Two Virginia politicians have faced backlash this week regarding statements they made on abortion. What we’re going to do this evening is look at those comments and some of the recent news in state abortion laws.
The Commonwealth of Virginia had proposed a law that would have expanded abortion parameters. The bill failed, but many were shocked by the cold manner with which bill sponsor Kathy Tran discussed the allowances under her law, if passed. (more…)
This week, the New York legislature voted 38-24 to expand the state’s abortion laws. Those in attendance gave this measure a standing ovation. Also this week, new Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker vowed to make the Land of Lincoln the most progressive state on abortion laws in America. States are competing for how radical they can be on abortion laws. Worldwide there were 41 million abortions last year.
In 1996, President Bill Clinton said that abortion should be “safe, legal, and rare.”
And now, it is celebrated. (more…)
Truth matters. Or at least, it should.
Alabama, Oregon, West Virginia.
All three states had state ballot issues related to abortion. The ballot issue narrowly passed in West Virginia, soundly passed in Alabama and was soundly defeated in Oregon.
The Alabama and West Virginia amendments both included the phrase: “Nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion.”
Based on the new state constitutional amendments, if Roe v Wade were overturned by the Supreme Court, there would not be a right within those states to have an abortion. The new law also potentially enables state legislatures more freedom in passing laws that help preserve the life and rights of the unborn.
These two amendments are based off of another pro life amendment that Tennessee passed in 2014. Writing for the Huffington Post, Marina Fang argues that these laws “would likely face legal action and would be unenforceable because Roe v. Wade ensures a woman’s right to an abortion.” She goes on to mention that it’s possible that Roe would be overturned.
But even if it’s not overturned, it’s also not a foregone conclusion that these laws would be judged as unconstitutional. Last month, the Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to the Tennessee amendment.
The West Virginia and Alabama laws also are set to eliminate funding for abortions.
In recent years, several states have been active in proposing legislation and constitutional amendments that protect the rights of the unborn.
These are big wins for the pro life movement and for the rights of the unborn. Many lives will be saved as a result of these new laws. It is important that other states pick up the baton and keep fighting for the rights of the unborn. When states fill to pass amendments, as was the case with Oregon, people need to keep fighting.
Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe!
Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.
I saw the new movie “Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer” about former Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell who was sentenced to three life sentences for delivering live babies and then murdering them.
For starters, I think it’s a movie that a pro-life person (such as myself) will like. And I think pro-choice people will sit this one out. I don’t know if I really see minds getting changed as a result of this movie.
Given Gosnell’s low budget, I thought it was very well done. And while it’ll undoubtedly cater to a largely Christian audience, it’s not a family film (it’s rated PG-13). And the subject matter is difficult as it talks about abortion and Gosnell’s lack of regard for the lives of the babies he murdered.
You have a man arrested for running an abortion clinic despite the fact that he wasn’t board certified, he had staff doing medical procedures who hadn’t been properly trained. He was working in squalid conditions. The end credits show a picture from the initial law enforcement raid with a stray cat inside the clinic. One of the first scenes of the movie features the investigators going through the clinic and finding body parts of babies discarded in various places, such as refrigerators.
The man was a butcher. Late term abortions. Doing procedures in an unsanitary environment. Inducing labor and then murdering babies who were born.
One of the things the movie tries to do is capture the inattention from the media regarding the story at the time. Ironically, that is also true of the movie. It’s not like Gosnell was operating 90 years ago. His clinic was raided in 2011 and he was convicted in 2013.
Writing for the DailyWire, Matt Walsh points out that Rotten Tomatoes has just six reviews of Gosnell. Walsh offers a key reason as to the lack of attention to Gosnell’s story:
Any case of illegal abortion will inevitably lead to difficult questions about legal abortion. After all, what is the substantive difference between killing a baby moments after it leaves the birth canal and killing it moments before? How can an advocate of unrestricted abortion become an opponent of infanticide? Any argument offered to justify late-term abortion must also apply to post-term abortion.
-Matt Walsh, DailyWire
I think Walsh is right on this point.
How do we view what Gosnell was doing?
Was he a crusader who was trying to help women in a poor community? That was part of his defense.
Or was he a murderer?
Was what he did technically illegal? Delivering baby and using scissors to snap their necks. Was it technically illegal but not really that different from aborting a baby a few inches further into the birth canal?
Or is it murder?
I believe that answer is clear.
It’s a difficult issue within our larger society. When does one have a right to life? It’s a pretty fundamental question.
I understand that many people are pro-choice but don’t support late term abortion (although it is legal in some states). But I think the distinctions people try to make are arbitrary. That a baby has a right to life once there’s a heartbeat or once the baby is viable and could survive outside the womb.
What is it about those stages that inherently confers a right to life?
From the moment of conception, a baby is distinct from both of the parents and a separate life.
Gosnell did a little over a million dollars in this opening weekend. I would think the audience was overwhelmingly people who are pro-life. As the Los Angles Times movie review said “The film never loses sight of the choir to which it is plainly preaching.”
Will this movie be a turning point in the national conversation on abortion? I doubt it.
But it is a movie that shows these abortions for what they were: murder.
Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe!
