Psalm 139:13-14
For you 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.
Before the election, there was much debate in Christian circles of who to vote for and what system of ethics should be used in coming to a conclusion. Abortion was a hot button topic but not as hot as normal. It was different this time as many true followers of Jesus and many psuedo-Christians moved the abortion issue down on the priority list.
I really believe that most bought into the illusion that the issue was a non-issue and that there wouldn’t be any real ramifications…I mean Roe v. Wade was not overturned in the last 8 years by the Supreme Court or a constitutional amendment…so why should it be a deciding factor? What I believe many failed to realize is that the issue is far more reaching then Roe v. Wade. It has to do with Executive Orders and smaller laws and probably a bit down the road FOCA.
Today, the day after the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Obama has started down the road he has consistently said he would take. On his third day of office and his second day of business he used his executive power to overturn the “Mexico City Policy”. When the policy was in tact federal tax funds only went to organizations that “neither perform nor actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations.”
Our federal tax dollars will now be given to organizations that promote and perform abortions in countries around the world. My understanding is that tax dollars still cannot be used for the actual procedure, but it can be used to support the overall operation of the organization and promotion of abortion; thereby, freeing up other money the organization has to actually perform the procedure In short, money that was given to organizations to save lives, prevent and cure disease, and feed the hungry will be diverted to other organizations who will promote abortion and end life.
Please know that my heart has not changed in my love for both the unborn children and women who have had abortions. If you have read my previous posts on the subject or talked to me personally I think you know my heart. It is always painful to write about this subject, and I don’t write this post as an I told you so. It is simply a reminder that our first ethical responsibility in loving other humans is the protection of life itself. If your ethical priorities have been out of order I beg you to put them where they belong. In this matter, on this day, justice was not done, and the innocent were not protected. It is a sad day for the world and “the cloud of witnesses” to its sadness is great indeed.
I am still praying for President Obama, and I hope that you will continue to as well. I Timothy 2.
Love 
January 23, 2009 at 9:09 pm
It is simply a reminder that our first ethical responsibility in loving other humans is the protection of life itself.
That’s nice. But women round the world don’t count as life in need of protection?
Sixty thousand women have died, each year, because they couldn’t get access to safe legal abortion.
Family planning clinics closed down in some of the poorest countries in the world. Women couldn’t get access to the only health care available to them.
And worst of all, after November 2005, the global gag rule also applied to anti-AIDS work.
If you truly care for human life, and regard women as human even if they live in faraway countries and in dire poverty, then be grateful that President Obama, fulfilling the first ethical responsibility in protecting life itself, repealed the lethal global gag rule.
Or if you’re just a Pharisee who doesn’t care how many women need to have abortions, how many women end up having to have unsafe illegal abortions, how many women die, just so long as you can wash your hands and say your tax dollars didn’t go to pay for their family planning clinic, well: go ahead. Attack President Obama for caring more for their welfare than for your Pharisaic morality.
January 27, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Hello Jesurgislac,
I appreciate your taking time to comment. I doubt you have read my other posts on the subject or much else on the blog. If so, then I would hope you wouldn’t come to such negative conclusions about me and would not put me in the Pharisee camp.
A couple of things to consider:
1. I attempted to be very careful in stating exactly what the “Mexico City Policy” did and did not do related to abortion and abortion funding. It is not accurate to make it sound like the Mexico City Policy intentionally hinders the fight against AIDS. The issue is which organizations will receive funding based on their approach. There are obvious disagreements of how the money should be used and who should receive it, but it is inaccurate for either side to say there is less funding to fight the battle on AIDS regardless of whether the “MCP” is in affect or not. For example when the Mexico City Policy was in affect World Vision received funds that would have gone in previous years to Planned Parenthood, but now that will probably be reversed…same dollars but a different organization with a different approach and different ethics. So in reality whether you like or do not like the MCP comes down to whether you prefer organizations like Planned Parenthood or organizations like World Vision. In line with my ethics I prefer the organizations that are more concerned with the rights of all life then the ones who are more interested in the lives of some and who have an agenda of population control.
2. It is a stretch to link the tragedy of 60,000 women who died each year in unsafe abortions with the “Mexico City Policy”. I would also disagree that the solution to this tragedy is safe abortion. In years past my wife would have agreed with you about abortion, but now she sees a much better solution: 60,000 more births followed by the parents raising the children or putting them up for adoption or a reduction in the number of pregnancies to begin with. Better medical care particularly in poorer nations is desperately needed: 500,000 women die each year in childbirth or pregnancy related complications. For the record about 42 million babies each year don’t see the light of day due to abortion and about 129 million births take place each year. For the mother, childbirth is more dangerous than abortion: (.003875 chance of death versus .001428). The answer to this great problem is not more abortion but pregnancy reduction for those who do not intend to go give birth and better medical care for those who do.
In closing, I hope you will re-consider the right to life of all as you enjoy your life and freedom today.
January 27, 2009 at 2:42 pm
I think you’re right about this. A lot of people I know seemed to just put the whole abortion issue on the backburner. But, in my book, there isn’t really a more important issue than this one. My vote will always reflect the view that abortion is, in fact, the ending of a human life and taking from the unborn their God-given right to life.