C:\users\robert\appdata\local.us%20reason%20together[1].pdf

Abortion: Come, Let Us Reason Together
On January 22, 1973, in the infamous Roe v. Wade decision, the United States Supreme Court struck down laws in all 50 states that had previously protected the right to life of children in their mothers’ wombs, not yet born. The highest court in our nation legalized the ending of the life of an unborn baby, at any time during pregnancy, if a licensed physician judged this to be in the best interest of the mother’s health. The mother’s “health” was broadly defined to include the “distress… associated with an unwanted child.”1 Thus, the killing of an unborn baby, for no better reason than mere birth control, was legalized in the United States of America. Since the Roe v. Wade decision, as of July 2008, about 48.5 million babies have been aborted in the United Think of that number for a few minutes; let it sink in. Almost 50 million unborn babies have been killed by doctors, legally, at the behest of the babies’ mothers: 48.5 million babies. The number is so staggering that it is difficult to comprehend; a comparative analysis will help. How many U.S. soldiers have died in the Iraq War? The latest count is about 4,168.3 This means that the number of American babies who have died at the hands of medical doctors performing abortions is more than 11,000 times greater than the number of American soldiers who have died at the hands of terrorists and enemy combatants in Iraq. The comparison is staggering, but still too big for us to really get our minds around, so let us do some further analysis. The total recorded numbers of Americans who died, in combat or otherwise, as a direct result of every war or military conflict, since the founding of our country are as follows:4 Total American
Conflict
Thus, the number of babies killed in abortions during the past 35 years is about 37 times larger than the total number of Americans killed in all U.S. wars and military conflicts over the past 232 years. Just to put an even finer point on it, here are some additional Number of
Relative Number of Babies
People Killed
Killed by Abortion in U.S.
Atomic Bombing of Horishima and Nagasaki6 And the number of babies killed in abortions in this country is still growing at rate of The magnitude of the number of abortions in the United States over the past 35 years is startling, to say the least. This magnitude alone should cause us to stop and consider the issue more deeply. On what basis did the U.S. Supreme Court legalize abortion, leading to the current situation? The majority of the justices concluded that an unborn baby is not a person, legally, and therefore is not entitled to the right to life nor “equal protection” under the law.9 How dare they? Any mother who has carried her baby beyond 20 weeks or so knows her baby is a person, with energy, emotions and a personality. Any father who has placed his hand on his wife’s abdomen to feel his baby’s movements knows his baby is a living person. In my own experience, we saw my first daughter’s heartbeat on the ultrasound machine screen for the first time about 12 weeks into my wife’s pregnancy. It was stunning. Between 17 and 20 weeks, the result of a blood test, combined with the fact that my wife was over 35, caused my wife’s OBGYN to conclude that our a baby was “positive” for a higher than average risk of Down Syndrome, and so my wife’s OBGYN wanted my wife to undergo many intrusive tests to confirm whether or not my child had Down Syndrome. Hit with this news, my wife lay on our couch at home, put her hand on her abdomen and said, “Baby, are you okay?” At that instant, my baby jumped, and my wife felt her baby move for the first time. My wife interpreted this as a kind signal from God that our baby was fine. I also believe that our daughter somehow knew that Mother was concerned and was trying to communicate with her, and she jumped to respond to her Mama’s voice. We refused most of the tests recommended by my wife’s OBGYN, because we knew we would not kill our baby, whether she had Down Syndrome or not. We did, however, consent to one test, and I will regret it for the rest of my life, because I know it was painful for my daughter. We consented to a very powerful and protracted ultrasound monitoring session. During the session, my daughter kept moving; she kept moving away from the ultrasound. I still feel so guilty because I could tell it was hurting her. The doctor operating the ultrasound machine told us the procedure sounded like a freight train rushing by the ear of my daughter. My 20 week-old daughter squirmed and wiggled Many more instances demonstrated our baby’s personhood to my wife and me during her time inside my wife’s uterus. For example, my unborn daughter often jumped and danced when she heard her Daddy’s voice, when she heard stirring music (for example, when my wife and I watched The Lord of the Rings) and after my wife ate a good meal. I often sang to my daughter, when she was still inside my wife’s body. Sometimes, before I started singing, my daughter had been moving around, and when I started singing, she immediately stopped and remained still while she listened to her Daddy sing. After my daughter was born, her Daddy’s singing could always calm her and put her in a restful state. She recognized and was comforted by my voice, with which she had grown familiar when she was still in her mother’s womb. My daughter was very much a living person when she was still inside my wife’s body. The biological facts also confirm what is so obvious to every attentive mother and father. On day 1, at the very moment of conception, all of the inherited features of the new person are already irreversibly set: the gender; the color of the eyes; the color of the hair; the facial features; everything. 100% of the genetic code of the person is in place at conception. The first cell soon divides into two, and the cells divide again and again as the cell formation travels toward the uterus. Around day 6, the new body of cells attaches loosely the wall of the uterus, or womb, and over the next week burrows deeply and attaches securely to it. In the natural course, the womb will be a safe and comfortable home for the new baby over the next 9 months. Pregnancy tests can now show positive, and by the end of the second week, the mother’s menstrual cycle is suppressed by a hormone produced by the new baby. On day 17, blood vessels begin to form; and amazingly, the future sex cells that will generate either sperm or eggs (depending on the gender of this new child) begin to group together, preparing for the procreation of the next generation. During days 18 through 20, the foundations of the brain, spinal cord and nervous system are formed. On day 22, the heart begins to beat, and the eyes begin to develop. From day 26 to 27, the lungs begin to form. From day 28 to 32 the arms and legs start to show; and the mouth, nose and tongue start to form. By day 32, the new baby has a recognizable face. On day 36, color develops in the retina of the eye. By day 44, we are able to detect electrical activity in the brain. By day 52, the baby is making movements such as frowning, squinting, furrowing the brow, pursing the lips; moving arms and legs; turning the head; touching the face; stretching; opening the mouth; yawning and sucking. By 8 weeks, the baby is well-proportioned, even though he or she is only the size of an adult thumb. At 12 weeks, fine hair begins to grow. At 13 weeks, the baby is actively moving around, but the mother cannot feel the baby’s movements. The mother starts to feel the baby’s movements sometime between 17 and 20 weeks. By 5 months, the baby’s brain contains about 2 billion cells.10 Once, when I was a boy, I stole some eggs from a bird’s nest and broke open the eggs. I was so proud of my discovery and conquest, but my grandmother chastised my quite sternly. She said it was wrong for me to destroy those bird eggs, because those eggs contained baby birds that, if left alone, would hatch and become beautiful, happy birds. God had given those baby birds life, and it was wrong for me to treat them as if they had no value. Jesus taught us that we humans are much more valuable than birds. Indeed, the very hairs of our heads are all numbered, He said. And now we know that we had hairs to be counted even when we were still in our mothers’ wombs. This, of course, should come as no surprise. Psalm 139 has taught us this: “O LORD… You have created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I as woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!”11 The majority of the justices of the Supreme Court in 1973 concluded that a baby not yet born is not a person under the laws of the United States. But there is a higher Court, a higher Law and a higher Judge. The great God of the universe views each baby, still in the mother’s womb, as a person. The 1973 Supreme Court majority was wrong. Some proponents of abortion would argue that we do not know when life begins and therefore the only objective measure we can use to decide when a person has a right to life is physical birth. But this argument is deeply flawed on its face. If we do not know when life begins, we should be careful and conservative in protecting human life, not cavalierly take the loosest possible interpretation of the beginning of life. Has life not already begun when there is a heartbeat? Has life not already begun when there is electrical activity in the brain? Has life not already begun when the baby’s face is recognizable? Has life not already begun when the baby moves and kicks? When does life begin? I think a logical approach leads to the best answer. What happens if, after conception occurs, we do nothing to interrupt the natural course? Of course, nine months later a baby makes his or her debut. But a newborn baby was growing and developing for nine months prior to what we call “birth.” Since a multitude of vital signs of life occur during the nine months of pregnancy, we should take conception, not birth, as the beginning of life. Since we have no better measure of the beginning of life, we should be cautious and conservative in protecting human life; we should take conception as the beginning of life. Since, in the normal course, conception leads to signs of life in the womb and leads to the birth of a baby, we should accept conception as the point when life begins. Abortion, therefore, is wrong because it is the killing of a human baby – a real, It is easy to talk and think about abortion in an impersonal way, as a mere medical procedure affecting only the pregnant woman. Let us resist that temptation. Let us also consider what happens to the baby. A description of the various abortion procedures will help in this regard. In general, there are two categories of abortion methods: “medical” and “surgical.” Medical methods utilize drugs to disrupt the natural course of development of the baby in the mother’s uterus, cutting the baby off from essential needs, such as oxygen and nutrients, and thereby causing the baby to die. Surgical methods utilize instruments inserted into the body of the mother to cut, crush, suck and generally mutilate the body of the unborn baby. Some of the most commonly used abortion All of the medical abortion procedures use chemicals to interrupt and derail the natural course of events in order to kill the new baby and expel him or her from the MTX is a medical procedure used up to the seventh week of pregnancy. Two drugs, Methotrexate and Misoprostol, are used. Methotrexate causes the unborn baby and placenta to separate from the lining of the uterus. Misoprostol causes the uterus to contract to expel the baby.12 RU-486, or the “abortion pill,” is a medical procedure used up to the ninth week of pregnancy. Two drugs, Mifepristone and Misoprostol, are used. Mifepristone blocks projesterone from the uterine lining, causing the baby to die. Misoprostol Live birth abortion, or induced labor abortion, is a medical procedure used up to the fifth month of pregnancy. The drug Cytotec is used to cause the cervix to open, and the premature baby drops out of the uterus. Often, the baby comes out alive and then dies within a few hours or days.14 Surgical procedures use surgical instruments – scissors, knives, suction tubes and catheters – to physically dismember the developing baby and remove him or her from the Suction aspiration is a surgical procedure performed during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. The mother lies on her back with her feet in strirrups, and the abortionist inserts a speculum into the mother’s vagina. A local anesthetic is administered to the cervix. Then a tenaculum is used to hold the cervix in place, and the cervix is dilated by cone shaped rods. When the cervix is open wide enough, the abortionist inserts a long plastic tube, which is connected to a suction device, into the uterus. Think of a very powerful vacuum cleaner. Within 10 to 15 minutes, the contents of the uterus are completely cleaned out.15 Dilation and Curettage is a surgical procedure used up until the 15th week of pregnancy. This procedure is similar to the Suction Aspiration procedure described just above, with the addition of a long, hooked knife to cut and scrape the lining, placenta and baby away from the uterus.16 Dilation and Evacuation is a surgical procedure used up until the 21st week of pregnancy. This procedure incorporates everything in the two previous surgical procedures, plus forceps are used to remove larger body parts. After this procedure, all the body parts of the baby are put back together by an attending nurse to make sure that all the parts of the baby’s body have been removed from Dilation and Extraction, also known as Partial Birth Abortion, is a surgical procedure used after 21 weeks of pregnancy. Two days before the procedure, laminaria is inserted vaginally to dilate the cervix. During the procedure, the abortionist uses forceps to rotate the baby into the needed position and then pull the baby out of the mother’s body, feet first. First the feet and legs are pulled out, then the body, and then the shoulders and arms. The head is left just inside the mother’s body, so that the baby is not yet considered legally born. With the baby face down, the abortionist cuts an opening in the base of the back of the skull. The abortionist then inserts a catheter into the baby’s skull and sucks the baby’s brains out, so that the baby’s scull collapses. Then the abortionist pulls the baby’s crushed head out of the mother’s body.18 To every reader with a conscience that retains some sensitivity and a mind capable of critical thinking, I want to press this upon you: abortion is a barbarous, torturous, murderous act. Abortion is immoral because it is the intentional infliction of pain and suffering on another human, even though the afflicted human is one who is not yet visible to us because he or she is still inside the mother’s body. Abortion horribly fails the Golden Rule.19 I am quite sure that nobody reading this would want a chemical injected into your body that would cause your heart to stop beating, or your lungs to stop breathing, or your brain to stop functioning. Neither would you want to have your arms and legs cut off or your brains sucked out and your skull crushed. It is very wrong to allow this to happen to other people, especially innocent babies who have never done anything wrong and who are completely defenseless and at our mercy. How dare we Yes, abortion is wrong because it is the killing an innocent human life; and abortion is wrong because it the infliction of pain and horror on an innocent, helpless baby. But there is an even greater and deeper reason that abortion is wrong. In Ezekiel 4:18, God has told us, “Behold, all souls are mine.” The LORD claims His right to every living soul. Our debating about when life begins reveals our hubris and shows that we are badly missing the mark on this issue. God breathes into every person the breath of life. God retains His authority over the souls of all humans. God takes us out of this world at our appointed time, and then we will all face judgment. God is the only One with the moral right to oversee life and death. It is always wrong to take the life of a human apart from God’s clear directives in the Holy Scriptures. This is mainly what is wrong with abortion. We have overstepped our boundaries. We have entered a domain reserved for the LORD alone. Shall we respect God’s authority over us, or shall we rebel It is clear from the Holy Scriptures that the LORD hates abortion, just as He hates rape, murder and child abuse. This is not in question. The question is whether or not we care what God says. The essence of Christian maturity is to love God; indeed the greatest commandment, as confirmed by Jesus Christ Himself, is that we should love the LORD our God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. A direct corollary of loving God is to love what God loves and hate what God hates. With 100% certainty, I can assure you that God hates abortion. Again, the question is: do we care? Will we submit to God? Or will we continue to rebel against Him? This is the pivotal question with which each person must wrestle, and this is the key question facing our nation. Our nation’s founding fathers, thanks be to God, founded this nation upon faith in and reverence for God. However, our society has degenerated a long way since then; and now we have many people who want to cast God out of our affairs. We must resist them. We must humbly repent and seek revival, first for ourselves, then for our communities and our nation. Let us remember the words of Scripture in Proverbs 14:34: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.”20 Have we forgotten God? Let us humbly repent and quickly remember Him. King David gives us a sober warning in the ninth Psalm: “The wicked return to the grave, all the nations that forget God. But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish. Arise, O LORD, let not man triumph; let the nations be judged in Your presence.
Strike them with terror, O LORD; let the nations know they are but men.”21 This then is the fundamental question: will we submit to God, or will we ignore Him? Hatred of God is raging in our country. God is no longer welcome in our public schools, in our work places, in our government. Shame on us. The founding fathers had no such arrogant illusion of self reliance. Our country’s Declaration of Independence refers to the “Laws of … God”22 in the very first paragraph. Then the main body of the Declaration begins with: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Think about those great words. Let them sink in deeply. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created…. that they are endowed by their Creator…”23 Truth; self-evident; created; Creator; God - these words alone should be enough to chasten us. And how does the Declaration end? The very last sentence of the Declaration contains the phrase, “… with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence…”24 Think of the great men who signed that document: John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Nelson and John Penn, among others. 25 Why do we think we are so much smarter than the founding fathers? And think of the great Constitution of the United States, the legal document which forms the foundation of our form of government. Think of the First Amendment, the first of the Bill of Rights: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”26 The very first of the Bill of Rights protects freedom of religion; Congress shall not prohibit the free exercise of religion. In this country, we have such a wonderful protected right to freely exercise our religion and freely speak out. Shame on us for not exercising our religion and not speaking out more effectively against the atrocity of abortion.
Religion that does not move us to speak out and work against evil is no religion at all.
James, Jesus’ half-brother, has taught that true religion attends to the needs of widows and orphans.27 Extracting the principle from James’ teaching, real Christianity helps the helpless, defends the defenseless and attends to the needs of the weak. Of course, many will object to my line of reasoning. We must respect the “Separation of Church and State”, they will urge. Separation of Church and State is an important legal doctrine, as well as ethical philosophy, derived from the First Amendment to the Constitution (copied above). However, to use the idea of Separation of Church and State to exclude God from our collective consciousness and squelch the voices of Christians to prevent them from being involved in the legal or political processes is to miss the intent of the First Amendment by a wide variance. To rightly understand the doctrine of Separation of Church and State, it is instructive to read the original document, in which these words first appear. Thomas Jefferson, one the founding fathers, first used the phrase in a letter to an association of Baptist Christians in Connecticut. The original letter from Thomas Jefferson, transcribed exactly as written, is “To messers. Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins, & Stephen S. Nelson, a committee of the Danbury Baptist association in the state of Connecticut. The affectionate sentiments of esteem and approbation which you are so good as to express towards me, on behalf of the Danbury Baptist association, give me the highest satisfaction. my duties dictate a faithful and zealous pursuit of the interests of my constituents, & in proportion as they are persuaded of my fidelity to those duties, the discharge of them becomes more and more pleasing. Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection & blessing of the common father and creator of man, and tender you for yourselves & your religious association, assurances of my high respect & esteem. Any intellectually honest reading of this letter reveals that Thomas Jefferson’s interpretation of the “wall of separation between Church and State,” built by the First Amendment, was to ensure Americans’ right to the free exercise of religion, not to inhibit or diminish that right. Notice also Thomas Jefferson’s expression of warm and high esteem for the Baptist Christians and his acknowledgement of “the creator of man.” To infer that the “wall of separation between Church and State” should cause us to ignore the Almighty in our laws, government, politics and public policy is a perverse twisting of the original intent of both the First Amendment and Thomas Jefferson’s position and sentiment conveyed in his letter to the Danbury Baptist Association. This is the key philosophical question facing America. The ideological battles lines are drawn right here. Shall we retain a reverence for God Almighty in our society, in our laws and in our collective conscience? Shall we follow the example of the founding fathers? Or shall we dismiss God from our thinking, and our living, based on a perversion of the original intent and understanding of the “wall of separation between Church and State,” built in Thomas Jefferson’s opinion, by the right to freely exercise religion, guaranteed by the First Amendment? Shall we recognize our moral duties to our Creator, or shall we ignore them? Shall we recognize our dependence on the Sovereign One, or shall we, with unbridled hubris, continue to imagine our own right to determine We Christians need to take our Christianity seriously. We also should take our civic responsibilities seriously. Our country has been a beacon of light in a dark world precisely because the founding fathers incorporated reverence for God as one of the foundational principles of our nation. French philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville is reputed to have said, “America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.”29 There is some dispute as to whether or not Tocqueville actually made this statement30, but it does not matter. Many public speakers, including Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, have quoted these words throughout American society31, but this sentiment actually misses the mark. America should be good whether or not being good will make her great. America should be good for goodness’ sake. America should be good because all souls belong to God, and because it appointed to men once to die and then face judgment.32 Thomas Watson, the English Puritan preacher said, “Let today be our repenting day for tomorrow may be our dying day.”33 We Christians must work for righteousness and against evil; this is our What can we do? The first and most pressing thing we can do is vote responsibly and intelligently. In his successful bid to take the White House away from George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and his lead strategist, James Carville, made famous the phrase, “It’s the economy, stupid,” to convey the sentiment that the welfare of the U.S. economy is the most important issue to American voters.34 Shame on Bill Clinton and James Carville. Moreover, shame on us for making our bank account the most important factor in our voting. It’s not the economy, stupid. It’s abortion. Abortion is the most critical issue we are facing. What we do with the abortion question will define who we are and where we go as a nation. Abortion is not a political issue for Christians. Abortion is a moral issue. Abortion is wrong, and we must vote against it. The most important issue in our country is not the economy; it is not the War in Iraq; it is not the environment; it is not global warming; it is not health care; it is not education; it is not the stock market; it is not foreign policy; it is not even the global war on terror. The most important issue is abortion. We must vote against abortion. We must vote, and keep on voting, for pro-life candidates and platforms. To this end, we must understand the positions of the two major political parties on abortion. The official positions of the Democratic and Republican The Democratic Party states its position on abortion under the heading “Choice.” The 2008 Democratic Party Platform reads: “The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman's right to choose a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay, and we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.”35 The Republican Party states its position on abortion under the heading “Maintaining the Sanctity and Dignity of Human Life.” The 2008 Republican Party “Faithful to the first guarantee of the Declaration of Independence, we assert the inherent dignity and sanctity of all human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution, and we endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children. We oppose using public revenues to promote or perform abortion and will not fund organizations which advocate it. We support the appointment of judges who respect traditional family values and the sanctity and We have made progress. The Supreme Court has upheld prohibitions against the barbaric practice of partial-birth abortion. States are now permitted to extend health-care coverage to children before birth. And the Born Alive Infant Protection Act has become law; this law ensures that infants who are born alive during an abortion receive all treatment and care that is provided to all newborn infants and are not neglected and left to die. We must protect girls from exploitation and statutory rape through a parental notification requirement. We all have a moral obligation to assist, not to penalize, women struggling with the challenges of an unplanned pregnancy. At its core, abortion is a fundamental assault on the sanctity of innocent human life. Women deserve better than abortion. Every effort should be made to work with women considering abortion to enable and empower them to choose life. We salute those who provide them alternatives, including pregnancy care centers, and we take pride in the tremendous increase in adoptions that has followed Republican legislative Respect for life requires efforts to include persons with disabilities in education, employment, the justice system, and civic participation. In keeping with that commitment, we oppose the non-consensual withholding of care or treatment from people with disabilities, as well as the elderly and infirm, just as we oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide, which endanger especially those on My plea to all God-fearing Americans, especially those who name the Name of Christ, is this: you must vote against the Democratic Party. You must vote against Barak Obama. Do not get me wrong; I do not hold the Republican Party to be infallible. The Republican Party is not without faults. But on the most important moral issue facing our nation, the Republican Party has taken the right stance. The official position of the Democratic Party is that they support a woman’s right to choose to kill her baby. What gives her that right? The official position of the Republican Party is that all human life has dignity and value, and that each unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed. This is not a recent or transitory difference of positions; the two parties have held their respective positions on abortion for decades. As long as the official position of the Democratic Party is to grant women the right to choose to kill their babies, we Christians must vote against the Democrats – in every election, for every office, every time. This is our moral obligation. And just in case there is any doubt, Barak Obama has repeatedly publicly stated his personal position to support “a woman’s right to choose.”37 Barak Obama repeatedly voted against Illinois’ version of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, while he was in the Illinois Senate, because he was concerned that it might infringe on a woman’s right to choose to kill her baby.38 And Michelle Obama stated, in an official letter to Democratic voters in Illinois, that the recent Federal government ban of partial birth abortions “is clearly unconstitutional and must be overturned.”39 Let me say again, with 100% certainty, the LORD hates abortion.
We must vote against all Democrats, including Barak Obama. Why did the 1973 Supreme Court majority legalize abortion for any reason? Their conclusion was based on the premise that an unwanted pregnancy, or the stigma associated with an unmarried mother, would cause emotional distress for the mother. I agree that an unwanted pregnancy and a pregnancy outside of marriage can cause distress. However, the guilt of killing an innocent baby causes more distress. May God help us to become more distressed about the shedding of innocent blood than we are about social stigma and economic hardship. We do not hear the cries of the murdered unborn. But God hears their cries. The blood of 48.5 million babies is crying for justice. And justice will be coming. May God help us become more concerned about 50 million slaughtered babies than a 500 point drop in the Dow. Let us repent. Let us humble ourselves before Almighty God. Let us clean the blood from our hands. Let us do the right thing. We must strive against abortion. Judgment is coming. Clarifying Note 1
I realize that some women, who have had their babies aborted, may read this article and feel terribly guilty about the abortion, and this article may cause them to feel disturbed. For those who feel a profound sense of guilt, sorrow and shame; let me assure you, “with the LORD, there is mercy.” (Psalm 130:7) Jesus died for our sins. I Timothy 1:15, the Apostle Paul tells us, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.” Abortion is not beyond the scope of God’s mercy. We can be sure of this: the sin that causes us the most guilt and shame is a sin that Christ’s blood covers, if, in humility, we ask Him for forgiveness. Clarifying Note 2
In extremely rare cases, carrying a baby to full term may endanger the physical health of the mother. In those rare cases, the baby should be expelled from the mother’s body through induced abortion. However, once the baby is out of the mother’s body, it should not be intentionally killed. Health professionals should strive to save the life of both mother and baby. If the baby’s life is lost, induced abortion is still the right thing to do, if it is necessary to save the life of the mother. Again, this is extremely rare, and even in this case, the life of the baby should be saved if possible. References
1 Roe vs. Wade, U.S. Supreme Court 410 U.S. 113, 1973.
2 Statistics obtained from the web site of the National Right to Life Committee, http://www.nrlc.org/ABORTION/facts/abortionstats.html, accessed September 21, 2008. 3 Statistics obtained from the web site of the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, http://icasualties.org/oif/,accessed September 21, 2008. 4 Statistics obtained from U.S. Army Military History Institute, obtained, via http://www.militaryfactory.com/american_war_deaths.asp, accessed on September 21, 2008. 5 Statistics obtained from CNN, via http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/09/03/death.toll/, accessed September 21, 2008. 6 Statistics obtained from the Atomic Archive via http://www.atomicarchive.com/Docs/MED/med_chp10.shtml, accessed September 21, 2008. 7 Dawidowicz, Lucy, The War Against the Jews, Bantam, 1986. 8 Statistics obtained from the web site of the National Right to Life Committee, http://www.nrlc.org/ABORTION/facts/abortionstats.html, accessed September 21, 2008. 9 Roe vs. Wade, U.S. Supreme Court 410 U.S. 113, 1973. 10 All pre-birth developmental facts obtained from Heritage House ’76, Inc. via http://www.abortionfacts.com/literature/literature_9438MS.asp, accessed September 22, 2008. 11 THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.
12 Abortion descriptions obtained from the American Pregnancy Association via http://www.americanpregnancy.org/unplannedpregnancy/medicalabortions.html, accessed September 22, 2008. 13 Abortion descriptions obtained from the American Pregnancy Association via http://www.americanpregnancy.org/unplannedpregnancy/medicalabortions.html, accessed September 22, 2008. 14Abortion descriptions obtained from the American Pregnancy Association via http://www.americanpregnancy.org/unplannedpregnancy/medicalabortions.html, accessed September 22, 2008. 15 Abortion descriptions obtained from the American Pregnancy Association via http://www.americanpregnancy.org/unplannedpregnancy/surgicalabortions.html, accessed September 22, 2008. 16 Abortion descriptions obtained from the American Pregnancy Association via http://www.americanpregnancy.org/unplannedpregnancy/surgicalabortions.html, accessed September 22, 2008. 17 Abortion descriptions obtained from the American Pregnancy Association via http://www.americanpregnancy.org/unplannedpregnancy/surgicalabortions.html, accessed September 22, 2008. 18 Abortion descriptions obtained from the American Pregnancy Association via http://www.americanpregnancy.org/unplannedpregnancy/surgicalabortions.html, accessed September 22, 2008. 19 The Golden Rule, taught by Jesus in Matthew 7:12, “in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.
20 THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society 22 The Declaration of Independence via http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/index.htm,accessed September 22, 2008. 26 The U.S. Constitution via http://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_Am1.html, accessed September 22, 2008. 28 Jefferson’s Letter to the Danbury Baptists, Library of Congress, via http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9806/danpre.html, accessed September 22, 2008. 29 Excerpted from What Really Ails America, condensed from a speech by William J. Bennett, delivered December 7, 1993 at the Heritage Foundation, Washington, D.C., reprinted in Reader's Digest, April, 1994; via http://www.higherpraise.com/illustrations/america.htm, accessed September 22, 2008. 30 John J. Pitney, Jr., “The Tocqueville Fraud,” The Weekly Standard, November 13, 1995, via http://www.tocqueville.org/pitney.htm, accessed September 22, 2008. 33 Thomas Watson, The Doctrine of Repentance, Banner of Truth. 34 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It's_the_economy,_stupid 35 The 2008 Democratic National Platform, The Democratic National Convention Committee, via http://www.demconvention.com/assets/downloads/2008-Democratic-Platform-final.pdf, accessed September 21, 2008. 36 The 2008 Republican Platform, Republican National Committee, via http://www.gop.com/2008Platform/Values.htm, accessed September 22, 2008. 37 One such instance was at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, in August 2008. 38 Illinois Senate Committee Action Reports, via http://www.jillstanek.com/archives/2008/02/links_to_barack.html, accessed September 22, 2008. 39 Michelle Obama, A Message From Michelle Obama, Obama for Illinois Campaign, February 17, 2004, via http://www.jillstanek.com/archives/2008/05/michelle_obamas.html, accessed September 22, 2008.

Source: http://www.logoslogic.info/Guest/Abortion..pdf