Lies

Curtain opens on a darkened stage.  Then with a spotlight on Lisa, she speaks.  When Lisa finishes, the light goes off for a few seconds before reappearing on Janet for her presentation.  This procedure is used throughout the play.  Note – various parts of this drama can also be efficiently used for shorter presentations, dramatic readings and radio use.

Lisa: "My school counselor told me that abortion is no big deal at all.  She said that after abortion was first legalized way back when that maybe a few religious people were upset but even they had gotten used to it.  Nowadays, she said, everybody accepts abortion.  It's safe and it's simple and the best thing that had happened for women's rights ever.  So I let her set up the appointment for my abortion - an abortion that it seems nobody has a problem with."  (Pause.)  "Nobody except me.  Oh, God forgive me."

Janet: "Joey's love was all I lived for.  He was the man I knew I was destined to spend my life with and his wonderful, warm love was everything I needed in this whole world.  Anything I could give him, I was more than willing to give.  So, when he asked me to have the abortion, I cried a little, but for the sake of our love, our future together, I surrendered to his wishes.

"Now Joey is gone forever.  He told me he had found someone new and he had no choice but to tell me goodbye.  He said he would always love me in a special way but I had to go on with my life – a life without him.  And then blinded by a false understanding of love, Joey walked away from me forever.  Just like I did, when completely by a false understanding of love, I walked away from my own baby...forever."

Zach: "The whole thing is a rip-off, man.  I mean everybody's tellin' you that it's fine to be doin' it as long as you're protected.  Am I wrong?  It's all over TV and the radio; we're taught about it in school till you're randy and ready to go; and, of course, it's the word from all of the guys who had got a heck of a lot more than I ever did!  C'mon, everybody said 'no big deal!'  Sex is just playin' around - no strings attached, no lightning flashing down from Olympus, no nothin' but getting' a little fun while you're young enough to enjoy it.  Well, guess what, pal?  I did everything cool - safe sex, condoms, the whole bit.  So why, after only four times in the groove, am I a daddy?  And why do I have herpes and gonorrhea?  No strings?  No judgment?  Just playin' around?  I'm telling you, the whole thing was a lousy rip-off, man, a lousy rip-off!"

Joan: "My biology teacher laughed at the pamphlets that John brought to class.  Those pamphlets showed beautiful pictures of babies in the womb.  And they warned people against abortion because of the obvious humanity of the tiny child.  But my teacher laughed and completely dismissed John's convictions.  In fact, he mocked him in such a funny way that most of us laughed at John too."  (Long pause.)  "But last week I underwent an abortion of my own and...well, now I know that John was right to want to warn people.  I know what I've done and I can't get those beautiful pictures of unborn babies out of my mind."  (Pause.)   "In class, we all laughed about abortion.  I'm not laughing any more.  I wonder if I ever will."

Sally: "He told me it was just a natural act, the next step in our love.  I believed him and gave myself up - body and soul.  I believed him for several months afterwards too, until the day I caught him with Sheila.  You would think I'd never be so gullible again, right?  But, you know what?  Believing lies actually got easier.  In time I believed the same line when it came from Boy Number 2 and then Boy Number 3 and then...well, you get the idea.  What had once seemed so loving and natural became a coarse habit with me - with some pretty ugly consequences.  I mean what's loving and natural about having an abortionist destroy your unborn child?  Or having to stand in line with another bunch of losers to get your VD shots?

"Body and soul - that was what I gave up in the very beginning.  And I saw right then how painful and wrong it was.  Why then do I just keep givin' it up over and over?  And why didn't any of those boys tell me what their ideas about natural loving really cost a girl?"

Kenny: "My Sunday school class still looks at me like I'm off the edge because I started going out to an abortion clinic two mornings a week before work.  I'm all alone out there and it gets pretty tense sometimes, but I was clearly convicted by God that a man should do more about the holocaust of abortion than just say he's pro-life.  A man should do something to stand up for the defenseless!  I have gone out to this clinic on Saturdays when a few other Christians are there, including some women who do what they call sidewalk counseling, but I'm afraid I'm not up for that yet.  But I can go out there on mornings when otherwise there would be no voice of warning whatsoever and carry my big photo of a little baby.  The sign also has a caption that simply reads, 'Mom, Please Don't.' 

"Well, several of my Sunday school friends have told me this is a worthless thing to do.  They say that even if you could change someone's mind, you'd have to do it long before she gets to the clinic.  I see their point, of course, and that's why I support pro-life education efforts and the crisis pregnancy center.  But I still think it's important to be there at the very last with one more word of warning.  Some of my church family say that being a 'public spectacle' like this is bad for the Church, that it draws negative attention to Christians, and that I'm just on a guilt trip and trying to put others on one too.  But, you know, none of them were there when that couple sat in the car staring at my sign last Tuesday morning.  And they didn't hear that couple tell me 'Thank you, mister; you made us realize we were about to do a terrible thing.  But we can't go through with it now.'  The young man even reached across the car and shook my hand.  He had tears in his eyes.  He said, 'I don't know if you know it but God put you here today.  Thank you.'  (Long pause.)  Thank you, son, for saying that.  But yes...I already knew."

Yolanda: "'Oh, don't worry, girl.  What we're talking about here is just a bunch of disorganized, undeveloped cells.  It's not even close to being a baby for a long time.  There's no doubt that interrupting the process right now is your best possible decision.  So how about tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 for the procedure?  You'll be out of here and home for dinner!'  I was dazed and worried and I heard myself saying 'yes' to the abortion appointment.  And as I walked out I kept saying to myself, 'It's not a baby yet; it's just a bunch of undeveloped cells.'  In fact, I repeated it to myself all night.  But the doubts still wouldn't go away.  So, just to make sure, I drove over to a Christian pregnancy center the next morning to make certain I was getting the full picture.  And wow!  The full picture was exactly what I got!  You see, this place had an ultrasound machine and a very nice lady who, as she put it, was going to turn on the television inside my tummy.  And, you guessed it, right there swimming around in my womb, with little arms and legs, and little fingers and toes, was my bunch of disorganized, undeveloped cells.  Totally outrageous it was, the most exciting thing that ever happened in my life...until, of course, that Thursday night a few months later when the doctor put that awfully cute bunch of cells in my arms.  By the way, I named her Brenda.  Totally outrageous, indeed!"

Jack: "Our doctor was as clear as could be.  Our baby would likely be born with a serious handicap and the loving thing would be to abort the little guy.  We were uneasy about that decision though and so we talked it over with our parents and then with our minister.  They too argued that the loving choice would be an abortion.  The child, everyone assured us, would be forced to live in a sterile world where he would always experience difficulty and even suffering.  And, of course, they reminded us, choosing a therapeutic abortion would allow us to go on with our own lives.

"So we made the appointment with an abortionist and we heard him use almost the same phrases to affirm our decision.  But then, without really willing it, I started to cry and my wife reached out towards me in desperation.  'Darling,' she said, 'it cannot ever be a loving thing to kill a baby, can it?'  I could only shake my head as my tears were falling uncontrollably.  'Please take me home, honey,' she entreated.  'We've got to get things ready at home – ready for our baby.'  I have never been so proud, so much in love with her than at that courageous moment and, while the abortionist sputtered and fumed, we walked out of what very nearly was the execution chamber of our beloved Danny.  Oh no, our lives now are not especially easy but they're anything but sterile or lacking in love.  Neither of us can even conceive of how terrible and tragic life would be without our son.  And now we know that the love means patience and sacrifice and constant compassion; it can never, ever mean killing.  God, thank You for saving us from those well-meant lies."  (Pause.)  "And dear God, thank You so much for Danny."

Katherine: "I guess after breaking up with Stanley everything in my life fell apart.  My grades, my relationship with my mom and sister, even my circle of friends changed.  I had been a good girl until Stanley but after being used until he was finally finished with me, I felt kinda' dirty and lost.  It didn't take long for me to give in to Roger and then, after him, to J.T. and then...well, who knows how many others.  Before long everything felt ruined.  There was the drinking and the cocaine and, by the time I was 21, I had a criminal record, two abortions, and a sick baby.  I knew I was under a curse but it was certainly one of my own making.  I had no one to blame but myself and no way out.

"But then a young high school girl I met at work invited me to her church.  At first, I felt too much of a loser to go to a place like that but Jeannie was so sweet and encouraging that I finally put on my best outfit and went.  The preacher was talking right from the Holy Bible, telling us about the compassion Jesus felt for the multitudes.  You see, Jesus saw these people who had really been beat up emotionally.  The preacher said that the original language gave the idea of being skinned alive and thrown away.  Well, that was exactly what I had felt like for a long time.  And sitting there in that church that morning I realized that even with all the terrible sins I had committed, Jesus Christ still felt a deep compassion for me!  There was a light up ahead after all!  So, when the preacher explained what Jesus had done on the cross, dying to pay everything I owed for all my sinning, I bubbled over with joy and trusted Christ to be my Savior.  I now see that it was nothing but lies that started my troubles but I had just kept on believing them until I didn't even know there was another story for me.  But there was.  The truth exists; it is powerful and beautiful...and it's available for every one of us, no matter what lies we've told or what enslaving lies we've believed.  Oh, sure; the lies are still there all around us.  But the lies lose their power in the blaze of His glory as one chooses the eternal, liberating, and loving truth of Jesus Christ."