"As long as my God holds the world in His hands, I know that there's no such thing as unplanned." ~ Matthew West, "Unplanned"
At the end of last month, the movie Unplanned hit theaters, and I went to see it on opening weekend. It tells the true story of Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood clinic director who switched sides after witnessing an ultrasound guided abortion. While I enjoyed the movie immensely and would highly recommend it, I must confess, it is a bit hard to watch. The movie is rated R for violent and disturbing images, which refers to three specific scenes. Other than those three scenes, this is a PG movie, but those three scenes are quite intense. This movie is not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach, but if you are neither of those things, than I would suggest you see it.
After seeing the movie, I was interested to know more of the story, so I got the book from the library and read it. There really wasn't more in the book than was in the movie, but it did go more in depth into the things that were shown. Reading the book, I was able to better understand Abby's motivation for joining Planned Parenthood, her struggle to reconcile her job with her faith, and the slow change in her heart that reached a crescendo after witnessing the abortion. Not only that, but it also gave more information about the events that occurred in her life following her departure from Planned Parenthood, and how she could see God's hand in her journey. If you don't think you could handle the movie, reading the book would be a great way to learn her story, and I would suggest reading it even if you do plan to see the movie.
This movie is just one of the many events happening recently on either side of the cause for life. New York recently passed a barbaric law that permits abortions throughout a woman's entire pregnancy, and allows late term abortions to be performed outside of a hospital without an extra physician present, which could cause safety issues. This same law also decriminalizes it, which means that someone who kills an unborn baby by injuring or killing the mother would not face charges for the baby's death. Just a week later, the Virginia governor said that, if such a bill were presented to him, he would support a bill that would basically allow an newborn to die. (More information can be found here and here.)These, among other things, are really pointing out that in far too many cases, "pro-choice" is really just a nice way of saying "pro-abortion," although my thought has always been that this is true whenever abortion is presented as one of the choices.
However, there is hope. Congress is currently looking at a bill that would protect babies born after a failed attempt on their life. The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) is filing briefs to help cut the funding for Planned Parenthood, and President Trump just ramped up enforcement of the Mexico City Policy, which prevents our tax dollars from going to fund abortions overseas. (More information can be found on their website). Human Coalition, a pro-life organization I have supported since the days when they were still known as Online for Life, is constantly expanding their reach, and have to date saved the lives of well over 12,000 babies.
Some of my pro-choice friends and acquaintances are appalled by the thought of the U.S. government defunding Planned Parenthood because of all the good they do. However, there are plenty of other clinics for low income women that provide everything Planned Parenthood does, except for abortions. There is also evidence that they overcharge women for their services (found here). A popular pro-choice argument is that only 3% of their services are abortions. However, 51.5% of their income in 2010 was from abortions (this and other disturbing facts found here). In addition, Johnson's clinic did surgical abortions every other Saturday, which is 7% of the time. This statistic doesn't even factor in that medicine-induced abortions were available every day by the time she left. The beginning of the end of her involvement in the organization was being pressured to sell more abortions to help the company meet it's bottom line.
Even if none of these other things were true, the 3% argument really isn't a valid one. Suppose I were to become a serial killer who devoted the first Saturday of every month to tracking down and murdering one person, but was otherwise a perfectly law-abiding citizen. My murderous actions would only be 3% of what I did, but if I were ever caught, I would be 100% guilty of my crimes. How is what Planned Parenthood does any different? The only difference is that unborn babies have become dehumanized in our society. So devoting 3% of their time and energy to ending human lives is seen as okay because not everyone sees unborn babies as human lives.
One thing in the movie that really struck me was a conversation Abby has with Shawn Carney, the leader of the local Coalition for Life. They were talking about how at clinics across the country, including at her own, no-shows increased every time there were people outside the clinic praying. This, I think, is the best tool we have against the scourge of abortion. Sure, well reasoned arguments like the one I just gave are quite cathartic to us, but they don't do much against the pro-abortion advocates. Brian Fisher, the founder of Human Coalition, is a firm believer that the battle against abortion will not be won in the courts, but in human hearts. Until the hearts of abortion supporters change, no matter what court battles are won, there will still be a war raging. So just like the abolitionists of the 19th century who prayed for the end of slavery, every God-fearing pro-lifer needs to pray for the end of abortion. We are the modern-day abolitionists, and our prayers are the only way to break through the lies of the enemy and end the scourge of abortion for good. I firmly believe that one day, people will look back on the days of legalized abortion the same way we currently look back at the days of slavery. I would love to see that change happen in my lifetime, and as long as those faithful to the cause of life are praying for it, it very easily could.
(For more of my thoughts on this issue, please see my post Choose Life)
At the end of last month, the movie Unplanned hit theaters, and I went to see it on opening weekend. It tells the true story of Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood clinic director who switched sides after witnessing an ultrasound guided abortion. While I enjoyed the movie immensely and would highly recommend it, I must confess, it is a bit hard to watch. The movie is rated R for violent and disturbing images, which refers to three specific scenes. Other than those three scenes, this is a PG movie, but those three scenes are quite intense. This movie is not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach, but if you are neither of those things, than I would suggest you see it.
After seeing the movie, I was interested to know more of the story, so I got the book from the library and read it. There really wasn't more in the book than was in the movie, but it did go more in depth into the things that were shown. Reading the book, I was able to better understand Abby's motivation for joining Planned Parenthood, her struggle to reconcile her job with her faith, and the slow change in her heart that reached a crescendo after witnessing the abortion. Not only that, but it also gave more information about the events that occurred in her life following her departure from Planned Parenthood, and how she could see God's hand in her journey. If you don't think you could handle the movie, reading the book would be a great way to learn her story, and I would suggest reading it even if you do plan to see the movie.
This movie is just one of the many events happening recently on either side of the cause for life. New York recently passed a barbaric law that permits abortions throughout a woman's entire pregnancy, and allows late term abortions to be performed outside of a hospital without an extra physician present, which could cause safety issues. This same law also decriminalizes it, which means that someone who kills an unborn baby by injuring or killing the mother would not face charges for the baby's death. Just a week later, the Virginia governor said that, if such a bill were presented to him, he would support a bill that would basically allow an newborn to die. (More information can be found here and here.)These, among other things, are really pointing out that in far too many cases, "pro-choice" is really just a nice way of saying "pro-abortion," although my thought has always been that this is true whenever abortion is presented as one of the choices.
However, there is hope. Congress is currently looking at a bill that would protect babies born after a failed attempt on their life. The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) is filing briefs to help cut the funding for Planned Parenthood, and President Trump just ramped up enforcement of the Mexico City Policy, which prevents our tax dollars from going to fund abortions overseas. (More information can be found on their website). Human Coalition, a pro-life organization I have supported since the days when they were still known as Online for Life, is constantly expanding their reach, and have to date saved the lives of well over 12,000 babies.
Some of my pro-choice friends and acquaintances are appalled by the thought of the U.S. government defunding Planned Parenthood because of all the good they do. However, there are plenty of other clinics for low income women that provide everything Planned Parenthood does, except for abortions. There is also evidence that they overcharge women for their services (found here). A popular pro-choice argument is that only 3% of their services are abortions. However, 51.5% of their income in 2010 was from abortions (this and other disturbing facts found here). In addition, Johnson's clinic did surgical abortions every other Saturday, which is 7% of the time. This statistic doesn't even factor in that medicine-induced abortions were available every day by the time she left. The beginning of the end of her involvement in the organization was being pressured to sell more abortions to help the company meet it's bottom line.
Even if none of these other things were true, the 3% argument really isn't a valid one. Suppose I were to become a serial killer who devoted the first Saturday of every month to tracking down and murdering one person, but was otherwise a perfectly law-abiding citizen. My murderous actions would only be 3% of what I did, but if I were ever caught, I would be 100% guilty of my crimes. How is what Planned Parenthood does any different? The only difference is that unborn babies have become dehumanized in our society. So devoting 3% of their time and energy to ending human lives is seen as okay because not everyone sees unborn babies as human lives.
One thing in the movie that really struck me was a conversation Abby has with Shawn Carney, the leader of the local Coalition for Life. They were talking about how at clinics across the country, including at her own, no-shows increased every time there were people outside the clinic praying. This, I think, is the best tool we have against the scourge of abortion. Sure, well reasoned arguments like the one I just gave are quite cathartic to us, but they don't do much against the pro-abortion advocates. Brian Fisher, the founder of Human Coalition, is a firm believer that the battle against abortion will not be won in the courts, but in human hearts. Until the hearts of abortion supporters change, no matter what court battles are won, there will still be a war raging. So just like the abolitionists of the 19th century who prayed for the end of slavery, every God-fearing pro-lifer needs to pray for the end of abortion. We are the modern-day abolitionists, and our prayers are the only way to break through the lies of the enemy and end the scourge of abortion for good. I firmly believe that one day, people will look back on the days of legalized abortion the same way we currently look back at the days of slavery. I would love to see that change happen in my lifetime, and as long as those faithful to the cause of life are praying for it, it very easily could.
(For more of my thoughts on this issue, please see my post Choose Life)
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