust/Genocide curriculum in the public schools of New Jersey. As a result of this presentation and ensuing discussion, I am writing this editorial. I hope, after reading this, that at least on other person learns the same powerful lesson that I did.
I heard once again that prejudice and murder are wrong and that they are crimes against humanity. I knew that. But, what I also heard pulled hard at another piece of my heart.. the part that knows that abortion is wrong.
I heard that we can make no comparison between the crimes of the Holocaust and abortion. Holocausts target specific groups of people for annihilation. And, yet coming out of the workshop, I learned that we should make comparisons. I learned that I have to do more than just have a personal view that abortion is wrong. I learned that I have to become vocal against abortion and not just in my small circle of friends or at church. And if I don’t speak up, more innocent victims will be killed. And then, I have learned nothing from the teaching of the Holocaust.
Some of the same reasons for abortion are based on the same reasoning of the Nazis. It was specifically pointed out that the handicapped were the first to be murdered. It was the educated among them, doctors and nurses, who made those decisions. I heard once again that the victims were killed against their free will. I heard once again that the Nazi’s were not crazy, they had a plan. I heard once again that millions of innocents died.
So, I will repeat: ABORTION KILLS THE TRULY INNOCENT among us and it is with a plan. I can no longer be silent. My silence makes me no better than anyone else who sends innocent people to their deaths. Who among us can afford to be silent?
Marian R. Carlino September 13, 2012
Editorial Published in the AC Press February 1998
