Having read Bob Muth’s letters to the editor over the years, I was surprised to see gush forth, a previously undisclosed portion of the inner Bob, in his letter printed on Thanksgiving.  I’m referring to his letter about Obama’s tapping into our “deeper river of human potential.”  The first half of the letter describes Bob’s jaunt through the “mist-filled forest of cedar and hemlock” on Broken Leg Mountain, weaving this into a grand description of the tender emotional response many had to Barack Obama’s victory November 4^th.  Classic Bob Muth.

      The second half was the sad surprise, Bob’s lashing out at Prolifers for their opposition to Obama. With great self-certainty he pontificated about Obama’s “authentic commitment to the fullness of life,” “holistic and consistent ethic of life that is pro-everyone’s life,” and “inclusive and expanded approach of affirming the love and support for all life.” With a difficult to achieve height of self-righteousness, Bob writes Obama’s approach is superior to the “binary thinking” of those who place their emphasis on fighting for the legal right to life of the unborn without including in their platform equal emphasis to fighting global warming, war, poverty and lack of universal health care. Truth is, Prolifers range from people capable of only the simplest of thinking to some having the most expansive of minds. What they have in common is belief that revering the sacredness of human life starts at its most basic, with legal protection of that life at its most helpless, most vulnerable form. It doesn’t even make sense to passionately oppose foreign wars or global poverty when you don’t care enough to oppose slaughter of innocent brothers and sisters in your own back yard.

      I urge Bob and his ilk to learn about the developing unborn child through Parents.com, Pregnancy.org, and Paternityangel.com, and then if you’re feeling really brave peruse an abortion website. As the mist clears, I suggest Bob use his gifted imagination to visualize leaping mountains formed of 50 million of these tiny unborn humans (the number killed by abortion in the US since 1973 and the number killed per year worldwide), traversing babbling brooks of their blood, bush-whacking through their mangled, tangled body parts and crushed skulls, and peering through the lush thick brush into the secret torment of parents who mourn the choice they made to destroy their child. What’s that distant, muffled, haunting sound, the call of the Northwoods loon? No, it’s the silent scream of the child being shredded in the womb…

      As you tip-toe through the tulips, in reverie of Obama’s greatness, understand he DOES NOT value all life if he does not value that of unborn children. In his rare appearances in senate floor debates, he fought for the right to destroy them. As pro-abortion group’s favorite politician, he is not naïve to what abortion is. It is unlikely Obama will be able to deliver universal health care (not without completely trashing our economy), his Global Poverty Act would make barely a dent in poverty (and is estimated to cost US taxpayers $845 billion), and it is certain he will not deliver peace. If you just want to feel good, there are a variety of mind-altering substances available. If you want to positively impact the world in a meaningful way, remain grounded in reality. That’s what passionate Prolifers do year after year, the same volunteers, tirelessly doing what they do because it’s the right thing to do, without expectation of legal gains or accolades. Many of them have done this faithfully for 36 years, myself being a relative newcomer to their ranks. They are some of the most selflessly devoted individuals I have ever known and deserve our utmost praise.

Annie Bukacek MD