One issue reveals Clinton's character

Life has taught me that people are often not the monsters we make them out to be. Yes, THOSE people -- that cousin with whom you argue at every family reunion, that co-worker who gets under your skin in the staff break room, that pundit who supports positions you despise. Most of those who disagree usually disagree on principle: they believe what they believe just as passionately as you believe what you believe. Because someone views life differently than I do doesn't mean he has bad character. Sometimes we just don't see eye-to-eye. But there is one area that does, in fact, speak to a person's character: the sanctity of life.

In the final presidential debate, the nation saw two candidates weigh in on issues posed by Fox News' Chris Wallace. As usual, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton argued, insulted and insinuated their way through the process. Many of the issues had been touched upon throughout the election season, but abortion -- partial-birth abortion, to be specific -- came up for the first time.

Clinton explained why as a senator she voted against banning partial-birth abortion. She didn't come across as remotely torn, even slightly sympathetic to the plight of the innocent victims of this procedure, not a modicum of concern that an infant can be snuffed out in the ninth month, moments before delivery, in the most violent manner. Even Democrats commented on her coldness.

Trump, on the other hand, spoke of the evil of late-term abortion, which earned him an accusation of employing "scare rhetoric."

I'm not fond of graphic language, but it's unavoidable, and if this doesn't "scare" you, nothing will. Partial-birth abortion entails pulling a baby out of the womb, except for the head; stabbing her in the base of the skull with a sharp instrument; sucking her brains out with a suction machine, causing her skull to collapse; and then pulling the baby, now dead, out of the womb.

If you find this gut-wrenching, you're not alone. Most Americans do, and, I dare say, if they do not, their character is depraved. This isn't about disagreement. This is about humanity. The only thing worse than not voting to ban such a procedure is not voting to provide medical care to a baby born alive after a botched abortion, which would describe Barack Obama as a senator, who did not support the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act, which means he did not support providing medical care to an infant who survived an abortion. These babies, it was discovered, were disposed of in closets without food or care, until they died.

At the debate, Clinton cited the "life and health of the mother" as justification for the procedure. Experts debunk this, however. In fact, former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop said:

"In my 36 years in pediatric surgery, I have never known of one instance where the child had to be aborted to save the mother's life.

"If, toward the end of the pregnancy, complications arise that threaten the mother's health, he will take the child by inducing labor or performing a Caesarean section. His intention is still to save the life of both the mother and the baby. The baby will be premature and perhaps immature, depending on the length of gestation.

"Because it has suddenly been taken out of the protective womb, it may encounter threats to its survival. The baby is never willfully destroyed because the mother's life is in danger."

Furthermore, Ron Fitzsimmons, former executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers, reported that the "vast majority" of partial-birth abortions are conducted in the fifth and sixth months -- on healthy babies of healthy mothers.

Nonetheless, Clinton said, "I do not think the United States government should be stepping in and making those most personal of decisions." She called them "decisions for families to make" and vowed to "stand up for that right," to which Trump replied, "No one has that right." Clinton not only believes this is a right, but wants to eradicate the Hyde Amendment, which means taxpayers would be made to pay for this atrocity.

We often make character judgments on people based on differences in philosophies. This ought not be. But nothing reveals character more clearly than the issue of life, especially the life of an innocent, helpless infant, who needs his government to stand up for him. Hillary Clinton says she does not believe the government has the right to stop such a heinous procedure, yet she does believe the government has the right to remove people's choice of whether to purchase health care, and she also believes the government has the right to control parents' choice of where to send their children to school. It seems the only area where she is adamantly pro-choice is the choice to suck out a baby's brains. I can cut her some slack on the issue of health care and school choice, though I disagree deeply, but on the issue of abortion, I cannot help but attribute her stance to depravity of character. It is what it is, and I call it for what it is. As I say, "If I cannot trust you with a baby, I cannot trust you with a country"; you just don't have the character for it. The good news is we can repent, and our character can be transformed. I pray for her and our nation -- that we do just that.

Adrienne Ross is an author, speaker, columnist, editor, educator and Southeast Missourian editorial board member. Reach her at aross@semissourian.com.