Defending the Unborn From Attacks By Christian Leaders

Today Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life came out quickly and loudly to condemn the testimony of Christian church leaders and Jewish groups whose comments were intended to maintain the status quo on abortion in the US.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 /Christian Newswire/ -- Testimony by a Methodist minister and a Jewish group that the proposed informed consent for abortion bill pending before the state Senate would establish religious opinion as legal fact is absurd, said Fr. Frank Pavone, President of the National Pro-Life Religious Council.

“The point at which a human’s life begins is scientifically and objectively provable,” said Fr. Pavone, “and that point is when a human sperm fertilizes a human egg. The informed consent bill before the Indiana Senate would establish scientific fact as legal fact. Whether or not a particular religious belief coincides with scientific fact is as irrelevant as whether religious belief also coincides with the law that citizens may not steal.”

The measure in question, S. 135, would require that a doctor inform a woman at least 18 hours prior to an abortion of the physical risks of the procedure, of the possibility that her unborn child might feel pain during the abortion, and that human life begins when a human ovum is fertilized by a human sperm. The Senate health committee is scheduled to vote on the bill next week.

Yes, sad as it is to say, there are actually large coalitions of Christians devoted to sheltering the lies and rhetoric of organizations like Planned Parenthood and NARAL [in the US] or Abortion Rights Coalition [in Canada].

Only last month in Washington D.C. a courageous United Methodist theologian delivered an address to some of his fellow Christians denouncing abortion and detailing some of the ungodly actions of his very own church in its efforts to preserve abortion rights! His defense of the sanctity of life was admirable and all faithful Christians will thank God for his courage.

"We are in a fight for life. In this fight there is a place for prophetic confrontation, for effective polemic, for appropriate protest, and for political engagement and action,” said the Rev. Dr. Billy Abraham of Perkins School of Theology. He was speaking at a small worship service organized by Lifewatch, an unofficial pro-life caucus within United Methodism.

The United Methodist Building on Capitol Hill in the nation’s capital is the headquarters of religious support for abortion rights. There, the United Methodist Board of Church and Society and other mainline lobby groups oppose any proposed legal restrictions on abortion.

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Abraham concluded: “The state does not kill us. It is milder and smarter in its actions; it sanctions the slaughter of the innocents and wraps its evil in a cloak of rhetorical deceit about freedom of choice. The court chaplains to this holocaust, of course, are all too ready to provide spurious justifications for such evil.”

Who specifically are these court chaplains to the holocaust of abortion?

The Institute on Religion and Democracy just a few short weeks ago identified these groups by calling for mainline church officials to disavow their pro-abortion rights stance.

Washington, DC—Monday, January 22 marks the 34th year of unrestricted legalized abortion in the United States. Abortion will long be a contentious issue in America. However, for mainline church officials to step away from the traditions and teachings of the church to support unrestricted abortion on demand is appalling. Mainline denominations have plunged in membership for 40 years. The refusal of mainline church officials to affirm historic Christian teachings about the sacredness of all human life bares a large part of the blame.

The IRD's UM Action Director Mark Tooley released this statement:

Mainline church agencies belong to the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, which has opposed all proposed restrictions on abortion, including partial-birth abortion, and even parental notification. How appalling that mainline church officials have resultantly ended up sounding more like Planned Parenthood or the National Organization of Women than like the spiritual heirs of the apostles.

Are things any better in Canada? No. There are a shocking number of church denominations in our nation who fall into the exact same category as those described above.

The pro-life movement probably does not need to be so concerned about winning over these church groups. Unless it became absolutely necessary I don’t think it would be a good investment of our time.

When the voices of active, orthodox Christians throughout Canada are lifted up loudly and clearly and in sufficient numbers in defense of the unborn, we will capture sufficient attention from our democratic representatives to institute the new laws required to save innocent lives.