Seals and Crofts versus Roe versus Wade

Jim Seals and Dash Crofts, 1975. (wikipedia.org/public domain)

In light of the hopeful repeal of the disastrous 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion – or, more properly, making the illegalization of abortion illegal in all the states, we should look back to the near-forgotten American of that era. Mark Steyn points out one glimpse. The band Seals and Crofts – whom you might know from their hit Summer Breeze – recorded a song, To an Unborn Child that very year, based on a poem composed by the wife of their sound engineer. The lyrics are haunting, and one cannot imagine any mainstream artist recording anything like it today. Even back then, their producers said ‘no way’, but Seals and Crofts, replied, ‘we’re doing it anyway – it’s not about the money, but about the truth’, putting the track as their title on the album. Good for them. And they did pay a price, with boycotts of their concerts and vilification from pro-abortionists, and, yes, the mainstream media. But they never retracted, or apologized, and the poetry, and the song, indeed stand as a testament to the truth, that baby’s a baby, no matter how small and hidden. Jim Seals just died on June 6th. I know not his life or what faith he followed, but here’s hoping those unborn children he commemorated prayed for him, and welcome him into the arms of the Lord. Requiescat in pace.

Here are the lyrics:

Oh little baby, you’ll never cry, nor will you hear a sweet lullabye

[Verse 1]
Oh unborn child, if you only knew just what your momma was plannin’ to do
You’re still a-clingin’ to the tree of life, but soon you’ll be cut off before you get ripe
Oh unborn child, beginning to grow inside your momma, but you’ll never know
Oh tiny bud, that grows in the womb, only to be crushed before you can bloom

[Chorus]
Mama stop! Turn around, go back, think it over
Now stop, turn around, go back, think it over
Stop, turn around, go back think it over

[Verse 2]
Oh no momma, just let it be. You’ll never regret it, just wait and see
Think of all the great ones who gave everything
That we might have life here, so please bear the pain

[Chorus]
Mama stop! Turn around, go back, think it over
Now stop, turn around, go back, think it over
Stop, turn around, go back think it over

And, as we’ve just entered officially into summer, here is their much-recorded ballad, Summer Breeze: