I watched in disbelief as I heard the jury’s verdict read today declaring that Casey Anthony was not guilty of the death of her 2-year old daughter, Caylee, who was dumped by the side of the road like garbage only to be found months later.  I was stunned but no more stunned than when I heard the jury’s verdict in the O.J. Simpson trial in 1995.  No one will convince me that Caylee was killed by anyone other than her mother.

That being said, I have to acknowledge that our Constitution is the foundation of our society, and, like it or not, once you put a life into the hands of a jury, we have to accept its decision.  The jury in Casey’s trial today would not speak to the press and I’m guessing they’ll wait until they’ve retained some sort of representation before they provide their “valuable” insight into their verdict.  I’m a cynic by nature so I don’t expect to hear much from the jury until the book deals are signed.  (I could be wrong.)

When I listened to Casey’s attorney, Jose Baez, speak after the verdict, he was, thankfully and surprisingly, not inappropriately exuberant like the rest of his team– after all a 2-year old child is still dead — but was reflective about the decision and the death penalty and said the following:

“I think that this case is a perfect example of why the death penalty does not work and why we all need to stop and look and think twice about a country that decides to kill its own citizens. … It’s disgusting and I think, if this case gets any attention, it should focus on that issue, that we need to stop trying to kill our own people.”

His words rang true with me, not in relation to the death penalty, but in relation to the killing of the unborn in this country.  I see no practical difference between the killing of 2-year old Caylee and the 53 million+ other children that have been killed and discarded like garbage since 1973.

A lot has been written lately about when unborn babies experience pain.  Legislatures are using the “pain factor” to ban abortions based on the pain an unborn baby will likely feel during the procedure.

While any effort to stop abortion is a good thing, pain should not even be a consideration.  If abortion is wrong, it’s wrong under any circumstances.  Period.

Fellow blogger, Bob Edwards, wrote an article entitled “As Long as It Doesn’t Hurt” on his blog, The Layoff Letters, brilliantly showing how ridiculous the notion that “pain” should be a factor in deciding whether or not to abort a baby.  Unintentionally, Bob eerily foreshadowed a not guilty verdict by suggesting that because, by using chloroform, Casey painlessly killed Caylee, the fact that Caylee didn’t suffer should somehow mitigate the actions of her mother.

Bob summed up the absurdity of it all by writing, “killing the baby in the womb is alright … as long as it doesn’t feel any pain” and asked the ultimate question, “what of the pain in the Creator’s heart as we slaughter ‘his’ children?”

Often we hear people opposed to abortion except in the case of rape, incest or when the mother’s health is in danger.  I find these arbitrary exceptions as nebulous as the “pain factor.”

In the case of rape or incest, how does killing an innocent right the wrong?  The life affirming stories of children conceived in rape show that no one should have the choice or opportunity to kill an innocent victim of a crime.

What loving mother would not give her own life to save her child’s?

In a lawsuit in Indiana, Planned Parenthood tried to block a law which required women be told before an abortion that “human physical life begins when a human ovum is fertilized by a human sperm.”  I applaud U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt who rejected PP’s request and stated in legalese that “the language crafted by the legislature in this provision supports a finding that the mandated statement refers exclusively to a growing organism that is a member of the Homo sapiens species.”  In plain English: life begins at fertilization.

I’ve never met a pregnant woman who’s had an ultrasound and hasn’t proudly showed everyone the picture of her squiggly little baby.  I’ve always said, “If someone wants a baby, it’s a baby; if they don’t want a baby, it’s not a baby.”

And anyone who thinks it’s her body and she should be able to do what she likes with it, I say, “It’s not your body.  It may be your uterus, but there’s a separate little baby inside it” and he or she should have a say in whether to live or die.

With millions of people wanting to adopt, every child should be given the opportunity to be wanted and to become a part of a loving family.  Sadly, the 53 million+ innocents who’ve been murdered by abortion were not given that opportunity.

I can accept today’s jury’s verdict, but the outrage from the public right now is deafening.  I just wish we could hear the same amount of anger when it comes to the slaughter of all the innocents that have been killed since 1973.  To paraphrase Mr. Baez, “we all need to stop and look and think twice about a country that [allows the killing] of its own citizens.”

I don’t get it, but if you do, God bless you.