OPEN: (We showed a legal commentary on abortion by Judge Napolitano (Fox News Contributor) http://video.foxnews.com/v/4715240588001/napolitano-on-abortion-its-not-a-controversy-its-killing/?#sp=show-clips ... We began at the beginning and showed it thru 1:46 time marker)
On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court legalized abortion-on-demand in all 50 states. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan issued a proclamation designating January 22nd to be National Sanctity of Human Life Day.
Last Year (2015) abortion became a hot-button issue because a group of pro-life activists released a series of undercover videos showing their covert discussions with Planned Parenthood officials. The pro-life activists posed as buyers of human baby body parts and recorded all the conversations for release to the public. The resulting backlash turned out to be REALLY embarrassing to Pro-abortion movement.
Some of conversations included…
• Dr. Deborah Nucatola, Planned Parenthood’s senior director for medical services told actors posing as organ traffickers: “We’ve been very good at getting heart, lung, liver, because we know that. So I’m not gonna crush that part. I’m gonna basically crush below, I’m gonna crush above, and I’m gonna see if I can get it all intact.”
• In another video Holly O’Donnell, a former StemExpress technician who harvested the parts from the aborted babies at a Planned Parenthood clinic explained: “We were asked to procure certain tissues like brain, livers, thymus, pancreas, heart, lungs, and pretty much anything on the fetus. It’s basically a huge trafficking of fetal tissues. StemExpress is a company that hires procurement techs to draw blood and dissect dead fetuses and sell the parts to researchers.”
• In a 3rd video Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast Research Director Melissa Farrell was shown trying to negotiate a business agreement with investigators posing as organ buyers. They discussed how they could defend increased payments for more valuable organs even though the law only permits payment for costs. “It’s all just a matter of line items,” she says.
(http://thefederalist.com/2015/09/29/a-quick-and-easy-guide-to-the-planned-parenthood-videos/)
I could tell you more… but what I’ve just read is really bad enough as it is.
The videos were basically an exposé of the dark underbelly of the abortion industry. And a lot of politicians/ media and entertainment stars were furious.
How dare pro-life folks deceive Planned Parenthood into telling… the truth.
Many even said that the videos were faked.
But they weren’t.
Still, pro-abortion folks have adamantly refused to accept the obvious: this is an evil industry. But why would politicians, the media and many in the entertainment industry continue to defend this?
Well, there are at least a couple of reasons:
1st - to them - this is not a child.
It’s just tissue.
It’s really not life yet.
Is that true?
Well, no.
Biblically there are several passages that tell us the baby in the womb is a baby in the womb. In our passage this morning from Psalm 139 for example we read:
• “you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”
• “My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place”
• “Your eyes saw my unformed body” (Psalm 139:13-16)
Later, in the book of Jeremiah, God says to Jeremiah:
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you…” Jeremiah 1:5
And when Mary came to her cousin Elizabeth to share that she was going to bear the Christ child, Elizabeth replied: “As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.” Luke 1:44
The Bible is very clear on the fact that God made us in the womb, and that God regards babies in the womb as being children - not tissue.
So, that’s the Bible…
What about science?
Well, look at this picture: (We put a graphic on the screen that showed children in the womb from 1 month on thru the 9th month)
Looks suspiciously like a baby doesn’t it?
Every month that child is unmistakably a child.
But pro-abortion proponents say it’s STILL just tissue.
So let’s consider the issue of “tissue”.
(We put a meme on the screen showing an eagle egg on one side and a human baby in the womb on the other - http://lifeonmavenue.blogspot.com/2012_08_01_archive.html)
Over here (pointing to the Eagle egg) is an Eagle egg.
Did you realize that it is illegal to destroy such eggs. In addition it is illegal to destroy the eggs of various other birds and various turtle species. And that’s understandable. Those birds and turtles are all endangered species.
But (pointing again to the egg) that’s just an egg.
It’s just tissue.
It’s not REALLY a bird is it?
Well, as far as scientists are concerned… yes it is an bird.
And if you destroy that egg, you can fined and even imprisoned.
But, if that’s bird (pointing to the picture) then THAT’S a baby.
(We put up a meme showing the meaning of the word “Fetus” found at http://www.personhood.com/14_disturbing_facts_about_abortion_that_you_need_to_know)
Even the name “Fetus” declares that that’s a child inside the womb
Fetus means: “a LITTLE child
Another approach pro-abortion forces use to push their agenda is to say:
“This ‘fetus’ belongs to the woman”.
Or another way to say it is “It’s MY body!”
The baby is still inside the womb of the woman.
The baby is still PART of her body.
Therefore (they claim) the baby is hers to keep… or destroy.
Thus, the parent owns the child.
BUT it’s not REALLY a child - it’s an object.
It’s a commodity to be possessed or discarded.
Down thru the ages pagan cultures have often seemed to look at children that way.
• Years ago I read an article in “Biblical Archeological Review” where they talked about the city-state of Carthage (it rivaled Rome, in its day, for power). Archeologists unearthed the sacrifices that Carthaginians made and they made a startling discovery.
They found the sacrifices changed over the years. When Carthage was a young city, the sacrifices were all of animals, but as Carthage grew bigger, the sacrifices were of children.
Why? As Carthage grew it needed children to build their civilization. Children were valuable, animals were disposable. But as the city grew larger, space was at a premium and more food was needed. Thus, as the city grew, animals (food) became valuable while their children became possessions to be disposed of.
• In ancient Rome (just across the Mediterranean) children were seen as the possession of the father of the household. If a father saw his child as being undesirable he could (by law) place it outside to die. The child was his possession to be disposed of.
• In modern day China, the central government mandated each family could only have one child. Families there began to realize that they only had one chance at getting what they wanted as their child and so they began to use abortion to weed out children they didn’t want, and sonograms to find out the nature and the sex of the child in the womb. If it came to a choice between a boy or a girl being aborted… which sex of child do you think we most often aborted? That’s right – the girl. Boys were more highly prized.
The child became their possession to be disposed of at their discretion.
When a person says “it’s my body” – they are declaring that child inside of them is not a child, but an object. A commodity to be destroyed or disposed of at will.
But it goes farther than that.
Abortion-rights folks want to keep God out of the picture. (https://anotherchristianblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/abortion-obama-god-and-the-unborn.jpg
- The cartoon showed a man with the title “Obama” on his clothes, challenging God coming out of the clouds and touching his finger to that of a child. I blacked out the word “Obama” because I wanted this not to be about politics).
One graphic I saw recently showed a woman wearing a t-shirt with this written on it:
"My Body
My Sexuality
My Choice
My MORALITY
My Right!"
My morality?
You know what she’s saying?
She’s saying I don’t want anybody, especially God, telling me what to do!
But God is involved here.
God does have the right to tell us what to do.
Psalm 139:13 says
“For you (God) created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”
Babies are made in God’s image.
If they’re made in His image, who do they belong to?
God.
We don’t own our children – God does.
And so, if that baby is killed in the womb, God regards it as murder.
In Exodus 21:22-25 God declares "If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows.
But if there is serious injury, you are to take LIFE FOR LIFE, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.”
Notice – this Scripture isn’t talking about women in general. This is talking about a pregnant woman. Her child is the subject of this law.
If someone strikes her so the child is born prematurely… there is a “fine”.
But if the baby is killed or harmed, it’s an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
A LIFE FOR A LIFE.
That truth has carried over to modern day law.
In America, if a pregnant woman is beaten so that her child inside her dies at least 38 states of the Union proclaim that that’s murder.
It’s not tissue.
And it’s not a possession.
And it’s not a commodity… it’s a child.
Abortion is wrong. It’s evil. And it is murder.
So, now what do we do about it?
How do we respond to a culture that promotes the death of babies? How do we respond to businesses like Planned Parenthood – who profit selling baby parts.
Yesterday was Sanctity of Life Day and 100s of 1000s of people marched all across the nation. You could do that.
Or, you could post your information on Facebook and inform others of the evils of this activity with your friends on the internet.
And you could make sure you vote ONLY for candidates who stand for life… rather than death.
There are those who regard abortion in politics as being a “wedge” issue. They don’t regard this debate as being as important as other matters facing our nation. But we need to understand – GOD WILL NOT bless a nation like ours that destroys the life of helpless children in the womb for the sake of convenience. It IS an important issue in politics. And as Christians we MUST place it high in our agenda when it comes to voting for candidates.
But… let’s say we succeed.
Let’s say we close down every abortion mill tomorrow. Let’s say we put Planned Parenthood (and everyone like them) out of business for good.
Then what? Do we just pat ourselves on the back and go back to business as usual?
Well, there’s a problem here.
Because even if we do shut down all abortion suppliers in our nation tomorrow, that doesn’t solve the root problem. The root problem is girls who sleep with their boyfriends and end up getting pregnant and feeling trapped. They got caught doing something they ought not to have done, but the boy often escapes without penalty.
She now has a baby on the way… and she’s not sure what to do about it.
Yes, what that boy and girl did was sin – it’s called fornication.
But it’s the girl who has to carry that child for about 9 months and there’s no escaping the fact that – she’s pregnant and there’s no daddy.
How should we deal with that as Christians?
Well, we’re a church and we have 2 roles to play here.
1st We need to stand for morality.
We can’t say: “Well, no problem.”
We can’t say: “It’s ok. You didn’t do anything wrong” because it’s NOT ok, and they did do something wrong.
You can’t get around that! And we shouldn’t try.
But 2ndly - as a church - we are in the business of healing broken lives.
We are in the business of putting back together again that which has been torn apart.
This girl is now trapped… she’s pregnant.
And IF she realizes she shouldn’t have done what she did, then it’s our job to take her under our wing and help her through that pregnancy.
If we’re not there for her in her pregnancy we simply add to the pressure to take the life of her child… because that’s all that left to her to avoid the shame and guilt of this result of her sleeping with her boyfriend.
But IF she’s repentant then we should find ways to help her. We should do things like
• Throw her a baby shower.
• Help her financially.
• And if need be – help her to find a family that would adopt the child.
• In short – if she’s repentant - then we need to help her in any way we can.
As a church we are called to help the helpless correct what has been wrong in their lives.
Now, there’s one more issue here.
What about the girl who has had the abortion.
I read the following stories of women who’d had an abortion on a website on the internet:
(http://www.abort73.com/testimony/)
ILLUS: A 21 year old woman wrote: “I recently had an abortion. At first I wanted it over with; now I'm very upset I made that choice. My boyfriend and I thought abortion was the best choice. But it’s not… It hurts me every day. There hasn't been a day go by that I haven’t balled my eyes out. I wish I had my baby back. I've kept this to myself because I'm ashamed. I feel alone and hurt. My baby would have been so beautiful, and I killed it…”
ILLUS: Another 21 year old woman wrote “I was numb even after the procedure was done, and I woke up in the worst pain ever. It didn’t hit me until I left the place. I burst into tears in the street, and I haven’t stopped crying since. I want to go back and get my baby. I feel like a monster that doesn’t deserve to live. I hate myself for doing that. I don’t know why I did it, and I cant live with myself. I don’t know what to do; I feel scared and empty.”
ILLUS: An 18 yr old wrote: “Last weekend, on Friday, December 11, 2015, I did something that is now eating me alive. It's been a week since I've had my abortion. I was actually taking it pretty well the first day because I knew what had to be done. But Saturday night came along, and everything I was holding in just hit me late at night. I was having a panic attack and a mental break down…”
What can we say to girls like that?
They’ve made a choice and they can’t take it back and they feel scared, empty, abandoned… and evil.
What can we say to girls like that?
Well, let me close with the story of a woman named Hannah Rose Allen:
CLOSE: “It deeply saddens me when I receive unloving comments, from those who claim to be pro-life, about the abortion I had as a teenager. The way our society often causes post-abortive women to feel grieves my heart.
Many women (and men) carry the secret of a past abortion for decades because it is a forbidden topic of grief that cripples many with shame and guilt. They suffer in silence because they are terrified of what people might say or think of them, since it was, after all, their choice. Quite frankly, a woman who has had an abortion is often portrayed as one unworthy of love and forgiveness. I am here to tell you that many women, including me, regret our “choice” and wish with our entire beings we could undo it.
Yes, abortion is murder, but without minimizing that truth, we must distinguish between the devastating act itself, and the woman who allows the act to be performed on her unborn child.
We also must take into consideration the confusion created by this form of murder being sanctioned by the law and by much of society.
After all, if it’s legal, it must be right and good.
We can be pro-life and against abortion, yet at the same time: loving, accepting, affirming, and compassionate to those who have endured the heartbreaking tragedy of abortion. Just as Christ doesn’t condone our sin, yet He loves us in the midst of it. We need truth illuminating love in order to be effective in the pro-life movement, as well as in the rest of life.
Many times when a woman chooses to have an abortion, she is already a broken, hurting person desperately seeking a quick fix to repair a tough situation.
Some pro-lifers find it easy to judge and condemn women for choosing abortion yet what are they doing to encourage women to embrace LIFE instead? Are the women being supported practically, emotionally, and spiritually during their time of crisis?
How easy it is to pronounce harsh judgment when one is not personally faced with such a crisis.
The unborn and the women in unplanned pregnancies both need to be fought for.
We need to pray and ask for God’s heart for both sides because He has a plan and purpose for both and loves both equally!
Being pro-life means being pro-every-life.
When I was faced with an unintended pregnancy, my parents, unhesitatingly welcomed me back home with open arms. I pray that the Christ-like way they loved me will be an example to others on how to respond positively to women facing similar circumstances. Women who do embrace life need to be supported and commended for their choice.
How easy it is to talk as if one is pro-life when one has all of the answers but none of the problems.
Abortion is not the unforgivable sin, though humans may attempt to place it in a category of its own. God is mighty to forgive --- and wash us clean of each and every sin, if we humbly repent and turn from it.
As Corrie ten Boom said, 'There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.'"
(http://www.lifenews.com/2013/08/12/i-deeply-regret-my-abortions-and-will-be-a-voice-for-my-babies-now/)
My point is this:
We live in evil times when the life of an unborn child is treated like mere tissue and is disposed of by a cruel and heartless society.
But we also need to remember that we are sinners – saved by grace. We didn’t do anything to deserve the forgiveness and love of Jesus. If others knew the things you and I have done, or thought or said… we’d crawl away under a rock and die.
We need to remember that when dealing with girls who have become pregnant doing things they shouldn’t have done. We need to remember that when dealing with women who’ve made and regretted the choice of abortion.
We need to remember… and be gentle with those who need the same forgiveness Jesus gave us.
But you can’t have that forgiveness if you don’t belong to Him.
INVITATION.
