There has been much talk of conspiracy theories over the past several weeks. Some people are proposing them, prestigious publications like The Atlantic are issuing dire warnings (the conspiracy theorists are winning!), Christian thinkers are attempting to lay out why the ground is so fertile for such theories, and I attempted to explain why so many of these theories are swirling around Bill Gates. In a hyper-politicized age where everybody’s motives are suspect, it is difficult to know who to trust—especially when government bodies and public health agencies are often the very institutions promoting hormone blockers, birth control, and abortion.
I’d like to reiterate a point I’ve made about this before: Much of the erosion of public trust and growing polarization is a direct result of the abortion wars. Government bodies expect people to believe that they have the public interest in view, but they cancelled chemotherapy treatments and delayed other essential medical needs while awaiting the COVID-19 surge—while keeping every abortion clinic open for business. They stated that feticide was healthcare while delaying life-saving treatments for cancer patients. They claimed that everything they were doing was to protect the vulnerable, while also telling us that the destruction of the vulnerable was so important that it was one of the only services permitted to remain open during a global pandemic.
Consider, for example, a story from Alexandra DeSanctis in National Review. J.B. Pritzker, the Democratic governor of Illinois, has insisted that he will not yet lift the state-wide lockdown he has imposed despite the mayors and sheriffs in some areas suggesting that it was time to ease some restrictions. In response, Pritzker “warned that he will crack down on any business or local area that attempts to stray from his order before he allows it. ‘Businesses and individual professionals that are licensed by state agencies can be held accountable for defying public health orders…Counties that try to reopen in defiance will not be reimbursed by FEMA for damage they cause themselves. Local law enforcement and the Illinois State Police can and will take action.’”
Pritzker’s justification for this heavy-handedness, of course, is that to disobey him would be to risk lives. The economic damage sustained by small business owners and large corporations alike is worth it to protect the vulnerable. Even if one disagrees with the lockdowns as a strategy to combat the spread of COVID-19, it is easy to understand the underlying logic behind the restrictions.
Except, of course for this. From DeSanctis: “Meanwhile, in Waukegan, Ill., less than an hour north of the heart of Chicago, Planned Parenthood has just opened a brand-new abortion clinic, one of about 20 in the state. According to Illinois Right to Life, Planned Parenthood used shell-company names on its license applications so no one would be aware that an abortion clinic was opening in the area until it had been approved. Despite the strict shutdown in Illinois, Pritzker’s stay-at-home order stipulated that ‘reproductive health care providers’ were essential and should remain open.”
As executive director of Illinois Right to Life Mary Kate Knorr said in a statement: “Governor Pritzker reminds us every day in his press conferences that we are being confined to our homes so as to protect human life, yet a brand-new abortion clinic has been allowed to open. Churches, schools, and businesses are closed but the nation’s largest killer of the unborn is expanding.”
How do men like Pritzker expect people to trust him, let alone believe him, when he is shutting down businesses while ensuring that Planned Parenthood can open a new clinic during a pandemic lockdown?
The lies of the abortion industry, abortion activists, and the Democratic Party have poisoned the debate on public health and hugely eroded the public trust. Because if they will lie about something as fundamental as whether or not the child in the womb is a child, what won’t they lie about?
