WHAT SHOULD WE THINK ABOUT ABORTION?
QUESTION: What is your standard for right and wrong?
OPENING ILLUSTRATION… Bush Blocks U.S. Abortion Aid By SANDRA SOBIERAJ, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - On Monday’s anniversary of the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, President Bush signed a memorandum reinstating the full abortion restrictions on U.S. overseas aid that his father and former President Reagan had instituted before him.
``It is my conviction that taxpayer funds should not be used to pay for abortions or advocate or actively promote abortion either here or abroad,’’ Bush wrote in his executive memorandum to the U.S. Agency for International Development, which oversees family-planning aid to foreign countries.
It was Bush’s first major policy action since becoming president on Saturday.
It reverses the Clinton administration’s position on unrestricted family-planning aid and bars U.S. money to international groups that use their own money to support abortion - either through performing the surgery, counseling on abortion as a family-planning option or lobbying foreign governments on abortion policy.
On his first workday in the White House, Bush also gave a written statement to marchers on the 28th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.
``The promises of our Declaration of Independence are not just for the strong, the independent or the healthy. They are for everyone, including unborn children,’’ his statement said. ``We share a great goal, to work toward a day when every child is welcomed in life and protected in law ... to build a culture of life, affirming that every person at every stage and season of life, is created equal in God’s image.’’
Abortion-rights supporter Kate Michelman saw it as Bush’s latest act of war on women’s reproductive rights, following on his nomination of staunch abortion opponents to key Cabinet posts - former Sen. John Ashcroft for attorney general and former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson as secretary of health and human services.
Bush ``is using his presidential powers quite aggressively already to undermine a woman’s right to choose and clear a pathway to the overturning of Roe v. Wade,’’ Michelman said. ``I think it’s a harbinger of things to come - Supreme Court appointments, judicial appointments ... . There’s quite a bit of harm that can be done to women’s reproductive rights.
``He clearly is bending to the will of the far right on these issues. He so quickly shed his facade and his cloak of moderation on this issue,’’ she said.
Current law bans the use of U.S. funds for any abortions in foreign countries. Former Presidents Reagan and Bush further banned U.S. aid to international groups that use their own money to support abortion - either through performing the surgery, counseling on abortion as a family-planning option, or lobbying foreign governments on abortion policy - in what became known as the Mexico City policy because it was announced by Reagan at a 1984 population conference there.
President Clinton repealed the policy, which abortion-rights advocates call ``the global gag rule,’’ two days after he entered office in 1993. It went through several subsequent iterations as the Democratic president reached different compromises with congressional Republicans.
U.S. funds will flow unrestricted to international family-planning groups on Feb. 15 unless the new president acts by executive order to impose abortion restrictions, as Bush has decided to do.
Anti-abortion lawmakers who agreed in last year’s spending bill to let U.S.-assisted family-planning groups do whatever they wanted with their own money gambled that Bush would be elected.
With the Bush White House signaling a decision Monday, abortion opponents celebrated.
``This means that the U.S. government will no longer be using taxpayer dollars to try to legalize abortion in countries in Latin America, Africa and Muslim countries in which the people are strongly opposed to abortion and believe in the protection of unborn children,’’ said Douglas Johnson, legislative director for National Right to Life Committee.
Bush’s written statement to the ``March for Life’’ was delivered by Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., a leader of the anti-abortion movement, to activists gathered on the National Mall.
Asked why Bush wasn’t presenting the statement himself, either in person or by telephone, Fleischer said the president chose the manner in which to deliver his message and it ``signifies that he has an important statement to make.’’
The politically and emotionally charged issue of abortion promised to test Bush’s ability to deliver on his oft-repeated promise to unite Democrats and Republicans.
Since the election was decided, Bush has answered questions on the issue with a relatively tepid reminder: ``As you know, I campaigned as a pro-life candidate.’’
But while he may not himself engage in the sound and fury of the activists who back him, Bush has nominated a staunch abortion opponent for attorney general, former Sen. John Ashcroft, and signaled quick action to reverse Clinton policies supporting access to abortion.
With all that is going on in the news and such, I did not want you to become confused. I want to be able to take it for granted that we all agree that abortion is wrong, but I should not do that. We live in a society where right and wrong are subject to opinion… even among Christians. I would be setting aside my duties as your pastor if I did not remind you of things from time to time.
I. THE LITTLE ONE IS A LIVING SOUL
READ Exodus 21:22-25
READ Luke 1:39-44
Scripture teaches us that the small human being growing inside the womb is a person and has a soul. They are alive. I would simply like to prove this fact, that an unborn fetus is alive, simply on the basis of law. I have read to you the Biblical Law from Exodus. I will also give you examples from United States law. I am not a lawyer, but I think you will find my argument convincing. I know you are thinking, “but the law in the U.S. is to allow abortions and so the fetus is not alive.” Unfortunately, the laws in our country contradict themselves.
1) The Law in Exodus provides that if an unborn child is harmed in any way, that reparations are to be made… even life for life. What would be the point in giving up your life for something that is not alive? Why would God take the life of the one who caused the death if the little one was not alive?
2) You can look up any law code for any city in the United States and you will find that if a pregnant woman is harmed in an attempted murder… there are two counts. Meaning one for the mother and one for the baby. Ex: Ray Carruth, Baltimore Ravens.
3) The United States Military states that if a pregnant woman is murdered it is a double homicide. One for the mother and one for the child.
Simply from a law standpoint… not only Biblical law, but the law of the United States,
both civilian and military… this little miracle growing and growing to maturity is a living soul and should be treated as such. We of course are most concerned with God’s law, which clearly shows that this little unborn person is indeed just that… a person. That little one is alive, that is why not-yet- John in Elizabeth’s womb was able to jump for joy… he was alive and aware, even in the womb.
QUESTION: What is your standard for right and wrong?
II. GOD CREATES THE LITTLE ONE CELL BY CELL
READ Job 10:8-12
READ Ps 139:13-16
The unborn is the creation of God. Little babies are the miracle of God and should be cared for and loved. God creates each person individual and knits each person different. Personality. Likes. Dislikes. Their looks. God fashions each of us in that secret place and does so with the greatest of care. Each of us is His creation. He mold each of our cells the way He, the Creator, sees fit. Cell by cell God fashions each person in the womb and each of us is His personal creation.
III. HUMAN LIFE IS VALUED BY GOD AND SHOULD BE BY MAN
READ Exodus 20:13
READ Matthew 5:21
READ Romans 13:8-10
We find in the Old Testament that part of the Ten Commandments instructs us to value life. When Cain murders Abel in the Book of Genesis, Scripture says that his “blood cries out from the ground.” Murder is a horrific act, which the Bible commands us not to do. God values life and wants us to do the exact same. Jesus confirms this in His teachings, not to murder, and goes on to describe how our hearts should even try to avoid anger. Life is sacred. The book of Romans helps us to see that the path to valuing life is the path of love. If you love your neighbor, will you commit adultery? If you love, will you kill? If you love, will you abort a child? NO! We need to value life as God does.
QUESTION: Is abortion right or wrong?
APPLICATION (KNOW THESE THINGS):
1) ABORTION IS WRONG BECAUSE SCRIPTURE TEACHES SO
2) ABORTION IS WRONG IN ALL SITUATIONS… THERE ARE ALWAYS ALTERNATIVES TO MURDER
3) YOU AS A CHRISTIAN SHOULD BE A CHAMPION FOR THE UNBORN
