Last week, the Associated Press reported the shocking story of a New York City woman throwing her six-month-old daughter to her death from the sixth floor of her apartment building. Other reports included the fact that the mother’s three other children watched in horror as it all unfolded.
As shocking as this story is, one might be able to read it, grieve for that precious baby girl, and quickly move on to the next shocking headline. That’s, however, a little difficult to do when one considers, as the AP pointed out, that this is the third time in as many months that a baby in NYC has been murdered in the exact same way — thrown from an apartment building.
Just last month, a woman was arrested on murder and manslaughter charges when, after hiding her pregnancy, she gave birth and then threw her newborn from a seventh-story window, according to authorities. The baby girl, whose umbilical cord was still attached, was found dead outside the apartment building.
In August, another woman confessed to throwing her one-month-old son from a fourth-floor window, saying an evil spirit had possessed him.
When reading these stories, one can’t help but grieve and ask the overarching question: Why?
New York pregnancy outcome statistics, though shocking, may provide some insight. In 2013 in New York City, more black babies were aborted than were born. To be clear, 24,108 black babies were given the right to live, and 29,007 were denied that right in 2013 alone. When you compare rates of birth to rates of abortion by borough in New York, the numbers are still disheartening.
The woman who murdered her one-month old son lived in the borough of Queens, New York, where 26,536 babies were born and more than half that number was aborted in 2013. In 2013, babies in Queens had a 50/50 chance of being aborted.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, based on current rates of abortion, one in three American women will have had an abortion by the time she reaches 45. And 61 percent of women having abortions have one or more children. What could this mean?
Consider this: One woman, if not all of the women, noted above could be suffering from the trauma of being post-abortive. I’m in no way excusing them of the heinous act of murder, but I am suggesting that we can’t keep killing children as a form of birth control and expect no adverse effects. Additionally, at least two of these women exhibited some sort of mental or emotional breakdown, which lead to throwing their defenseless infants to their deaths. Could this be attributed to the unseen scars of abortion?
For the Christian, the answer to the “why” question calls for a more spiritual exploration. The Apostle Paul tells believers in Ephesians 6:10-12 (NKJV):
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
If that doesn’t mean there are spiritual forces in specific areas whose ultimate mission is destruction, then what else could it mean? Murder in all its forms is demonic. Whether that’s sucking a child from her mother’s womb or tossing her to her death from the sixth floor, we’re talking about murder. More specifically, we’re talking about the murder of babies.
Among its many nicknames, perhaps the most inglorious title New York City holds is “the abortion capital of America.” The death and murder of babies is so commonplace in NYC that even with the decline of abortion rates in the last few years, The Big Apple still outpaces every other city in America when it comes to slaughtering babies. It’s safe to say that killing babies is part of the fabric of the city.
We know it’s nearly impossible for believers to resist the temptations of the evil one without prayer and the Word. How much more difficult must it be for those who don’t have Jesus. Certainly, we can all shake our heads at what happens both legally and illegally in New York City, but we as the Body of Christ must commit to pray that the wickedness present in that city is abated so that babies and their parents may be saved.
