To start the new year off, my wife and I undertook the project of cleaning out our basement. To be honest, I would rather have jammed a fork in my eye. Surely that would have been less painful. Instead of being one of the most dreaded projects in the world, I finished with a renewed sense of awe for the miracle of life.

Now I realize that it is a big leap from cleaning out the basement, however, there was that moment of “wow!” about halfway through. We found some video from when my son, John Paul, and daughter, Sophia, were little babies. We popped those in and played them as we cleaned. The kids laughed at the silly stuff they were doing, and we laughed as well. At 5 and 6 now, it’s amazing how quickly time has flown. Then my wife came across a DVD labeled “ultrasound.”

We took a break and popped in the DVD. We sat and watched in amazement at how, just a few weeks into life, John Paul was reaching, stretching and making himself comfortable inside his mommy’s belly. Then Sophia’s ultrasound came on. Hers had the new technology, where you could actually see the details of her beautiful face. Her little fingers and toes made you want to reach out and grab them. She looked so peaceful as she enjoyed the comfort of her mother.

As I sat there and watched my kids on the screen and looked over at them sitting on the couch, I realized again the miracle of life before me. These little tiny people only inches long are now growing up with the whole world before them. They are going to school and learning about math and history, the Tooth Fairy recently visited, they are awestruck by Santa Claus, they love to play games and story and prayer time at night.

How is it that as a country we allow for those only a few inches long to be denied the right to exist and experience all that is good in our world? How is it that at the center of “health care for all” we cannot look out for the most innocent and defenseless among us? At its core it’s not truly health care for all. Health care would imply looking out for the health and well-being of humans – a status that apparently those only a few inches long have yet to earn in some eyes.

Mr. President, how can you of all people – one whom many could argue didn’t have a statistical fighting chance when you were a child and yet became the leader of the free world – turn your back on these children in a law you so desperately want to pass only for political expedience?

The debate on health care is centering on abortion as we speak. Now is the time to act and call your congressman and senators. Let them know that there is absolutely no reason that our tax dollars should go to fund abortions under the new law.

I get it, Roe v. Wade is law. However, I think the majority of pro-choice people in the country don’t expect me or you to pay for what they know is a moral and difficult decision for anyone. Isn’t it enough that the law in our country allows the killing of innocents? Now some in the minority are asking us to pay for it too?

This, friends, is a little too much and it must be stopped in its tracks. If we can’t find the inner strength to protect the most defenseless among us, then as a country we have failed to be one nation under God.

• Paul Wyman is principal of The Wyman Group and a Howard County councilman. Contact him at pwyman8@aol.com.