Category Archives: reproductive rights

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

Day 25 – October 20, 2012

Today is the last day of a week that has been focused on praying for women who have had abortions.  I’ve spent time this week trying to focus my prayer on the tremendous need for healing for women who’ve had an abortion, and who need healing from the pain and agony suffered over having made the decision to kill her unborn child.  This may be experienced immediately or it may not be felt for years after.  I thought back to something I mentioned earlier in the week about those who promote abortion as not only a justifiable option but as a woman’s right.  I become angry when I hear the term “Reproductive Rights” and I wonder who came up with that terminology anyway.  I decided to do a little research on the term, looking for a good working definition and found something interesting.  According to the World Health Organization, Reproductive Rights are defined as:

“the recognition of the basic right of all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children and to have the information and means to do so, and the right to attain the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health. They also include the right of all to make decisions concerning reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and violence.”

Wow, now that is interesting.  We need whole organizations and lawyers (I’m thinking of NARAL and the National Women’s Law Center) to protect this?  The last time I checked, no one in America is told when to have a child and how many children they must have and we already have plenty of laws against discrimination and violence.  This is crazy.  This term is thrown around like women can’t already make this decision, ideally with their husband.  It’s the “responsibly” part of this definition that pro-aborts ignore.  They want women to believe that it’s OK to make the decision to have that one night stand and if they get pregnant, well just get rid of it, it’s part of your reproductive rights.  There is no reason to be responsible for the life you just participated in creating.

God says differently.  In the book of Jeremiah he says “before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you” (Jeremiah 1:5).  God also played a part in creating the life inside the womb.  In fact, He has known from all eternity about the life of that child and has planned for that child to accomplish something in this life.  God also says in the book of Jeremiah, chapter 29, verse 11, “for I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”

Today as I prayed, I felt a particular burden for those who promote the pro-choice idea as something that is good for women.  It is not good for women.  It is harmful to women.  It is devastating to women.  The lives of 50 million children have been lost to this lie. 50 million children that God had plans for, plans for hope and plans for the future.  God’s plan does not include children being unwanted or abandoned.  That argument is thin at best.  And, yes even in  the cases of rape and incest, while the acts committed against a woman are violent and inexcusable, if a life has been conceived through that act, then God has a plan and it is a plan that can be trusted.

Pray for those at the forefront of promoting abortion as a reproductive right.  Pray that their eyes are opened to the lie that they have bought into, but also that their eyes will be opened to a loving and merciful God who waits for them with open arms.