"One of the quiet issues that will make a difference on November 7th is the abortion question. The Planned Parenthood people, the Clintons of the world, are slowly losing the battle. On the margins of the polling place those that believe in the sanctity of life, that partial birth abortion is the killing of a live human being, that if we are concern about not killing innocent lives in Iraq, then we should just as concerned here in the United States.

A reader of the California Political News and Views is the writer/director of "A Distant Thunder", Jonathan Flora. I urge everyone to see it, especially those that are supporters of Planned Parenthood. Flora wrote this article in hopes it would open eyes and minds. While we debate Iraq, taxes, education and the environment, many are still debating the basics, life itself. Since the Supreme Court will be holding a hearing on partial birth abortion the day after the election, I thought this would be an appropriate time to remind folks that this is an issue that won’t go away."

WINDOWS OF OPPORTUNITY by Jonathan Flora

“To every man, there comes in a lifetime those special moments when he is figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to him and fitted to his talent; What a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared or unqualified for the work which would be his finest hour!”

(Sir Winston Churchill)

On November 7th, the people of South Dakota will vote whether to adopt a sweeping state law that would make abortion illegal and therefore a crime. This is a

state vote with nationwide significance and impact. If the good citizens of South Dakota do vote in favor of outlawing abortion, there are as many as 30 other

states that could soon move to impose their own abortion bans.

One day later, The Supreme Court in Washington D.C. will hear arguments in Gonzalez v. Carhart and Gonzalez v. Planned Parenthood. These two cases will

determine whether the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act that President Bush signed into law in 2003 is constitutional.

So many people argue that the world is not black and white, that it’s really all shades of gray. That maybe true in some instances, but there are some things

that are undeniably wrong, with no middle ground, and partial-birth abortion is one of them. Even if we remove all religion, and forget whether we consider ourselves to be conservative or liberal, we must ask a very important question. How did we become a society that a procedure such as this is even a matter for debate? How is it that we as a civilized people have to argue about the legal right for a woman to desire and allow a doctor to plunge a pair of scissors into the back of the tiny head of her baby and suck out his or her brain? I am proud to be an American, but this

shames me. I was certainly encouraged after President Bush signed the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban, a legislation authored by Ohio Congressman Steve Chabot, into law three years ago. But the shame and disgust returned when pro-abortion organizations immediately challenged the Ban in three courts and prohibited its

enforcement.

We now live in an age where our state governments force us to pay for Embryonic Experimentation. America obviously maintains a very duplicitous attitude toward

life. How else is it that we can have abortion on demand and the Unborn Victims of Violence Act? How else is it that a man could be walking down the street with a pregnant woman. He suddenly pulls out a gun and shoots her, killing her and her unborn baby, then be charged with double-homicide? However, if the man is her boyfriend or husband or even the father of the boy who got the girl pregnant, he can walk her right across the street to have a late-term abortion.

That tap on my shoulder that Churchill mentions came soon after February 14, 2003. It was on that day, Valentine’s Day, that my wife Deborah, called me at work to tell me she had been notified by our doctor that the possibility of us having our own children was highly unlikely.

That’s when the stark contrast of this pluralistic view and the contradictions within our society became so painfully obvious and personal to me. Here we were on our knees praying so fervently for a child while America is aborting more than 4,000 babies a day. Based on what? Overwhelmingly, on whether or not the baby is wanted, with over 75% of those decisions based on one’s financial situation. Life has become so devalued that this is now how we determine who should live or die.

And let me say up front, I’m guilty. I regretfully made that same decision while in college and I’ve had to come to terms with that. I have to admit that there was a time when I struggled with the thought that perhaps God was punishing me for running away from my responsibilities as a man so many years ago. But I’m grateful that He is instead, a loving, compassionate, and forgiving God.

Before President Bush signed the Ban I was doing research on abortions when I stumbled across partial-birth abortion. I was shocked when I learned what it was. The more research I did on that subject and the more I talked to people who also had never heard of it, the more I knew I had to try to bring this out. This is why I wrote the movie "A Distant Thunder", a supernatural courtroom drama, designed to

bring the barbaric procedure of PBA to light and encourage dialogue. Faced with the dilemma that very few on either side of the issue are willing to discuss abortion, my wife Deborah and friend Kip Perry, who produced “A Distant Thunder”, decided to use the arts and the power of film to overcome that barrier.

Right after "A Distant Thunder" was released, we received an encouraging testimony that was a perfect example of this. We were told about a young couple at

a local university in Los Angeles. They were in an all too common situation, facing an unwanted pregnancy and had decided to have an abortion. A friend of theirs gave them a DVD of "A Distant Thunder." As the credits rolled, the boyfriend turned to his girlfriend and said, "We can’t do this, let’s get married and have this baby." The couple welcomed their new son this past Valentine’s Day. What a polar opposite of what we experienced on Valentine’s Day three years earlier!

Since then, "A Distant Thunder" has been screened across the nation and around the world, including the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. And, soon after South Dakota Governor Rounds signed the Abortion Ban into law earlier this year, we were notified that "A Distant Thunder" was referred to on the Senate floor by a state legislator during the debates and it was instrumental in garnering critical votes in favor of the bill. I say this not to praise us, or the movie, but to demonstrate the power of truth if we can get people to open their hearts to it and to show that we all can play a role.

We are all being tapped on the shoulder and a window of opportunity has presented itself. Each of us has a voice that needs to be heard and we can accomplish anything if we work together and do not bother ourselves with the worry of who might receive the credit. The precious worth of a person’s life coupled with a righteous person’s actions can only result in turning this thing around.

By the way, God proved the doctors wrong and we have been blessed with a beautiful daughter and son.

Jonathan Flora is an award-winning producer with a top movie studio in Hollywood and the  Writer/Director of the critically-accliamed movie, "A Distant Thunder."

"A Distant Thunder" is available at www.ADistantThunder.com

Jonathan Flora

Writer/Director

"A Distant Thunder"