Abolition

Headline: ‘Oklahoma’s abortion law stays blocked for now’

“Oklahoma County District Judge Noma Gurich agreed to a temporary injunction Monday preventing enforcement of the state’s new abortion law.” Read more.

In case it’s not obvious, we think this is a bad decision for numerous reasons and that life is on the line.

Beginning to think about whom you’ll vote for in Oklahoma’s primary on July 27?

Check out Oklahomans for Life’s pro-life questionnaire, to see how the candidates answered the number one policy topic.

According to the Telegraph, conservative leader “David Cameron has pledged to review Britain’s abortion laws and stop assisted suicide in moves designed to place religious issues at the forefront of the Conservative election campaign.”

“The Conservative leader said that he would personally favour reducing the abortion limit from 24 weeks to 20 or 22 weeks.”

Read the rest of the story here. While it’s not the ideal solution, Britain certainly seems to be getting closer to the ultimate goal than we in the United States.

Hat tip: JR

“Oklahomans have an opportunity to express their belief in the sanctity of human life to their legislators during the 19th Annual Rose Day February 3 at the State Capitol.

“Rose distribution at 10:30 a.m. and rally begins at 11:45 a.m.”

The Capitol never has such a pleasing aroma as today. Read more here: http://www.bgco.org/5599?sct=roseday

I hope to see many of you there.

Byron White was the senior dissenting justice in Roe v. Wade

As you may be aware, today marks the thirty-seventh anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the “landmark case decided by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion.” It remains “one of the most controversial and politically significant cases in U.S. Supreme Court history.”

I have long maintained that the solutions to this moral outrage created by men in black robes must include legislative and cultural reform.

Whereas a good deal of damage can be done through politics, great men like William Wilberforce understood that to overcome evil with good, more than laws must be changed (though America’s liberal abortion laws must be changed indeed).

To that end, I present actions you can do as an individual to ACT pro-life, not just identify yourself as pro-life (items quoted from “52 Simple Things You can Do to Be Pro-Life,” by Anne Pierson):

[ ] wear the “feet pin,” the universal symbol for life

[ ] march in a parade for life

[ ] babysit for a single mother

[ ] write a letter to the editor

[ ] give financially to crisis pregnancy centers

[ ] volunteer your time for a crisis pregnancy center

[ ] hold a baby shower for a crisis pregnancy center; and

[ ] most importantly pray for an end to abortion (surgical and chemical) in America and abroad.

May the Lord God give us help and mercy.

“(LifeSiteNews.com) – A massive crowd of pro-life Spanish citizens captured international headlines Saturday after marching on the country’s capital to protest plans to loosen abortion restrictions in the country.

“Estimates for the numbers of those in attendance varied, with mainstream media such as CNN and the New York Times reporting simply “thousands” or ”tens of thousands.” However, the Christian Post reports that Madrid’s regional government estimated the numbers of attendees at around 1.2 million, and a spokesman for one of the pro-life organizers said 1.5 million people attended. The U.K.’s BBC and numerous other media outlets also put the crowd at over a million.  According to Agence France Press, police put the number at 250,000.

“Signs reading “For Life, Women and Motherhood,” and “Women Against Abortion” greeted Spanish Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s efforts to push through a law making abortion-on-demand legal up to 14 weeks’ gestation, and allowing girls as young as 16 years old to abort their unborn child without parental consent.  The measure is due for consideration in Parliament soon.

“The full text of the story is available here.”

HT: JR

“INDIANAPOLIS (BP)–Planned Parenthood of Indiana will shut down five of its clinics in the central part of the state.”

“Clinics in northwest Indianapolis and in Anderson, Franklin, Kokomo and Shelbyville will close during the next six months due to a projected shortfall in federal assistance, according to the Associated Press, but no abortion services are provided at the five locations.”

Read the rest here.

From WORLD magazine:

Planned Parenthood researchers report in the New England Journal of Medicine that a revised method of conducting drug-induced abortions has allegedly reduced the risk of serious complications by 93 percent. Previously Planned Parenthood diverged from the FDA’s recommended guidelines for RU-486 by administering an oral dose of mifepristone followed by a vaginal dose of misoprostol. But the 2005 deaths of four American women and one Canadian woman from bacterial infections spurred Planned Parenthood to conform to FDA standards and instead have women dissolve the misoprostol pill in their mouths, followed by a precautionary course of antibiotics.

As a result, Planned Parenthood said the number of serious infections resulting from drug-induced abortions has declined to one-16th of the original rate. Experts say the latest research will likely spark a future increase in chemical abortions, although Family Research Council spokesman Chris Gacek said, “It’s hard to know whether this increases the (total) number of abortions.” Last year, approximately a quarter of all U.S. abortions were performed with drugs rather than surgery.

Me: As we celebrate the closing of abortion clinics and the sunset of surgical abortions, let us stay aware that the Brave New World of abortion in a bottle is only dawning.

“I still think, although I was much too optimistic in the early days, that the possibility of stopping a pregnancy very early is significant. The morning-after pill will become more accessible and easier to take. So I think the side that wants to take the choice away from women and give it to the state, they’re fighting a losing battle. Time is on the side of change.”

-Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in a recent interview with the New York Times

Me: The so-called morning-after pill can likely act as an abortifacient and threatens the life of a conceptus. So, contrary to her thought, it can end a life and end a pregnancy after it begins. Justice Ginsburg is right, however, that the next wave of abortions won’t be done in a clinic but in the privacy of people’s home through prescription and over-the-counter drugs. May God help us.

Making sure you saw this good news:

“Oklahoma Democratic Gov. Brad Henry has signed into law bills banning sex-selection abortions and human cloning.”

We are not at the end of fighting Brave-New-World creep in Oklahoma. We are not even at the beginning of the end. But this bill may signify we are at end of the beginning.

One of my favorite authors and professors, Dr. Timothy Paul Jones, answers “How should Christians respond to the new movie Angels & Demons?” You can read his entire press release here, but for a taste:

“As in The Da Vinci Code, Brown blends history and fiction so smoothly that it’s difficult to tell where one begins and the other ends. The difficulty comes when readers fail to explore the claims and inadvertently trust fiction as a fact. According to Angels and Demons, ‘References to all works of art, tombs, tunnels, and architecture in Rome are entirely factual, and the brotherhood of the Illuminati is also factual,’” says Jones.

The Illuminati

“In Angels and Demons, The Illuminati is depicted as an organization that began in the 1500’s, whereas it actually began in 1776,” Jones says.

Persecution of Galileo?

“And as for the supposed persecution of Galileo: While Galileo was correct that the earth moved around the sun, his reasoning was wrong. Galileo’s ‘proof’ was the movement of the ocean; he said that the tides came in and out because they were sloshing around on a spinning earth. We know now that that’s not what causes the tides. He was never tortured, and he wasn’t convicted in court because of scientific irregularities. It was because he lied under oath. He was exiled to a luxuriant villa where he carried out scientific research until the day of his death.”

The Death of Copernicus

“Angels and Demons declares that Copernicus was murdered by the Roman Catholic Church for his scientific research when, in truth, Copernicus was a Polish priest who died a natural death,” Jones says.

Me: Dr. Jones provides some worthy analysis. Yet unlike The Da Vinci Code,  this movie seems to be drawing a yawn from critics, the media, Christian apologists. Just about everybody, including me.

“America may have a president and Congress that support abortion rights, but a new Gallup poll suggests that for the first time such a stance is not the majority view.”

Gallup said on Friday that a new poll, conducted May 7 to 10, found “51 percent of Americans calling themselves ‘pro-life’ on the issue of abortion and 42 percent ‘pro-choice.’ This is the first time a majority of U.S. adults have identified themselves as pro-life since Gallup began asking this question in 1995.”

“The new results, obtained from Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs survey, represent a significant shift from a year ago, when 50 percent were pro-choice and 44 percent pro-life. Prior to now, the highest percentage identifying as pro-life was 46 percent, in both August 2001 and May 2002.”

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to one and all. Growing up, I always enjoyed this holiday, though until recently this Evangelical did not fully appreciate the saint behind it.

Of the many feats (some likely legendary but many true) of Patrick’s, I like that he explained the Holy Trinity by use of the three-leaf clover. My five year old daughter learned a powerful lesson from that, and I suspect the author of The Shack could use a similar lesson.

Read more about St. Patrick’s love for Christ and the people of Ireland here.

Priests for Life have a short, yet pretty compelling video up on their site. Before watching it, though, you should be warned that some may considered it a bit gruesome.

“At the White House a few moments ago, President Obama nominated Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to be his secretary of Health and Human Services.”

This is his worst, most-devastating pick yet–and that is saying something.

“Oklahomans have an opportunity to express their belief in the sanctity of human life to their legislators during the 18th Annual Rose Day February 4 at the State Capitol. (Rose distribution at 10:30 a.m. and rally begins at 11:45 a.m.)”

The Capitol never has such a pleasing aroma as today. I hope to see many of you there.

A new campaign, “Just One Judge,” is calling on pro-lifers to vote that way next week. View the website here, which argues:

“The next President and U.S. Senate will appoint and confirm the one Justice who will be the deciding vote on whether to overturn Roe v. Wade… Today’s U.S. Supreme Court is just ONE appointment away from determining critical matters of life. Your vote is your choice in who the next Supreme Court Justice will be.”

Looks like you can sign a pledge and join others, including Norma McCorvey (i.e. “Jane Roe” herself).

I was privileged to attend a round-table luncheon this week featuring one of my favorite Christian spokesman, Richard Land. If this name is new to you, I wish to unlock the treasure trove. Feel free to Google him, or start by reading this TIME magazine piece about “God’s lobbyist.”

Dr. Land conversed about the hottest topics, such as the upcoming elections and embryonic stem cell research. When I asked him what he thought William Wilberforce, one of his heroes as well as mine, would think are the most pressing issues of the day, he answered: “The pro-life question and the definition of marriage.” I quite agree.

In fact, there was really only one issue on which Dr. Land and I cannot agree. He, a Texan, wants the Longhorns to win in the Red River match this weekend. To that I say, “Go Sooners!”

Update: Richard Land’s public policy group, the Ethics & Religious Liberties Commission, has produced an impressive “party-platform” guide for 2008. Find out more here about this nonpartisan resource.

Embryonic Stem Cell Research has long been one of my hot button issues. Despite all the promises its supporters that the cures are worth the ethical implications, they’ve never been able to produce any credible evidence that this approach is the best way to go. In fact, research has shown that non-embryonic stem cell sources actually deliver on the promise of their child-destroying variant, having delivered over 70+ cures currently in testing, with more being discovered all the time. This dilemma-free source for stem cells works by “reprogramming” somatic, or body, cells (e.g., adult skin cells) to act like embryonic stem cells. As amazing (and effective) as the discovery of the technique was, researchers may have found a way to achieve the same goals without even requiring stem cells at all!

A team at Harvard has succeeded in directly reprogramming one type of adult cell into another, without even the need for the intermediary step of reprogramming to a pseudo-embryonic state and only then differentiating to a new developed cell type. In other words, not only do they not need embryos, they don’t even need stem cells at all; they can just turn one type of cell into another directly. What’s more, they’ve done this inside a living animal (a mouse), and not just in a laboratory dish.

Yuval Levin has more on this amazing discovery.  Could this signal the end of embryo-destroying research and the accompanying, non-sensical cry for government funding?  We can only hope.

Friends, there are two upcoming opportunities in central Oklahoma to take a stand for life.

(1) A Walk for Life in Norman, Oklahoma, on Saturday, September 27. You may find information about this walk, which benefits the crisis pregnancy center in Norman, by clicking here. Or you could always sponsor yours truly, Brian Hobbs, who will be walking for life, by clicking here.

(2) 40 Days for Life… is a peaceful prayer vigil held in the Oklahoma City area, praying for an end to abortion. Check out this national effort, which has been endorsed by heavyweights like Fr. Frank Pavone, here.

Thanks for taking a stand for life.