Give Me Liberalism and Give Me Death

Nowhere does the divide between left and right show more starkly than in policies about killing the innocent.  Leftist liberals, who are the most supportive of Darwinism, seem to have no problem with tinkering with human life to the point of killing it.

1.  Stem cell case denied:  The 3-year long effort by James Sherley and Theresa Deisher to stop federal funding of embryonic stem cell  research (2/13/2011)  came to an end this week when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the case, leaving intact a lower court’s decision to permit it (4/30/2011).  Sherley and Deisher based their lawsuit on federal policy that denies funding for killing human embryos.  The lawsuit wavered back and forth in the courts, including one decision by Judge Lamberth in 2010 that “shocked” the science community by shutting down hESC funding (but only for 17 days until another court stayed the injunction, 9/26/2010).  That was followed by an appeals court ruling in favor of the defendants in August 2012.

The Supreme Court’s action permits federal funding for research on human embryos to continue unabated.  According to a newsletter from Family Research Council (item #2), “it’s very likely that a great deal more human embryos will be destroyed in this research now.”  What’s notable is the reaction of the leading pro-Darwin journals.  Science Magazine touted it as “a victory for scientists, patients, and the entire biomedical research community.”  Nature quoted one researcher saying, “What a great day for science,” noting also that NIH director Francis Collins (a nominal Christian in favor of Darwinism and opposed to intelligent design) was “very pleased”.  The plaintiffs’ consolation is that during the interim more researchers turned to research on adult stem cells that do not raise ethical issues (5/23/2011).

2.  Planned unParenthood:  It’s undeniable that Democrats, liberals and the current administration are predominantly “pro-choice” (pro-abortion) while their opponents are predominantly pro-life (anti-abortion).  It’s also undeniable that Planned Parenthood, the leading abortion provider in the U.S., rooted strongly for Obama.  Voters might remember efforts in the last two years to de-fund Planned Parenthood, led by conservative Congressman and governors in line with the pro-life majority of the country, that were attacked by liberals who claimed it would deny essential health services to women.  Now the truth comes out.

According to a newsletter from Family Research Council, Planned Parenthood is “making a killing” with taxpayer money, garnering more funding than ever from federal and state governments in the last year – over half a billion dollars – despite providing fewer non-abortion services (and zero mammograms, contrary to the claims of some liberal congresspersons that mammography was one of the essential women’s services PP provided).  Fox News investigated the income and practices of Planned Parenthood based on their annual report.  The results were shocking; “The numbers showed roughly 45 percent of Planned Parenthood’s budget now comes from taxpayer dollars.”  FRC wrote,

Fox News crunched the numbers and was shocked to find that government support for Planned Parenthood had jumped by 167% in the last 10 years alone. Of course, as more states aggressively step in to defund Planned Parenthood, the Left has been just as aggressive in filling the gap. They claim the money helps women, but based on this report, Planned Parenthood was too busy reelecting President Obama to help anyone! Cancer screenings (the theme of [Cecile] Richards’s incessant election ads) dropped by a stunning 29% in 2011-12, and contraception services slumped 12%. Of course, the number of mammograms performed at Planned Parenthood stayed the same: zero.

While all of this “vital medial care” plunged, the group’s primary moneymaker-abortion–raked in more than ever. It was one of the bloodiest years in the organization’s history, as unborn casualties climbed to 333,964–enough to fill Yankee stadium six and a half times. The loss of life represented a 4,519 spike in abortions (almost twice the enrollment of Regent University). In just three years, Richards’s group has claimed credit for 995,687 deaths through abortion–and that doesn’t include the handful of women lost to botched abortions in the last 12 months. Perhaps the biggest misnomer about the organization is this: most people aren’t planning parenthood when they visit these clinics; they’re planning abortions. That was obvious from the tiny sliver of adoption referrals from Richards’s network: 2,300–barely one half of one percent of the total abortions performed.

So while “The President complains about tax breaks for millionaires,” FRC writes, “he supports welfare for billionaire organizations” such as Planned Parenthood, an organization whose main mission (killing the unborn) flies in the face of the ethics of most people in America, certainly conservatives, who tend to be predominantly theistic in outlook.

A common comeback by liberals is, “Well, don’t conservatives support the death penalty?”  There’s a big difference.  The death penalty is about killing the guilty.  Abortion and human embryonic stem cell research kill the most innocent and vulnerable humans of all – the unborn.  How can anyone stomach the ugly euphemism by Cecile Richards (president of Planned Parenthood) that any effort to stop the carnage is “blocking women’s access to health care”?  Marjorie Dannenfelser of the Susan B. Anthony List put it straight: “While government subsidies to Planned Parenthood have reached an all time high, so too has the number of lives ended by this profit-driven abortion business.” (Fox News)

Are you a pastor reading this?  Are you concerned about abortion?  Is your church planning to take part in Sanctity of Human Life Sunday on January 20th?  Have you ever made the connection between Darwinism, which devalues human life, and the evil fruits as seen in the abortion and embryonic stem cell industries?  (Darwin Day in America by John G. West elucidates the connection). Maybe it’s time you attack the root and not just the fruit.  An evil tree produces evil fruit, the Lord said.  The evil tree will continue producing evil fruit, day after day, year after year, until the evil foundation of the tree, the secularist worldview dependent on Darwinian evolution, is uprooted.  Do that by counteracting the secular worldview with the truth of God, wielded wisely where it needs to strike, at doctrines of demons who work to destroy the image of God in man.  “Death and life are in the power of the tongue,” Solomon said, “and those who love it will eat its fruit” (Proverbs 18:21).

Don’t allow yourself to get discouraged, either.  It’s been 40 years now since Roe v. Wade granted a cryptic Constitutional “right” of abortion.  Remember that many great causes of freedom, like the anti-slavery movement, suffered great setbacks. It took many years to turn the mood of the country.  Now most decent people hate slavery and are appalled at racism.  Persistence in a righteous cause can pay off in due time.  Even if not, the Lord loves those who rescue the perishing, and who obey Him whatever the cost.