by John Holbrook Jr.
A Biblical View, Blog #022 posted December 12, 2016, edited March 9, 2021.
In late August, my wife and I were eating lunch at an outdoor café on 91st Street, just west of Madison Avenue in NYC. A car pulled up to the curb in front of us, and two children clambered out of it: a young girl and a slightly younger boy. They started horsing around and laughing as brother and sister do. The girl was missing her left arm, and I immediately thought of Ana Rosa Rodriguez. I pray for her occasionally and wonder what happened to her.
JOHN HOLBROOK JR. [Address & Telephone]
November 27, 1991
The New York Times
229 West 43rd Street
New York, NY
Dear Sir:
Few recent events have illuminated the corruption of our moral sense more clearly than the attempted murder of Ana Rosa Rodriguez.
The facts: Ana’s mother, Rosa Rodriguez, went to Dr. Abu Hayat for an abortion. Dr. Hayat proved to be incompetent. He amputated Ana’s arm, not her head, and thus Ana was born the next day – maimed, but otherwise healthy.
The response: The State Office of Professional Medical Conduct (New York Times) suspended Dr. Hayat’s license, saying: “[His practice] constitutes an imminent danger to the health of the people of this state” (New York Post). Ms. Rodriguez commented: “I’m happy they removed his license and he’ll no longer be able to practice and won’t be able to do damage to any more women” (New York Post); “If it was left in my hands, I’d rather he go to jail for the rest of his life” (New York Newsday).
The above responses focus on Dr. Hayat’s incompetence. If he had been competent and killed Ana properly, this matter would never have arisen. Both to the state and to Ms. Rodriguez (Dr. Hayat’s accomplice), Dr. Hayat’s sin was incompetence, not attempted murder. They are upset that he failed to maintain the standards of the abortion industry, which successfully dispatches over 4,000 babies each day in the United States – scalding them with saline solution, ripping them apart with suction tubes, crushing them with forceps, and slicing them up with scalpels. Dr. Hayat has become a pariah because he failed to kill, not because he is a killer.
We have slid so far down the slippery slope that now we license and reward the successful killers and penalize the unsuccessful ones.
Since Roe vs. Wade, approximately 30 million children have been put to death in the United States. For how long do we think God will allow this carnage to continue? Do we think that this slaughter of the innocents will not be paid for? Do we really?
Sincerely yours,
/s/ John Holbrook Jr.
The New York Times did not publish my letter.
© 2016 John Holbrook Jr.