Why was a man named Ota Benga put in a display with an orangutan at the Bronx Zoo in 1906? What does this perverse act, part of our nation’s history, have to do with abortion? While the treatment of Benga and the atrocity of abortion are not identical, they do share a point in common – a refusal to recognize humanity, which leads to treating another person, or an unborn baby, as an object that can be taken, killed, or used in a way others deem acceptable.

Ota Benga, of the Mbuti people, was born in the Belgian Congo around 1881. He was a man of very short stature; as an adult he was only 4 feet 11 inches in height and weighed 103 pounds.

To those whose worldview was shaped by evolutionary thought, Benga was considered part of a primitive race, an earlier form of man on the evolutionary journey. This worldview justified the wicked and brutal actions that were taken towards these people.

Once, when Benga was out on a successful elephant hunt, his wife and children were murdered, along with others, by the Force Publique, a military group in Congo started by King Leopold II of Belgium. If this was not a sufficient trial, Benga was captured and sold into slavery. A former missionary turned explorer, Samuel Verner, purchased Benga and others to be part of a display for the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. This display was intended to showcase the stages of evolution.

After the World’s Fair, Benga was taken back to the Congo where he remarried. Sadly, his second wife died. With the rest of his family and clan gone, he suffered the added blow of being rejected by his people. Benga was brought back to the U.S. Facing financial difficulties, Verner offered Benga to the director of the Bronx Zoo, William Temple Hornaday. Shaped by an evolutionary mindset, Hornaday had no issue with displaying Ota Benga like an animal. This proved to be a great publicity stunt. A New York Times headline from Sept. 9, 1906 read, “BUSHMAN SHARES A CAGE WITH BRONX PARK APES; Some Laugh Over His Antics, but Many Are Not Pleased. KEEPER FREES HIM AT TIMES Then, with Bow and Arrow, the Pygmy from the Congo Takes to the Woods.”

The next week, a medical doctor, M.S. Gabriel, wrote an editorial claiming that Ota Benga was having a fine time at the zoo; there was no reason for protesting his poor treatment.

Although Benga did draw crowds, African-American pastors properly raised alarms. The New York Times responded to one of the ministers with incredible arrogance saying: “One reverend coloured brother objects to the curious exhibition on the grounds that it is an impious effort to lend credibility to Darwin’s dreadful theories … the reverend coloured brother should be told that evolution … is now taught in the textbooks of all the schools, and that it is no more debatable than the multiplication table.”

Benga thankfully was set free from the display at the zoo and was helped by an orphanage. Later he moved to Lynchburg, VA and was baptized. He attended some elementary-level classes and ended up working at a tobacco factory. He longed to return to Africa, but World War I prevented him from returning. Sadly, on March 20, 1916, he ended his own life.

On December 17, 2021 Governor J. B. Pritzker signed House Bill 370, repealing the Illinois Parental Notification Act that was first passed in 1995, but not instituted until 2013. It is estimated that this law, once enforced, saved about 1000 lives a year and reduced the number of abortions performed on minors by 55%.

Rich Miller‘s Capitol Fax newsletter recorded the praise of perverse politicians and leaders of groups that savagely prey on the unborn and young people in need. The conclusion of Miller’s article from 12/17/21 noted that Illinois increased its number of abortions to out-of-state residents from 2,970 in 2014 to 7,534 in 2019. Business is booming in this grisly trade.

Thankfully there were a few politicians and other leaders in the fight for life who expressed their horror at the passage of this law. Most of the opposition focused on the rights of parents. Some spoke of the danger of this law with respect to the trafficking of minor girls. Save for Eric Scheidler‘s statement, none of the responses directly highlighted the plight of the unborn. Parental rights are part of the issue, but even deeper is the fundamental right to life that the unborn child possesses from the moment of conception.

In 2006, one hundred years after its initial article, the New York Times wrote a drastically different column on Ota Benga, “The Scandal at the Zoo.” Additionally, in 2020, the Times noted an apology from the Wildlife Conservation Society, the group that oversees the Bronx Zoo, for its treatment of Benga and the practice of eugenics that was endorsed by two of the Society’s founders.

May the Lord awaken the hearts of those who currently are in rebellion against His truth regarding the humanity of the unborn child. If our eyes have been opened to this truth, let us not boast, yet let us not be silent in the face of the continued slaughter.

Other Sources:

David Catchpoole. The Elusive Okapi, Living Fossil of the Congo. Creation Magazine, Vol. 44, No. 1 2022

Jerry Bergman. Ota Benga: the pygmy put on display in a zoo, April 19, 2007

The Illinois General Assembly overwhelmingly agreed this spring that it should be illegal for any minor 17 years or younger to use a tanning bed in Illinois, even if their parents approve. Why? Tanning beds can overexpose sensitive skin to harmful ultraviolent rays and increase the likelihood of melanoma—a deadly form of cancer.

The state isn’t shy about protecting minors from other potentially-harmful activities. Minors under the age of 18 are banned from purchasing tobacco products. They need parental permission to be tattooed or pierced. And in Illinois, no one under the age of 21 can legally purchase alcoholic beverages.

But when it comes to sexual health, so-called “reproduction rights” advocates have successfully organized and pressured Illinois lawmakers to uphold children’s privacy over parental rights and responsibilities. Indeed, Illinois law allows minors age 12 and above to seek counseling and medical treatment without parental notice or permission, if the 12 year old thinks he or she may have been exposed to a sexually-transmitted disease. And that so-called “treatment” now allows medical personnel to give HPV and Hepatitis B shots, without parents knowing.

The same activists vehemently disagree with Illinois’ newly-implemented parental notification law. Within days of the Illinois State Supreme Court forcing into effect an 18-year-old state law requiring medical personnel to notify parents of underage girls of their abortion intentions 48 hours prior, pro-abortion forces set into motion a counter offensive to undermine parents and repeal the law.

The StopPNA.org campaign, organized by the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health and the ACLU, is urging calls to state lawmakers and is meeting to discuss moving forward legislation that would repeal Illinois’ parental notification law.

The group argues that parental involvement in their minor daughters’ reproductive health care is intrusive and obstructive. Contemplate this anti-parent statement on their website:

“Due to the stigma and shame of abortion, along with troubling parental/home/abusive circumstances suffered by at least a third of youth, it is imperative that young people have unfettered access to abortion. We need to ensure that young people access safe procedures performed by medical providers.”

Up until August 15, Illinois was the only state in the Midwest not requiring parental notification (However, the U.S. Supreme Court required states to provide a judicial bypass to all underage girls). Among the shrinking number of states without parental notification, Montana is now the nearest to the west, and New York the nearest to the east. 

At this point, 37 state legislatures have recognized that notifying parents before a minor accesses abortion is simply common sense. Who, besides the child, deals more with the consequences of medical treatment gone awry? Who knows more about a 12-year-old child’s medical history? And who is more entitled to know if a crime has been committed against their underage daughters?

The National Abortion Federation reports that 70 percent of girls 13 years old and younger who have had sex say that sex was forced on them. Sexual acts with children 17 and under are felonies in Illinois, whether the perpetrators are adults or minors.

What sexually-assaulted 12-year-old facing pregnancy and considering abortion would fully comprehend the potential legal and physical complications without a trusted family member or concerned adult counseling them? Abortion clinics are not known for being protective of their clients’ welfare. On several occasions, citizen journalists have documented Planned Parenthood staff counseling minors how to avoid reporting sexual assaults.

In contrast, imagine what would happen if a tanning bed operator offered backroom tans to kids.

Abortions on minors are not rare. In 2009, 251 girls under the age of 14 and 2,734 15- to 17- year olds underwent surgical abortions in Illinois. The numbers remained fairly consistent in 2010 and dropped slightly to 2544 underage abortions in 2011. Estimates are that 67,928 documented underage abortions have occurred in Illinois since 1995, when the law was signed but challenged and paused by pro-abortion activists.

It remains to be seen whether the law will prevent abortions, but abortion clinic owners are likely to have growing concerns about diminishing profits now that they must contact a parent of an underage girl 48 hours before she is scheduled to have an abortion

In the meantime, rest assured parents, whether you approve or not, your kids will not be getting artificial tans in Illinois, because they are outright banned.

Three Important Upcoming Events:

–> October 10th — A & M Partnership’s Banquet with Dr. Erwin Lutzer in Palatine
(Click HERE for more info)

–> October 12th — Iron Sharpens Iron Conference for Women in Moline
(Click HERE for more info) 

–> October 23rd — IFI’s Defend Marriage Lobby Day in Springfield
(Click HERE for more info)