From our seats at the very front of the hall, but far to one side, Edna Mae craned her neck to stare up at the stage. Her thin white hands she clasped before her at the level of her chest in a prayerful way that would seem show-offy to one who did not know my dear unhappy wife.
It is a new thing for some of us, to be at ease in the presence of Roman Catholics. It has long been known that the Roman Catholic Church considers itself the only true Christian church, which is unacceptable and historically inaccurate, but the Coalition (which was formed in the late 1970s) is based upon opposition to our common enemy and takes precedence over the divisions between us. Protestants and Catholics alike are drawn together in the service of the unborn who are threatened by the abortion providers, for nothing is more important than defending the unborn who cannot defend themselves.
There is a disapproval of birth control as well—the ugly word is contraceptives—to support and encourage a promiscuous lifestyle to which teenagers are particularly susceptible, influenced by TV, crude popular music, movies and “sex education” classes in the public schools.
Edna Mae and I had never talked of such things before our loss of Daphne. For the babies born to us had seemed to come from the Lord God with ease, with only His blessing. (At least, Edna Mae did not ever complain of physical discomfort in pregnancy or childbirth or child rearing or being “flooded” in her mind as she did now.) But lately it seemed Edna Mae wished to speak of certain things that were embarrassing to me, having to do not only with Daphne but also with the other children, and with “female troubles,” as she would speak of them within the hearing of the children as well, as if she did not quite comprehend what she was saying; and this was deeply embarrassing to our eleven-year-old Dawn especially, who was becoming disrespectful to her mother. There were some other issues, not known to me, between Edna Mae and her family—her mother, her sisters. And it was becoming obvious, Edna Mae would neglect her housekeeping to watch Christian TV during the day, that left her excited and restless and quick to weep, by the time I returned home.
I would prepare the meal, if needed. The older daughters and me.
Operation Rescue had been much publicized on Christian TV and radio, and in churches and community centers through Ohio. At our church our minister had been speaking of it for months. It was thrilling to see so many people entering the hall and to know that these strangers were our allies. By my estimate—(my mind will add numbers and multiply of its own volition, as in this case twenty-two seats in a row, and thirty rows of seats)—there were 660 persons in the hall by ten minutes after seven o’clock when the program began.
The pastor of St. Joseph’s Church greeted us. Then, the head of the Coalition, who is a minister in the Gallipolis Baptist Church (Ohio), came out onto the platform to introduce Professor Willard Wohlman.
By this time there was much excitement in the hall. There was no mistaking—The spirit of the Lord is with us.
Professor Willard Wohlman was not an imposing man. Very like a professor—or a teacher—he looked, in his fifties, or slightly older, of only medium height, with a slight stoop, thinning gray hair brushed back from his high forehead and a narrow waxy-seeming nose. He wore a dark brown suit that looked to be of good quality, and a white dress shirt and tie. But his eyes!—these were alight with feeling behind rimless glasses that seemed to catch fire as he spoke. And a voice of velvety softness like a radio voice that could turn sharp suddenly.
In this voice that was fascinating to hear, for you had to listen to each word, Professor Wohlman would speak for sixty-five minutes. He did not speak like the preachers to whom we were accustomed but in a quieter voice like one who is addressing you. He spoke of the “moral rot” of the “secular state”—the “barbaric brutality” of Roe v. Wade which he made us smile sadly to hear as “Woe v. Wade.”—“That has sanctioned the State to murder the innocents.”
Then, the Professor began to speak more forcefully of the “need for a Christian army” to counter the “abortion forces.” From his lips I heard a word I had never heard before—“feticide”—that was terrible to comprehend for it meant, as Professor Wohlman explained, the murder of a fetus.