There is No Such Thing as “Personally Pro-Life”

Even as I type the title of my article here, I cringe at the shower of outrage that’s about to come my way. No, seriously, I know that many well-meaning people believe that it is possible to be personally pro-life. I’ve been thinking about this recently, and I have to disagree. I’m talking about the people who say, “I wouldn’t personally have an abortion, but it’s not my place to tell others what to do.” Or something like that. Let’s run through some of the ideas and thoughts behind a “personally pro-life” viewpoint.

Would it be okay with you if I made any of the following statements? (Ignore your personal thoughts on these issues. Just take the statements at face value.)

I wouldn’t personally shoot a Mexican crossing the border into the United States, but it’s not my place to tell a Texas landowner what to do.

I wouldn’t personally drink and drive, but it’s not my job to tell you what to do.

I wouldn’t personally rape anyone, but hey, it’s not my business what you do in your own private life.

I wouldn’t personally hold up a bank at gunpoint for a joke, but I’m not going to tell you what’s ok and what’s not.

I wouldn’t personally leave my kid with an abusive babysitter, but I won’t tell you what you should do with your kid.

Thoughts, anyone? Let’s just say that personally, I think those statements are full of junk. Kudos to me if I wouldn’t personally do bad things that would make me a nasty person, a murderer, or an absolutely horrible parent. Should I just pat myself on the back now?

The point in a civilized society isn’t so much what we wouldn’t personally do, though I admit that if everyone would stop personally doing bad things, we’d live in a perfect world. But guess what: that’s not gonna happen in this world, despite our best hopes. There will always be people among us who will personally choose to do wrong things. Therefore the question becomes not what we personally won’t do, but what is wrong for all of society.

I think we can all agree with the following statements:

It’s wrong to shoot an illegal immigrant.

It’s wrong to stab a gas station cashier.

It’s wrong to smother a newborn baby.

It’s wrong to run over a black child with a car.

It’s wrong to strangle an adolescent with Down Syndrome.

It’s wrong to kidnap a woman and kill her.

It’s wrong to end a man’s life because we don’t like him.

It’s wrong to poison an elderly person because we don’t want them around anymore.

Basically, it’s wrong to kill innocent human beings. It doesn’t matter who they are or what position in life they have or what race or gender they are or what environment they came from. It doesn’t matter how old or young or developed or not developed they are. It doesn’t matter if we love them or hate them. It doesn’t matter if they’re convenient or expensive or hard to deal with. All that matters is that they’re human and we do not have the right to kill them. Civilized society agrees with this.

The injustice we face is grave. We have no right to sit on the sidelines and applaud ourselves for our “personal” beliefs.

Except. Except in the cases of the unborn humans in our midst. The only differences they have from us are 1) their environment, 2) their level of dependency, 3) their development, and 4) their size and physical appearance. Since when are those qualifiers for the right to life?

Plenty of people live in different environments – think of people in other countries, in hospitals, or on the street. We don’t have the right to kill any of them. Plenty of people have differing degrees of dependence. What about a person on a ventilator, a newborn baby, a disabled adult, or a regular five-year-old? When does someone become “too dependent” – so much so that we have the right to kill them?

Plenty of people are at different developmental stages – whether you’re talking about mental or physical development. Human life is, in a way, development. Plenty of people are different sizes with different physical appearances. Think of men, women, dwarves, giants, three-year-olds, and people born with a cleft lip. Do any of those things affect our “right” to kill them? Clearly, they don’t in any case we can think of – except the unborn. This is an illogical, unfounded, and entirely unjust exception.

The gravity of this injustice should force us to take a public stand. We cannot afford to be “personally pro-life.” While it’s great if you wouldn’t have an abortion yourself, it’s not enough. Babies are being put to death in horrific ways every single day in our nation and throughout the world. If your only opinion is that you wouldn’t have an abortion, than you’re not actually pro-life. You simply wouldn’t personally have an abortion. I congratulate you on this decision – it’s an excellent one.

But being pro-life means that you think no baby should be sentenced to die in this way. It means that you’re willing to take a stand and say, “Every life is precious, not just the life of my own child. Every baby deserves a chance to live. Every baby has the equal right to life. And I will stand up for that life.” When you can say that, my friend, then you are truly pro-life.

Editor’s Note: This article was first printed at Live Action News on October 3, 2012, and is reprinted here with permission.

You Can End Abortion

**If you are a girl or woman who is being pressured or threatened into having an abortion, please read this article.

**If you are a guy who is trying to stop an abortion, please read this article. (Some of the info in this article may also help parents or friends who are trying to stop an abortion.)

I see you shaking your head, saying it’s not possible.

But, yes, you can.

You can end abortion.

Abortion is THE injustice of our day. Yes, there are many, many injustices. But how many have claimed – and continue to claim – such a high number of lives? You simply cannot stand by and let this genocide continue. Neither can I.

So let’s be honest. Do I really think you can personally end all abortion? Perhaps. I think that God has possibly chosen one person out there to end abortion. A person like David. A person like William Wilberforce. A person like Queen Esther. Or Moses. Or ______.

I also think it’s possible that God has chosen to use multiple voices of multiple people, all acting together to end abortion.  In fact, I think this is probable. Often, when God’s people care enough to get up off their tails and DO SOMETHING to stop evil, evil stops in its tracks. Many of God’s people – hopefully you and me included – have been doing something to end abortion. And due to the collective efforts of the Body of Christ (and others who don’t know God yet, but are being used by Him), I truly believe this thing is on its way out.

So whether you are THE voice in the wilderness, or whether you are A voice in the wilderness – one of many – keep it up. You are ending abortion.

Remember that one mother who made a different choice, who saved her baby’s life after you talked to her? Yep. You just ended an abortion. Remember that teen who was convinced to be pro-life after you spoke in her class?  Mmm-hmmm.  Remember that young dad who went into the abortion clinic and brought his girlfriend out after you gave him a flyer?  That’s what I’m talking about.

You are ending abortion, one life at a time.

And whether by one life at a time or all at once, abortion will one day end, my friends.

IF YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT ABORTION

Photo from this site, with more info about this little baby.

If you’re a woman considering abortion, please consider that you have other options. I know, you’ve probably heard that. But please read on. Abortion – no matter how great it seems in the moment – is a decision with very lasting and painful effects. Read what other women have to say about it! Please at least go to this site, where you will find a helpline, a way to chat online, or a way to email someone who can help you. Or, the site can help you find a pregnancy resource center in your area where you can go for emotional and material support, as well as often a free ultrasound – which you should totally see!

You can also comment on this article – I’ll see it before anyone else does – and I’ll be happy to email you back and help you however I can. Also, please consider that every woman should know the truth about abortion before she ever has one. Go here to see a video (or here – and read the description below the video!). Go here to read about abortion. Please be informed.

A 4-D ultrasound photo of a baby at 8 weeks…check out more photos at this link. Amazing!!

You can also read this article or this one if you’re wondering why not to have an abortion. There are literally at least 101 reasons! At least check it out! Read these incredible stories, from a group that helps pregnant moms. A baby is a baby from the very beginning – her heart is beating at only 21 or 22 days! His brain waves can be read at only 6 weeks! And her little heart is crying out for you – her mother – to love her and give her the precious gift of life. I’m here for you, and so are many others – really. If you’re a dad who needs help, check out this advice article, and feel free to contact me.

A Different Kind of Mommy Post

One of the super cute photos in the article that you simply must read…

Ok, so this is a LOT different from my typical posts. But hey, while we are busy working to encourage moms out there to give their babies life, it’s also important to pass on some tips of exactly what to do with those precious gifts…

I’m a young mom – with one toddler and one baby coming later this year =). And I know I can often use encouragement and helpful tips. My children are some of the most precious gifts in my life, but that doesn’t mean I always know what to do with them!

So I’m going to pass on this EXTREMELY AWESOME article that my mom shared with me. It’s called “They are Listening: 19 Things We Should Say to Our Children.” Moms are sometimes told what not to say to our kids, but what about the things we should be saying?? You may not agree with every single phrase in this list, but overall – it’s great advice that I’ll be trying to follow.

I’d also add a couple other things I want to say to my children.

1) My parents always said this to us: “We can always talk about it. No matter what you do, we can talk about it. No matter how bad it is, we will be here for you, and we will work it out.”

2) “It’s ok. You’re safe. Mommy’s here.” This seems to be helpful for little ‘fraidy cat kiddos. We all need to reassured that we really are safe and that someone we trust is here for us.

So, to finish this out, why don’t you let me know things you try to say to your kids? What are important words we need to be building in our children? Because after all, after we choose to give life to these beautiful gifts, we need to remember to treat them like the gifts they are!

What Really, Truly Happens in Abortion Clinics

Sometimes the truth is literally almost too painful to hear.

But when we’re talking about abortion, something that happens between 1.2 and 1.3 MILLION times in America every year, we can’t close our ears to the truth. We have to be willing to feel the pain; to walk through it; to experience the nightmare. Because that’s the only way we’ll never be silent again.

The news site I write for, Live Action News & Opinion, has recently published articles with direct quotes from abortion doctors, nurses, counselors, and other workers in the clinics. Please, read what they have to say. They know the cold, hard truth like no other. And some of them are willing to speak out.

Lauren Enriquez compiled this post: 10 Surprising Quotes from Abortionists and I compiled this one: More Dark Truth from the Mouths of Abortion Workers. Please read the truth and spread the word. Let’s not be ignorant any longer.

Even if you think you support abortion, please at least take the time to be aware of what’s really going on, not just what you may have been told. These facts should shake you to your core, no matter your beliefs, and hopefully lead you to reconsider what the truth really is and whether you can support it.

If you happen to be a worker in an abortion clinic, or if you know someone who is – you are not alone, and you are not hated. There is a way out. Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood director and the author of “UnPlanned” has started an organization called And Then There Were None. It’s designed just for abortion clinic workers – doctors, nurses, counselors, anyone who wants a way out. Please check out Abby’s site and her open letter to clinic workers. And then reach out for help. You’re never too far gone, and it’s never too late. 

Using Yahoo! Answers to Share Pro-Life Truth

Friends, please read this incredible post by Lucy to learn how you can help save more babies from the comfort of your own home.  This is one of the best ideas I’ve heard!

Guest Post by Lucy LeFever (originally posted at Live Action News & Opinion)

Want to save lives from where you are sitting right now? You can!

A few years ago, a post asking for help on a pro-life Facebook group caught my eye. A young girl considering abortion was seeking advice on Yahoo! Answers, and the person on Facebook wanted pro-lifers to respond. (For those of you unfamiliar with Yahoo! Answers, the website allows users to ask questions and receive answers from other individuals online.) Multiple people from the group responded and encouraged the woman to keep her baby. The effort paid off, and the girl chose life for her unborn child.

Though excited over one life saved, seeing the Yahoo! Answers question made me wonder how many other young women were looking for abortion advice online. A quick search for questions containing the word “abortion” gave me the answer: almost every half hour, someone used Yahoo! Answers to ask about abortion.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise. If a girl chooses abortion in order to conceal the pregnancy from friends and family members, then she is unlikely to ask for abortion advice from those same people. Girls are left with a choice: braving the confusion of an unplanned pregnancy alone or seeking advice from strangers.

Since this discovery, I have answered abortion questions whenever possible. Often the results are depressing. The questioner never responds, or worse, she responds stating that she has opted for abortion. Occasionally, however, there is good news. A girl decides to go to a crisis pregnancy center rather than Planned Parenthood, or realizes that short-term discomfort is worth it for saving the life of her precious child. I still remember my excitement a couple years ago upon opening an e-mail that began, “You’re right. I do want to keep this baby.”

This is where you come in. Questions about abortion keep coming, and though I’ve noticed an increase in pro-life answers, many questions still go unaddressed. We need more pro-life individuals who will take the time to help these women. Are you willing to help?

First, create a Yahoo! account. (If you use any form of Yahoo! Mail, the account is the same. Users can also sign in with Facebook or Google accounts.) Next, go to Yahoo! Answers and search for questions containing the word “abortion.” Click on the button that says “newest,” and the most recent questions will appear. Choose a question, and start answering!

Obviously answers will vary, but below are some general guidelines to responding.

• Be personal.

Some pro-choice answers are incredibly generic and look like spam. They hardly answer the girls’ questions, but they are always anxious to direct her to the nearest Planned Parenthood clinic. Don’t follow their example. Respond conversationally, addressing any specific issues and needs that the questioner has discussed. If you are a student talking to another student, clarify that you understand how frightening an unplanned pregnancy would be at your age. If you have faced an unplanned pregnancy before, tell your story. Building credibility in a one-sided online conversation is difficult, but the more real your response, the better.

• Be positive.

Sadly, pro-life answers are sometimes limited to “YOU’RE A MURDERER!” or “If you have an abortion you will go to Hell!” Criticism of women in such a vulnerable and fragile situation does little to help. Speak the truth with sympathy, grace, and love. Replace condemnation with compassion, and offer help and advice to the girls who are in need rather than focusing on actions of their past. Remember that women who choose abortion are also victims of the abortion industry’s “no regrets” lie.

• Be patient.

Like with any pro-life activism, if you expect immediate results, you’re in for disappointment. But are months of discouraging results worth it to help save the lives of children and spare mothers from a life of regret? Absolutely.

Online counseling gives pro-lifers the ability to reach out to pregnant women before they ever set foot in the abortion clinic. Next time you are wasting time online, spend some time answering questions instead. Log out of Facebook. Take a break from laughing at memes. Pause the YouTube video. Drag yourself away from Pinterest. It could make the difference in a life-or-death decision.

Below are some websites that may be helpful when answering various questions:

Option Line

Life Issues Institute 4-D Ultrasound Images

Life Issues Institute Fetal Development Images

Students for Life

Rachel’s Vineyard

Silent No More Awareness

Beautiful Children

Children are an amazing gift…in whatever size, shape, form, or “quality of life” they come in.  Children teach us things we didn’t know about ourselves.  They teach us things about the world.  They show us beauty and delight in the smallest of things…like sometimes even a crumb on the floor.  Children take the time to laugh, to relax, to enjoy, and to smile.  If only each adult knew how valuable every single one of their own children are–born or unborn.  Let us continue to pray for our nation and for the world; until every child is loved, valued, and welcomed in law and in our hearts, we should never stop petitioning God for love to grow everywhere.

If you want to read the accounts of some beautiful children that show us how precious each life is, and how every child deserves to be protected, go here:

An adopted child speaks out years later as an adult:  http://liveactionnews.org/opinion/celebrate-life-through-adoption/.

The mother of a precious boy with spina bifida tells how he could have died at a doctor’s hand:  http://liveactionnews.org/medical/at-eight-months-my-doctor-said-he-would-absolutely-perform-the-abortion-for-me/”

Want to share with me your own stories of beautiful children?  I’d love to hear your comments!

Division in Our Ranks

Sadly, division in the pro-life movement is all too common.  Instead of fighting against each other, we should be supporting each other where we can, and being quiet when we can’t.  There is plenty of room in the pro-life movement for each person or organization to focus on and work hard on their own strategy without wasting their time criticizing and critiquing all the other pro-lifers out there.  Will you join me in being a uniter instead of a divider?

 

I’ve just written a post for Live Action News on a simple strategy to cut division in our ranks.  Please read it, and share your thoughts with me.  I’d love to know other suggestions or strategies you have?  How can we work together and be positive instead of pulling apart?

Visit Me at Live Action!

Image via Wikipedia

Hey Friends!

Just wanted to let you know that I very recently started blogging over at Live Action!

Live Action was started as a youth-led movement by Lila Rose when she was just 15.  To date, she and her team have conducted many investigations of Planned Parenthood.  Her work is quite famous–in fact, if you look her up on YouTube, you’ll see plenty of media videos about what she’s done.  You’ll also learn about many of Planned Parenthood’s lies in the process.

I’m excited to join their team of bloggers over there, and hope that you will check it out often.  Live Action keeps their blog VERY updated with current news, real-life stories, and up-to-date opinions on the pro-life issues.

Here’s a link to my first blog post over there:  “Terms of Life and Death“.  Let me know what you think!  And don’t worry, I’ll still be blogging here as well =)

Merry Christmas!

Kristi

Winning the Battle or Choosing to Fight: Which is More Important?

Image via Wikipedia

Of course, I’d say both are important!  The difference is that winning the battle really isn’t in our hands.  We can’t control the results of what we do.  But, no matter what…we CAN (and we must) choose to fight. 

What do you think?  Have you ever found personal victory in the midst of loss?  Would you be willing to share your experiences?

So many times in life—and in the pro-life battle—do we focus on winning; do we believe we will win, and center our hopes on that?  Perhaps our hope should be on Jesus alone, the Author and Finisher of our faith.  He is the Author—He writes the story, not us.  And He finishes the race, not us.  And yet, we are certainly called to run the race with endurance.  Another concept to ponder is that we do not live by our faith alone, but by “the faith of the Son of God Who loved me and gave Himself for me.”  (See Hebrews 12:1-2 and Galatians 2:20.)    

Many times, we start well, but do we finish well?  Do we carry out our charge until the very end?  We have to give our heart’s passion and our life’s dreams over to the only One Who can finish well…and perhaps it is this realization alone that allows us to truly finish.  Otherwise, there will always be work left undone.  It is by allowing Him to be the Author and Finisher that we hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.  Enter now into thy rest.” 

Remember, too, that a servant often does the small things—the details—letting his master weave it into the finished project.  I am reminded of a short poem my mother wrote down as a young woman:  “God—He is He, and I, I am only I.”  How profound…

Of course, Christ has already won the victory…we only have yet to see it.  But perhaps our focus should be on the choice to fight the battle, not the hope to win it.  We do not lose that hope, but it is not our focus.  How true that we should do what is right, simply because it is right.  Love allows us to fight a battle and lose.  The order of faith, hope, and love—love is truly the end.  (I Corinthians 13)  It puts self away. 

It is when we lose ourselves and can say with King Arthur of Camelot, “There is no pride left in me” that we can fight no matter how many times we lose.  This is because we do it for love, not for hope or faith, and not for victory.  Faith allows us to believe that our Lord wins in the end; hope gives us that glimmer of our dream when we become weary (for we always know victory is somewhere around the corner); but faith allows us to keep on keeping on regardless of the visual outcome we see.  Time and time again.  Time and time again. 

 My life is but a weaving between my God and me,

I do not choose the colors He worketh steadily

Oft’times He weaveth sorrow, and I in foolish pride

Forgets He sees the upper, and I the underside.

Not till the loom is silent and shuttles cease to fly

Will God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful in the Skillful Weaver’s Hand

As the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.

by Benjamine Malachi Franklin

Footnote: Thanks goes to my Pastor, John Smith and the Dean of my college, Roger Magnuson for some of 
the thoughts here.

He Gives Rest to the Weary

Do your efforts to stop abortion; to save the babies; to end this horror make you feel weary?  Have you yearned for rest; for an end to this madness?

In a mere 12 days, America will observe the 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade…the worst decision ever handed down by our highest court.  Roe is a stain on the fabric of our national justice.  It remains as an illustration of man’s inhumanity to man.  Just as Dred Scott and Plessy v. Ferguson were overturned and determined to be violations of human rights and the equality of all mankind, so, too, Roe  must be overturned. 

Roe is not just bad law; it is unconstitutional.  Roe is a contradiction of human rights; modern science; medical evidence; and justice itself.  Roe completely dismisses the foundational premise of equal protection of the law; it strips away the most basic right of every human being.  Roe is not an issue of privacy; it is an issue of human civil rights. 

Just as the slave, the woman, and the American Indian were once deemed “non-persons” in U.S. law, so for the last 38 years, Roe has deemed yet another human being a “non-person.”  Not only have our unborn children been declared “non-persons” by our highest court, but they have also been dismissed to be killed at will by only two people:  mothers and their doctors.  Although the stain of injustice, inequality, and inhumanity can never be blotted out, Roe must be overturned so that its stain stops soaking into the fabric of our national justice and dying it blood-red.  But until it is overturned, our work is still cut out for us…

For the last 38 years, babies have been dying in the millions.  Many of the women who live can be numbered among the walking dead.  We have truly lost a generation.  And for the last 38 years, people across this nation have been working their hearts out to see abortion end.  Yet it continues, often with no end in sight.  When we give our hearts to a cause and it seems that our cause has failed, we become weary–perhaps too weary to go on.  But we must still go on.  And we can.  

While singing in church yesterday, I saw a picture of Jesus…He was standing in front of me, and I was bowing down before Him.  He felt my burden.  He knew my pain.  He saw how weary I was.  He knew what it felt like to not want to go on any more.  And as I saw that picture, I knew that He understood me and embraced me still.  With a Savior like Him, I can go on to do more.  I can continue until this horror ends.  I can come to Jesus and He will give me rest while I work. 

 “Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”  Matthew 11:28 (NLT)  “Cast your burden on the Lord [releasing the weight of it] and He will sustain you…”  Psalm 55:22 (AMP)

Bow before the Lord Jesus, let Him embrace you, let Him take the burden you feel, and let Him sustain you as you keep on going.

“Come let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the Lord, our God, our Maker.  For He is our God, and we are the sheep of His pasture.  He is our God, we are the sheep of His Hand.  Come let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the Lord, our God, our Maker.  Worship the Lord in holiness; Let the whole earth stand in awe.  He will come to judge the earth in righteousness and truth.” (Fernando Ortega…Come Let Us Worship)