Last week, everyone except the alphabet networks was talking about a couple of videos released by prolife group Live Action. They show Planned Parenthood advising a woman on how to get an abortion after determining the sex of her unborn child. The staffer stated that it was not the place of Planned Parenthood to question the reasons why the abortion was wanted. (I’m paraphrasing.) The resultant outcry got the attention of Congress, where a bill banning the practice of sex selective abortion was introduced and defeated.

When I first saw the headlines coming across my Twitter feed, I had two thoughts. Is this a problem in the U.S.? By standing on this issue, are we diminishing any other equally invalid reason to murder an unborn child? Then another troubling question occurred to me. By attempting to know the motivation of an act, are we not as conservatives acting hypocritically? When hate crime legislation is introduced, we say that a crime is a crime and it is not the government’s business to read the mind of the perpetrator. Is this any different? Thus I am not as incensed as some that a few Republicans, including Ron Paul, did not vote to pass this law.

I don’t know how much of a problem it is here. Certainly the motivation that makes it so common in China and other eastern nations to prefer boys to girls is not as strong here. But whether the mother prefers a boy or a girl, why is this motivation better or worse than any argument of convenience that is used to justify the murder of the innocent?

I think I understand the motivation behind tackling this issue in this way. We want to stop as many deaths as we can. It may be hoped that the horror of gendercide would unite liberal and conservative alike in the effort to stop it. Maybe we might save a few. I understand taking “baby steps” to limit the tragedy of abortion in any way that we can. Maybe that is the only right thing to do under the circumstances.

Having said that, I think we need to ask ourselves whether the actions we take will in fact lead us to the ultimate goal. Abortion should be outlawed, with the possible exception of immediate danger to the life of the mother. We have murdered over 53 million children since Roe v. Wade. That’s almost five times the number of people killed by Hitler. How it is that God has delayed so long in judging us for this I do not know. While we argue over motivation, more children die. I realize we can only do so much within the confines of law, but let us not lose our focus. The slaughter of innocents must stop whatever the intent of the killer.