Institute on Religion and Democracy Press Release
January 22, 2015
Contact: Jeff Walton office: 202-682-4131, cell: 202-413-5639, e-mail: jwalton@TheIRD.org
“Any church that cannot defend the unborn and other vulnerable persons has forgotten the core of the Gospel.”
-Mark Tooley, IRD President
Washington, DC—Tens of thousands of members of the pro-life community descend upon Washington D.C. for the March for Life Thursday. Centered on this year’s theme “Every Life is a Gift,” participants mark the 42nd year of unrestricted legalized abortion in the United States.
IRD President Mark Tooley commented:
“God bless those Christian leaders like the Catholic bishops and Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, among many others, who March today in defense of innocent human life and in sync with universal Christian teaching. Any church that cannot defend the unborn and other vulnerable persons has forgotten the core of the Gospel.
“In an annual tradition, IRD is hosting today a dozen Anglican bishops, with whom IRD staff are honored to march for life. The pro-life cause is the civil rights cause of our day. It is an honor to serve our Lord at this supreme moment in history to affirm the sacredness of all human life in a society whose cultural elites remain tragically obtuse about dehumanization.
“Today’s march for life will be recalled for all eternity as solidarity with the nearly 60 million destroyed unborn Americans and with countless future generations whom we pray will live and thrive in a time when all human life is protected.”
The Institute on Religion & Democracy works to reaffirm the church’s biblical and historical teachings, strengthen and reform its role in public life, protect religious freedom, and renew democracy at home and abroad.
Comment by MarcoPolo on January 22, 2015 at 7:07 pm
Certainly, it’s admirable that an organization such as the Church would do all that it can to support women during a crucial moment in their life. But the law as it stands preserves the right of pregnant women, who wish to not be pregnant, a legally approved, and clinically safe option for becoming ‘unpregnant’.
Hallelujah for a free society, whose people believe in individual rights of consenting adults to choose whether they want to bear children!
Imagine the burden of an extra 60 million people in this country?
Not to mention the mothers who would have against their will, become a parent to a child they didn’t want?! Not a good scenario for either individual.
Comment by Mike Ward on January 22, 2015 at 7:36 pm
Why are people a burden? Why don’t we just pick 60 million healthy Americans and kill them. You know, to reduce the burden of there being over 300M of us. Yes, people consume, but they also produce. As it is, Western society is reaching the point that we produce so few children that the median age is increasing and eventually that will create its own problems.
Also, you say, “Hallelujah for a free society, whose people believe in individual rights of consenting adults to choose whether they want to bear children!” Since you say “adults” instead of “women,” I assume you believe that men also have a right to choose to have children or not. How do men have this right? They cannot chose to have an abortion nor can they force the mother of their child to do so. They have this right because they can choose not to create a child in the first place. Even without abortion, women would still have this same right.
If women cannot be said to have the right to choose whether or not to have children unless they have the right to have an abortion then men cannot be said to have the right not have children now.
But my biggest problem with what you say is that you complete ignore the arguement that abortion is murder. No one’s right to their own body entitles them to kill someone else. There is of course and argument over when a child becomes a person, but you completely ignore this argument and assume that abortion is not murder. This assumption my seem reasonable early in a pregnancy when the child is just a small round cluster of cells, but by the time the child is near full term it becomes ludicrous, and yet abortion remains legal right up to birth, and even our Republican controlled House is making no effort to change this.
Comment by MarcoPolo on January 22, 2015 at 10:53 pm
Mike Ward,
I can hear your frustration regarding my post, in the tone of your words. I apologize, if I appeared to be the murderer that you described, I assure you that I am not!
I’m pretty sure that all States disallow any woman from selectively aborting her baby beyond twenty-one weeks post conception. But I could be wrong.
I used the word “Consenting Adults” precisely to describe the requirement of maturity. Something that isn’t the case for anybody who hasn’t been born yet.
I don’t think that the father of the baby has any Rights to the unborn. After birth, it’s a whole new story.
And by that same standard, I think NO man, has any Right to restrict a woman from choosing whether or not to abort her (own) baby.
So, yes, it comes down to “Personhood”!
That will no doubt be an issue that we find ourselves discussing for quite awhile.
‘Burden’ …A word describing pressure (due, or undue). That’s a real, and serious problem for any woman who may not be able to provide for another person other than herself!
That’s not always selfish, but essential for survival.
We will never know what is required of one’s soul, to make a decision of such gravity… but it’s got to remain the sole decision of the mother/woman!
You should be feeling more confident in the Republican Party with their recent victory, as they are diligently working to further restrict these established Liberties of Women. Not something that bodes well if you’re a woman!
Thanks for your exchange.
MarcoPolo
Comment by John Thomson on January 22, 2015 at 10:03 pm
Human beings are not “burdens,” human beings are assets, made in God’s image. You lefties talk compassion out of one side of your mouth, but given your love of abortion and fanaticism about “carbon footprints,” you seem to wish human beings didn’t even exist. Maybe hanging around each other has that effect. If you hung around with good people, maybe you’d learn to value human life instead of despising.
Comment by MarcoPolo on January 23, 2015 at 8:50 am
Certainly the planet would be better off without humans!
Comment by the_enemy_hates_clarity on January 23, 2015 at 9:10 am
Which humans, and who gets to chose?
Comment by MarcoPolo on January 23, 2015 at 10:05 am
My reply to John Thomson was that the Earth would be healthier if ALL humans ceased to exist.
That’s a safe extrapolation given the scorched earth policies of Man and his determination to dominate it at all costs!
As for Kyle, I already have hopes that when I choose to expire, I’ll do it on my terms, and not at the request of some religious zealot. But thanks for recognizing the Right to Die!
Comment by the_enemy_hates_clarity on January 23, 2015 at 10:51 pm
Does the baby also get the right to “chose to expire…on (her/his) terms”?
Comment by MarcoPolo on January 23, 2015 at 11:24 pm
No. I thought I made that point already, but, no, the baby doesn’t have a voice. Sorry!
Comment by Kyle on January 23, 2015 at 9:20 am
If you really feel that way, do the obvious thing. Don’t just talk the talk, walk the walk.
Comment by the_enemy_hates_clarity on January 22, 2015 at 9:05 pm
I work with adoptions. There is no difficulty in finding parents for babies, even those who are seriously handicapped.
Let us not mince words. Abortion is evil.
In Christ,
The enemy hates clarity
Comment by Terri Kinney on January 22, 2015 at 10:07 pm
Whenever the abortion issue comes up, the usual pro-abortion posters jump in with “the fetus is not human” or “the fetus is not a baby.” The best response to that is: 38 states have laws that say otherwise, because those 38 states have fetal homicide laws. Those 38 include 3 of the 4 largest states – California, Florida, and Texas. In most of the country, someone causing the death of a fetus (other than an abortionist, that is) can be prosecuted for homicide, and it does happen. The goofiness of our laws is that you can go to prison for harming an unborn baby – unless you are someone hired by the baby’s mother.
http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/fetal-homicide-state-laws.aspx
The 2004 Unborn Victims of Violence Act makes it a felony to harm or kill an unborn while committing a federal crime.
FYI, you can go to federal prison for destroying the egg of a bald eagle. Even though the bald eagle is no longer listed as an endangered species, it is still illegal to harm a bald eagle or its egg. A bald eagle egg enjoys federal protection, an unborn child does not, if its mother wishes to kill it.
http://www.fws.gov/midwest/Eagle/protect/index.html