World renowned neurosurgeon, former presidential candidate and U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Dr. Ben Carson underscored the importance of human rights for the unborn and called for defending those rights without fear at the Students for Life of America National Pro-life Summit.
The summit takes place in Washington D.C. on the day following the national March for Life and gathers over 1,000 young people and other pro-life individuals to equip them for pro-life work.
With light-hearted self-deprecation, Carson began by sharing some of his background, shenanigans, and struggles in school, and how he came to specialize in neuroscience.
“But let's talk about rights and who has rights,” he said.
Carson discussed the founding of the U.S., and people coming to America from countries where they did not have rights. He called the Constitution a God-inspired document, establishing the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, noting how life comes first.
“Think about that,” Carson said. “And it says, our rights come from God.”
The doctor offered the reminder that there are those who would have thought people like him (an African American) did not have any rights in the U.S.
“Obviously things have changed since that time, but we have to think about who has rights,” Carson said.
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There are people who place value on people or take value away, he said, “And that's what we need to think about.”
Carson walked through the medical specifics of the beginning of human life, and how from the instant fertilization occurs a new and distinct human being with a complete genetic code is created.
“Not part of the mother, not part of the father, a completely different new individual who is rapidly developing,” he said, pointing out how by six or eight weeks there is already a heart that's beating.
“You can see little eye buds, little finger buds,” he said. “All these things are not random. They occur in an orderly fashion and that brain is developing incredibly fast.”
“Think about it,” Carson continued, “billions and billions of neurons every single day, hundreds of billions of interconnections, and by the time a baby is born, that brain is still rapidly developing. That's why newborn babies sleep 20 to 22 hours a day because that brain is developing so fast, it continues to develop until your mid-twenties.”
Carson then posed for the summit audience the question of what happens during an abortion.
“In the early stages, if you've ever seen one on the ultrasound, they always make sure that the woman is looking in a different direction or that she can't see the screen because you can see that baby,” Carson said.
“You can see the arms and the legs and the head, and all of a sudden you introduce this tube into this scene,” he said. “And a lot of times the baby moves away from it, but it can't escape.”
Carson then described dismemberment in the womb in detail.
“And this is at a stage when we have proven medically that the babies have sensation,” he said. “They can feel that.”
He asked the crowd to imagine being put through this because others think you are not important.
“You don't mean anything,” said Carson. “And think about all those people who go about trying to save snail darters and little creatures. And I don't have any issue with saving their little creatures, but those little creatures are less sophisticated than that baby.”
“So why not have the same concern about that baby?” he asked.
You see commercials on television about animals that are being abused, he said, and it touches him deeply.
Carson said he loves animals, “but why can't we have the same concern about human babies who are in the womb, who are unprotected? This is what we really need to be thinking about as a society right now.”
He recalled being at an overseas achievement summit with another speaker who was a leader with a liberal U.S. civil rights organization, and talked about how the organization speaks for those who cannot speak for themselves.
Cason told the man he’d had a patient who was 33 weeks pregnant and on her way to Kansas to get an abortion because that was the only place where they would do it that late, and he was able to convince her to not get the abortion.
“The baby had a neurological problem, we were able to fix it surgically, and she's so happy and she's thrilled with that baby,” Carson said.
Carson asked his fellow conference presenter if he would speak for that baby.
The man hemmed, and hawed, dodged and weaved, he said, but would never answer the question.
Later that evening at dinner, the man was seated next to Carson, who continued the discussion.
“And I said, “I operate sometimes on little premature babies, 26, 27, 28 weeks,” said Carson. “I said, “Would you speak for those babies?”
The man responded “absolutely,” after which Carson pressed about the baby who was several weeks further developed and in the mother’s womb - where he or she should be safe.
The man told Carson that he knew it doesn't make sense, but he believed one can kill that baby until the moment the baby is born, prompting Carson to asked whether he would say so in public? The man told him no.
“Now they will say it in public,” Carson said. “That's how far we have descended as a society.”
At the same people are willing to charge someone who murders a pregnant woman with two murders, he said, which does not make any sense.
“If you murder the woman who is pregnant, you get charged with two murders. But if you murder the baby alone, no problem,” said Carson. “These are the kinds of things that we need to be discussing with people.”
For a long time, the left and abortion advocates have had their voices heard without the opposing view, Carson told the pro-life crowd.
“We need to make sure that we get that opposing view out there and not be afraid,” he said. “Fear keeps people from doing things even though they may believe in something.”
He was encouraged while running for president, he said, by the fact that throughout the U.S. the American people have common sense.
But what is lacking is courage, he said. “And we have to be courageous.”
Carson shared an anecdote from when he was a resident and found himself with a patient facing imminent death without surgery, but no attending physician was available. He prayed, went ahead with the procedures, ultimately risking his career, and saved the patient.
“I bring that up to say that we do have a support system,” Carson said. “It's called faith in God. Amen. And we have a duty to do something with that faith.”
Tweet This: We have a support system-it's called faith in God, & we have a duty to do something with that faith-Ben Carson on defending life w/out fear.
For his call to action to the pro-life summit assembly, he walked those in attendance back to some scenarios from World War II.
“Think about all those young women who went into the factories and were blown up in the munition factories,” Carson said. “Did that stop them? No, they kept going. They built more airplanes, tanks, and mortars than anybody could have.”
“Imagine the young men, 16, 17, 18,” he then noted.
“Many of them lied about their age so they could fight for our country,” Carson said. “Think about D-Day as they approached the shores of Normandy, being mowed down by machine gun fire, hundreds of bodies dead in the sand, thousands of bodies dead in the sand.”
“Were the others afraid? Did they turn back?” Carson asked. “Yes, they were afraid. No, they didn't turn back. They stepped over the dead bodies. They overwhelmed their axis forces, knowing in many cases they would never see their loved ones or their home.”
“Then again, why did they do that?” he asked. “Obviously not for themselves.”
“They did it for you and me so that we could live in peace and freedom … The rights that we have,” Carson said. “And now ladies and gentlemen, is our turn to do it for those who are coming after us.”
