Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act

This week the House of Representatives passed HR1797 – “Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act”.  This bill will restrict abortions from 20 weeks forward in all 50 states.  Of course the Senate will ignore the bill and President Obama, the most abortion minded president this country has ever seen, would veto it if it reached his desk.  The House took up this legislation in light of the Kermit Gosnell conviction in Philadelphia a few weeks ago and the usual rhetoric from the left has surfaced.  Nancy Pelosi is recorded as saying “yet another Republican attempt to endanger women. It is disrespectful to women. It is unsafe for families and it is unconstitutional.”  It is always interesting to me how the Constitution is always brought into this debate and yet Nancy Pelosi also said, when asked directly by a reporter about Gosnell, that this should not be about politics because this issue of a woman’s right to choose was “sacred ground” to her as a practicing Catholic.  The last time I looked at the Constitution I saw a phrase in there that said we have the “RIGHT TO LIFE.”  Interesting, I know.  When it comes to the abortion debate, Mrs. Pelosi is happy to invoke the Constitution when she feels like something has trampled on her right or anyone’s right to choose death, but when faced with the real question of the murder of innocent lives, we need to leave the Constitution out of the debate because it’s not a political issue.  I just wish for once, our politicians would stop talking out both sides of their mouth and face the truth here.  The plain and simple truth is that abortion is MURDER!  There is no way around this, the medical facts prove that a fetus is a living human being and he/she can most definitely feel pain when killed in the gruesome manner of a late term abortion.

This bill passed the house by 228-196 margin, with six democrats voting in favor of the legislation.  This really is a victory, even if the Senate does ignore the bill.  It’s a victory for the pro-life movement because this legislation seeks to restrict and not merely control the abortion procedure.  Marjorie Dannenfeiser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List said this is what makes this legislation different from past pieces of abortion legislation.  She has indicated that this is a significant step forward in the fight to end all abortion in America.  Penny Nance, president of Concerned Women for America, called it “the most important pro-life bill to be considered by the U.S. Congress in the last 10 years.”  I also believe this is a victory for the Pro-life movement because it keeps this issue on the national stage.  The last thing we want is for the debate to die out because Gosnell is in jail now and for people to think – “wow, glad that’s over, hope nothing like that will ever happen again.”  This is happening all over the country!  If you live in Maryland, it’s happening right in your own back yard in Germantown as Carhart continues to perform late term abortions with no consequences over Jennifer Morbelli’s death.  The Maryland Department of Health has decided that there was no malpractice by Carhart and no reason to revoke his license.  We know that abortion is malpractice and is a blight on the medical profession.  We know through Abby Johnson’s ministry (And Then There Were None) how difficult it is for abortion clinic workers to leave the profession.  It’s like a black mark on their resumes to have to put down that you worked as an abortion provider or a clinic worker.  Why is that?  Because deep down everyone knows that all abortion is bad and all abortion is wrong. However, if I had to put this in categories, late term abortion would be worse than abortion in the first trimester because of the brutality involved and the pain that is felt by the baby.  This is why this legislation is important – because it restricts and not just controls the abortion procedure.  This debate must stay fresh in people’s minds and this legislation will help facilitate keeping the debate front and center.

The Gruesomeness of Gosnell

As the Kermit Gosnell trial has been proceeding, I’ve remained silent for no other reason than this is all so gruesome I just could not bring myself to even read the reports. I sit back at times and I wonder who these people are, the likes of Carhart, Gosnell, and any other abortion provider? How do they sleep at night? If they have even the smallest amount humanity in them, they certainly are aware that they are killing another human being when they perform abortions. But then, I have to even wonder if they even are human anymore. Are they so influenced by the enemy of our souls and so driven by him to destroy the image and likeness of God that there is no humanity left. I don’t know the answer to that question, only God does and that is for Him to deal with and for us to continue pray for these individuals.

I felt like the time had come to speak out about Gosnell because of an article I read in the Huffington Post. The Huffington Post is a liberal online newspaper and they posted an article on March 26, 2013 entitled “The Questions No One Is Asking About The Kermit Gosnell Case” by Kate Michelman, former president of NARAL (National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League). Her article asks with such unbelief – How could this happen? How in this country where abortion has been legal for 40 years could such a thing ever happen. Her answer was astonishing to me. Ms. Michelman surmised that this happened because the state of Pennsylvania was so intent on passing abortion restricted legislation and completely missed the fact that someone was performing a medical procedure unsupervised. But had this clinic been a Planned Parenthood clinic there would have high medical standards set in place these tragedies could never have occurred. Wow – really???? I don’t know, maybe we should consider the high standards that were put in place at the Delaware Planned Parenthood clinic and compare tragedies. According to Operation Rescue, the Planned Parenthood clinic in Delaware had four botched abortions in the span of five weeks and to top it off they are a training facility for other abortion providers! Now that’s what I call a high standard. According Operation Rescue, fifiteen new abortionists a year are trained in these high quality medical procedures at the Wilmington, DE clinic.

According to Ms. Michelman “Reputable, careful providers of high quality abortion care are under attack” and “the number of abortion providers in the United States declined 38 percent between 1982 and 2005.” Additionally, Ms. Michelman states:

“To compound the provider shortage problem, the Pennsylvania legislature passed a new law in 2011 modeled after a bill on the wish list of the National Right To Life Committee: mandating that the remaining handful of abortion providers come into compliance with volumes of costly regulations designed for ambulatory surgical facilities where much more complex surgeries take place. Today, there are just 13 freestanding providers of surgical abortion care in Pennsylvania, down from 22 two years ago.”

I would think this would make her happy. The Pennsylvania legislature has mandated that abortion facilities come into compliance with regulations designed for surgical facilities. She stated earlier in her article when asking the question of how this happened that the reason was “our policymakers have never viewed abortion as a medical procedure.” Seems to me that the 2011 law takes care of that problem.

Simply stated – abortion is NOT healthcare and never will be. It is a greedy money making institution that seeks to repress minority groups by making them believe that providing abortions at low or no cost is adding quality to their healthcare. There is no care for women here whatsoever, regardless of any social or financial standing. There is only the “love of money; which is a root for all kinds of evil.” (1 Timothy 6:10)

    References


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kate-michelman/kermit-gosnell-abortion_b_2924348.html
http://www.operationrescue.org/archives/competency-of-planned-parenthoods-training-program-questioned-after-rash-of-botched-abortions/

Applauding North Dakota

The Governor of North Dakota, Jack Dalrymple is about to sign into law a bill banning abortions in North Dakota after 6 weeks which is an absolutely amazing step in the right direction for a change.  In addition, there is a second bill on the Governor’s desk that will also ban abortions when a fetal abnormality has been discovered.  (If a ban on abortions in the case of a fetal abnormality was universal, we know that Jennifer Morbeli would most likely be alive today.)  In a time when “blue” states are looking for ways to loosen the abortion restrictions even further, this is a bright light shining in the darkness.  Aside from this new restriction, North Dakota only has ONE abortion clinic in the entire state and even then women must wait 24 hours between scheduling an appointment and arriving at the clinic.  Once she is in the clinic there is counseling, verification of pregnancy, and testing that could last up to five hours, all things that could slow down the decision to go through with the abortion.  North Dakota also does not take Medicaid money for abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or protecting the life of the mother.  According to an article in Time magazine, we are definintely trending in the right direction. 

“In the past two decades, laws like the ones that govern appointments at Red River have been passed with regularity as pro-life state legislators have redrawn the boundaries of legal abortion in the U.S. In 2011, 92 abortion-regulating provisions–a record number–passed in 24 states after Republicans gained new and larger majorities in 2010 in many legislatures across the country. These laws make it harder every year to exercise a right heralded as a crowning achievement of the 20th century women’s movement. In addition to North Dakota, three other states–South Dakota, Mississippi and Arkansas–have just one surgical-abortion clinic in operation. The number of abortion providers nationwide shrank from 2,908 in 1982 to 1,793 in 2008, the latest year for which data is available. Getting an abortion in America is, in some places, harder today than at any point since it became a constitutionally protected right 40 years ago this month.”

This is finally some good news to read and should inspire us all to keep praying and know that there is hope; little by little the light will dispel all of the dark places in the land!

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2132761,00.html#ixzz2Okuo4PkL

Marking 40 Years of Roe

Today marked the commemoration of 40 years of legalized abortion in America.  It is unfortunate that the events of this week even had to take place.  This is a truly sad commentary on a nation that is willing to kill more than 55 million of her children.  On the sidewalk, in front of the Supreme Court this afternoon, The International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church with Archbishop Craig Bates and Fr. Terry Gensemer of CEC for Life led us in a litany for the pre-born.  This was a beautiful service that committed, to God, all of precious babies who have died in this last year at the hands of abortionists across the land.  It was an opportunity for us to seek God’s forgiveness for the sins of our Nation and to thank Him and praise Him for his mercy and grace.

We shared the sidewalk in front of the Supreme Court today with a pro-choice group of about 50-75 people who shouted and chanted “abortion on demand without apology,” “a fetus is not a baby,” and “women are not incubators.”  In the midst of their chants were those who cheered and laughed, shouted and screamed as if they were at a sporting event.  I felt very sad for that group of individuals – how can you cheer on death and be so jubilant about the fact that someone can legally kill another individual, an individual who has no means of fighting for their own life.  I prayed that someone from that group would see the light of Christ in us, that God would breakthrough to one person’s heart.

I was so blessed by the many young adults that I saw in the crowd today. Their enthusiasm and their passion for life is truly infectious.  Their energy level is high and nothing will stop these young people.  This is the survivor generation – the generation born after 1973 – the generation that will be instrumental in bringing an end to abortion in America!