My local paper this morning carried the obituary of a physician who seems to have lived a long and happy life, who had a large and loving family, who was engaged in his community, and who had no regrets. He died peacefully in his sleep.
I noticed the name at the top of the obituary, and I was immediately carried back twenty-nine years, when the remains of aborted children were found in the Concord dump. It turned out that those remains had come from the medical practice of the physician whose death was reported today. The upshot of the appalling discovery was that the physician promised to arrange for disposal of future remains in a manner befitting medical waste.
Understandably, that incident went unmentioned in the formal obituary.
The obituary I read this morning mentioned the physician’s pleasure in caring for several generations within families. I am sure he took genuine pride in that.
I am not mentioning his name, which will get plenty of attention elsewhere. I mention his work, because it had so much in common with that of Granite State pro-life activists, just short of the point of respecting the humanity of the preborn child.
He considered abortion to be health care. He considered it part of his vocation. At the same time, he was by today’s account a loving family man and a pillar of his community.
He was the exemplar of the cognitive dissonance that must prevail if abortion is to be protected and if abortion providers are to continue enjoying public funding. It’s the dissonance that says nearly all human lives are worth defending and protecting and nurturing. Nearly.
Imagine the magnified impact of such a committed, dynamic man had he been able to reach past that nearly.
I am so reliant on the mercy of God that I dare not wish its denial to anyone. May the doctor rest in peace. May his family know consolation. May the next person in his shoes find a way to reach past the nearly.
As a postscript to the 1988 incident at the Concord dump, here is an excerpt from New Hampshire Right to Life’s Winter 1989 newsletter. The man who was governor at the time is the father of the current governor.
Gov. John Sununu has expressed shock and anger at the find. NH Right to Life has written to ask the Governor’s help in retrieving the most recently discovered bodies, and to seek his influence in passing legislation resubmitted to provide for the proper and dignified disposal of human remains, including fetal remains. This bill is similar to one passed by the [N.H.] Senate in 1986, and killed in the House. Testimony at that time suggested that there was no need for such legislation as no problems existed.
To my knowledge, such legislation never passed in New Hampshire.
Leaven for the Loaf 
Thanks.