Abortion

This is Chapter 4 from my book the Silent Church. Please take a few moments to read it as it will tell you the history of how abortion was legalized in our nation. Chapter 4 Abortion I would like to now take some time to tell you where we actually are in today's culture and political climate, and define clearly the kind of laws we have allowed ourselves to be living under, and what God and the Bible tells us about this. The first law that is on our books, and that we have allowed our government to enact, is the approval of the sin of abortion. Last fall, prior to the presidential election I sent out an e-mail to my 50,000 plus readers about my position on abortion. I strongly believe it states what the Bible teaches us about this sin, and what God would want us to adhere to in our lives. I am showing it below in its entirety. To all my readers: Today I am sending you another message, in addition to my usual Daily Devotional, as this is a special message that God has placed on my heart to send to you. I believe this is a critical time in our nation’s history, where we as citizens of our great nation, have a wonderful opportunity to stop and eliminate a horrific crime that has been legalized by our political and justice system. This barbaric act of abortion, which is now legal, goes against all the teachings of God and the Bible. I would encourage each of you to search your hearts and make this one of your main issues in the upcoming presidential election. I would also encourage you to forward this to all of your e-mail addresses and stress to them, and everyone you come into contact with the importance of what this can mean in bringing our great nation back to God. May God Bless all of You Robert W. Brock Abortion One of the most important issues that I feel should always be at the forefront of our minds in any election is the right to life, of unborn babies. I would like to state that any type of abortion is a sin. There is no justification in the Bible for a mother to take the life of her unborn child. The Bible is clear that abortion is murder in that it is taking the life of an unborn infant. During all of our nation’s history no decent person, and certainly no respected Christian, has advocated killing an unborn baby, until the last 50 years. Like any other act of killing, it is murder. This is the law of civilized nations, but more importantly, it is the Law of God. But now, Godless people are saying, “We must be understanding of the rights of the mother, as she should be able to control her body, as it may not be good for her mental or physical health. She just doesn’t want the baby.” In many instances she has become pregnant because of the sin of fornication and adultery and now wants to undo the sin, and is committing another sin to cover up the original one. All murder is wrong. In the Old Testament, God said, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.” Genesis 9:6. Under the Mosaic Law, God plainly stated, “Anyone who strikes a man and kills him shall surely be put to death.” Exodus 21:12. The death penalty for murder is also clearly implied in the New Testament. “Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.” Matthew 5:21 “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said “Do not commit adultery, also said, “Do not murder,” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.” James 2:10-11 The Bible repeatedly tells us to obey all the commandments that God gave Moses and the sixth commandment is “Thou shalt not kill.” To God, the killing of an unborn child is murder. The person guilty of that murder, is subject to the same conviction, and deserving of the same sentence (punishment) as that person who pulls the trigger of a gun used to kill another person. Many people make the foolish argument that the unborn child, the fetus, is not a human being—a person—but that is simply not true. The little unborn baby is not just a part of the woman’s body, but it has a separate life altogether. All of the baby’s particular traits have already been charted in its genes. The sex of the baby, the color of its eyes and hair, its physical features, its special talents and gifts, are all determined at the time of conception. The Bible teaches us that the baby, from conception, is a person, and consequently a living soul. David stated that, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb, I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Psalm 139:13-16 From the moment of conception a baby is indeed a person, just as David was in the womb of his mother. We have another instance, in the Book of Jeremiah, where the Bible tells us that a baby is indeed a living being, as God was talking to Jeremiah about his calling as a prophet. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5 God knew the prophet Jeremiah before he was born, and if, by abortion, the fetus would have been murdered, it would have been Jeremiah who died. The mother would not have known his name, but God would have. We find another example in the New Testament when Elizabeth, John the Baptist’ mother, was greeted by Mary, “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.” Luke 1:41 The fetus of John the Baptist, in the womb of his mother, may not have understood clearly why he leaped at the sound of the voice of Mary, but God knew. Through these examples, it is evident that God values these babies as a human being, and they must not be murdered by a bitter mother or father because they are not wanted. Some illiterate people say that if the baby is illegitimate, then it should be aborted. This is so incorrect as the answer to that argument is that you don’t erase or correct one sin by committing another. To compound sin upon sin is not the way to peace or a better mental health. The fact is, “abortion is a sin.” The killing of an unborn child is a terrible sin; which God calls murder. It is essentially the same thing as murdering the incompetent, the retarded, the handicapped, and the aged or senile. If we’re going to kill the unwanted, possibly there are many that are one year old, two years old, five, ten, even fifty year olds who are unwanted. If the abortionists win their cause in the United States, where do we go from there? We can look back in Nazi Germany which enacted a law permitting the elimination of “useless” members of society. Consequently, eighteen million people were slaughtered (among them, six million Jews) because they represented a category that was considered useless and not wanted. We have the same pattern before us in America today, in which a whole category of human beings—unborn babies who cannot yet speak for themselves—are being slaughtered at the whim of a mother, father or doctor who decides that the mother is somehow unable or unwilling to have a baby. Abortion is not of God, and it is totally ungodly. It is a terrible case of man’s inhumanity to man; and one day man will answer to God for the terrible sin of abortion. However, we as citizens of our great nation now have the opportunity to stand up and take a stand to eliminate this barbaric practice of abortion once and for all. Our next President may have the opportunity to appoint an additional Justice or Justice’s of the Supreme Court that could overturn the Roe v Wade decision, and make it illegal to continue killing unwanted babies, and again help to bring our nation back to being a godly nation. I would encourage each of my readers to look at the position of each of the candidates and their stand on abortion. Each of you have a chance to make a difference, and end this barbaric practice. There is nothing more important in this election than to stop the killing of 4,000 innocent babies each and every day. It is evident at this time that these words, about the terrible act of abortion fell on deaf ears as we continued to elect officials that have an agenda to legalize any abortion. In following up with all the churches that I have encountered during these last 20 years, none of the pastors stood in their pulpits prior to last years election and preached sermon after sermon about the sin of abortion, and telling their congregations the candidates that stood for abortion. I could just imagine my great great grandfather and all our forefathers, who for centuries preached about these kinds of sins in their pulpits on Sunday morning, and warning their congregations about electing these kinds of politicians with these kinds of beliefs, turning over in their graves as they would have taken a stand to preach to their congregations about the Word of God and this great sin. But all the modern day pulpits remained silent and the 85% of so-called Christians keep electing these Pro Choice candidates, and the killing continues. Just recently there was an all-star football quarterback that spent almost 5 years in prison for running a dog fighting ring, which I am not condoning in any way, as I think this is an evil act and should have been justly punished as it was, but we sent this man to prison for almost 5 years, but we allow 4,000 innocent babies to be killed each day and stand by and do nothing about it. Our society has gotten to the point where we value the life of a dog more than we value the life of a baby. Just this past week our President was accepted at Notre Dame, one of the largest Catholic Universities in the nation, to give a Commencement Address to the graduating class. Up to this time, this great university had denounced abortion as a sin, but has now succumbed to giving front stage to a President that has taken a definitive stance on the right to kill innocent babies. But even more so, this gave our President the stage to state that we must work to find a common ground to settle the debate on this terrible sin. There is no such thing as common ground when it comes to the abortion issue, as we must call it what it truly is "Murder", and those that support, condone, enable and defend abortion what they are "murderers". This is not just my stand on abortion but God's word on the subject, as there is not any common ground on this issue according to God and the Bible. The thought that there is any common ground on this issue, is just another example where people continue to compromise their values to the point where they mean nothing. This reminds me of the story of a father whose daughter wanted to go to a movie where there was just a little bad language and just a little violence and just a little sex contained in the movie. Her father told her that she was not permitted to go, but she kept insisting stating that it was just a little bit bad, but the majority of the movie was all right. The father thought of a way to demonstrate how this little bit of evil in the movie could contaminate the whole movie. So he made a batch of chocolate chip cookies, which were her favorites, but before he gave them to her he stated that they had just a little bit of an extra ingredient in them. He said that he had put just a little bit of manure in the cookies, but just a little bit but the rest of the cookies were just as she always liked. It does not take much to compromise our values and contaminate them, as we compromise just a little bit this time and just a little bit more the next time, and before we know it we have gotten completely away from our values. The overall message that we need to take away from the Notre Dame controversy is that our government is determined to continue this barbaric practice of abortion, as those that support life were put on notice that they will not be tolerated in this administration, and that we must compromise our stance on this horrific sin. I can only encourage you today, that God does not believe in compromise, and is never going to bless sin of any kind, and especially the sin of abortion. I recently ran across an article that Ron Paul wrote several years ago about the Catholic Church and ties in rather nicely with the issue at Notre Dame. Theology, not Politics April 11, 2005 Members of Congress from both political parties outdid themselves last week in heaping praise upon Pope John Paul II in the wake of his passing. Many spoke at length on the floor of the House of Representatives, and some even flew to Rome for his funeral. I'm happy to witness so many politicians honoring a great man of God and peace. The problem, however, is that so few of them honored him during his lifetime by their actions as legislators. In fact, most members of Congress support policies that are totally at odds with Catholic teachings. Just two years ago, conservatives were busy scolding the Pope for his refusal to back our invasion of Iraq. One conservative media favorite even made the sickening suggestion that the Pope was the enemy of the United States because he would not support our aggression in the Middle East. The Pontiff would not ignore the inherent contradiction in being pro-life and pro-war, nor distort just war doctrine to endorse attacking a nation that clearly posed no threat to America--and conservatives resented it. September 11th did not change everything, and the Pope understood that killing is still killing. The hypocritical pro-war conservatives lauding him today have very short memories. Liberals also routinely denounced the Pope for refusing to accept that Catholicism, like all religions, has rules that cannot simply be discarded to satisfy the cultural trends of the time. The political left has been highly critical of the Pope's positions on abortion, euthanasia, gay marriage, feminism, and contraception. Many liberals frankly view Catholicism as an impediment to the fully secular society they hope to create. Both conservatives and liberals cannot understand that the Pope's pronouncements were theological, not political. He was one of the few humans on earth who could not be bullied or threatened by any government. He was a man of God, not a man of the state. He was not a policy maker, but rather a steward of long-established Catholic doctrine. His mission was to save souls, not serve the political agendas of any nation, party or politician. To the secularist, this was John Paul II unforgivable sin--he placed service to God above service to the state. Most politicians view the state, not God, as the supreme ruler on earth. They simply cannot abide a theology that does not comport with their vision of unlimited state power. This is precisely why both conservatives and liberals savaged John Paul II when his theological pronouncements did not fit their goals. But perhaps their goals simply were not Godly. Unlike most political leaders, the Pope understood that both personal and economic liberties are necessary for human virtue to flourish. Virtue, after all, involves choices. Politics and government operate to deny people the freedom to make their own choices. The Pope's commitment to human dignity, grounded in the teachings of Christ, led him to become an eloquent and consistent advocate for an ethic of life, exemplified by his struggles against abortion, war, euthanasia, and the death penalty. Yet what institutions around the world sanction abortion, war, euthanasia, and the death penalty? Governments. Historically, religion always represented a threat to government because it competes for the loyalties of the people. In modern America, however, most religious institutions abandoned their independence long ago, and now serve as cheerleaders for state politics like social services, faith-based welfare, and military aggression in the name of democracy. Few American churches challenge state actions at all, provided their tax-exempt status is maintained. This is why Washington politicians ostensibly celebrate religion--it no longer threatens their supremacy. Government has co-opted religion and family as the primary organizing principle of our society. The federal government is boss, and everybody knows it. But no politician will ever produce even a tiny fraction of the legacy left by Pope John Paul II. I believe this description by Ron Paul on how government views religion is very accurate. The majority of our political elected officials are no longer Christians, and rule and govern our nation without any Biblical guidelines, which is evident by the laws and legislation they are enacting. The issue of abortion which I have just discussed in this chapter is just one of the many issues whereby they have completely gone astray, and are not following any Biblical teachings and have passed legislation that condones this barbaric sin. On March 12, 2003 a roll call vote was made in the United States Senate to express the sense of the Senate concerning the decision of the Supreme Court in Roe v Wade. The vote as shown below was 52 to 46, with two Senators not voting, stating that they approved of the decision by the Supreme Court by 6 votes. As can be seen 9 Republicans agreed with the decision along with 43 Democrats. Voting against the decision were 6 democrats and 40 Republicans. Joe Biden our new Vice President did not vote, and neither did Mitch McConnell our Republican Minority Leader. Abortion rights forces picked up one vote since 1999, when the Senate last voted to endorse Roe v. Wade. The vote then was 51 to 47. Grouped By Vote Position YEAs ---52 Akaka (D-HI) Baucus (D-MT) Bayh (D-IN) Bingaman (D-NM) Boxer (D-CA) Byrd (D-WV) Campbell (R-CO) Cantwell (D-WA) Carper (D-DE) Chafee (R-RI) Clinton (D-NY) Collins (R-ME) Conrad (D-ND) Corzine (D-NJ) Daschle (D-SD) Dayton (D-MN) Dodd (D-CT) Dorgan (D-ND) Durbin (D-IL) Edwards (D-NC) Feingold (D-WI) Feinstein (D-CA) Graham (D-FL) Harkin (D-IA) Hollings (D-SC) Hutchison (R-TX) Inouye (D-HI) Jeffords (I-VT) Johnson (D-SD) Kennedy (D-MA) Kerry (D-MA) Kohl (D-WI) Landrieu (D-LA) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Leahy (D-VT) Levin (D-MI) Lieberman (D-CT) Lincoln (D-AR) Mikulski (D-MD) Murkowski (R-AK) Murray (D-WA) Nelson (D-FL) Reed (D-RI) Rockefeller (D-WV) Sarbanes (D-MD) Schumer (D-NY) Snowe (R-ME) Specter (R-PA) Stabenow (D-MI) Stevens (R-AK) Warner (R-VA) Wyden (D-OR) NAYs ---46 Alexander (R-TN) Allard (R-CO) Allen (R-VA) Bennett (R-UT) Bond (R-MO) Breaux (D-LA) Brownback (R-KS) Bunning (R-KY) Burns (R-MT) Chambliss (R-GA) Cochran (R-MS) Coleman (R-MN) Cornyn (R-TX) Craig (R-ID) Crapo (R-ID) DeWine (R-OH) Dole (R-NC) Domenici (R-NM) Ensign (R-NV) Enzi (R-WY) Fitzgerald (R-IL) Frist (R-TN) Graham (R-SC) Grassley (R-IA) Gregg (R-NH) Hagel (R-NE) Hatch (R-UT) Inhofe (R-OK) Kyl (R-AZ) Lott (R-MS) Lugar (R-IN) McCain (R-AZ) Miller (D-GA) Nelson (D-NE) Nickles (R-OK) Pryor (D-AR) Reid (D-NV) Roberts (R-KS) Santorum (R-PA) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Smith (R-OR) Sununu (R-NH) Talent (R-MO) Thomas (R-WY) Voinovich (R-OH) Not Voting - 2 Biden (D-DE) McConnell (R-KY) Even as early as 5 years ago our Senate could have made a statement that they rejected this horrific sin, and taken steps to overturn this barbaric law but they didn't. Our pastors, churches and their leadership could very easily have taken these results back to their congregations, without promoting any candidate, but talking only about the issue and discussing the Biblical teachings about abortion, and could have changed the makeup of the Senate enough to have them pass legislation to stop abortion. However this did not happen, and we continue to kill 4,000 precious babies each day. However there was some good news that came out of the Senate the next day as on March 13, 2003 the Senate approved a bill to ban Partial Birth Abortion by a vote of 64 to 33. This time there were still 3 Republicans who voted to continue Partial Birth Abortions, but there were enough Democrats who voted to ban the practice along with the remaining Republicans. Again our new Vice President, Joe Biden did not cast his vote, along with John Edwards and John Kerry. Although we should be glad that something was accomplished by this favorable vote, the Senators that voted against this legislation should have been bombarded with phone calls, letters, e-mails, ridiculed and held accountable by all church congregations across our country for voting against the legislation. Grouped By Vote Position YEAs ---64 Alexander (R-TN) Allard (R-CO) Allen (R-VA) Bayh (D-IN) Bennett (R-UT) Bond (R-MO) Breaux (D-LA) Brownback (R-KS) Bunning (R-KY) Burns (R-MT) Byrd (D-WV) Campbell (R-CO) Carper (D-DE) Chambliss (R-GA) Cochran (R-MS) Coleman (R-MN) Conrad (D-ND) Cornyn (R-TX) Craig (R-ID) Crapo (R-ID) Daschle (D-SD) DeWine (R-OH) Dole (R-NC) Domenici (R-NM) Dorgan (D-ND) Ensign (R-NV) Enzi (R-WY) Fitzgerald (R-IL) Frist (R-TN) Graham (R-SC) Grassley (R-IA) Gregg (R-NH) Hagel (R-NE) Hatch (R-UT) Hollings (D-SC) Hutchison (R-TX) Inhofe (R-OK) Johnson (D-SD) Kyl (R-AZ) Landrieu (D-LA) Leahy (D-VT) Lincoln (D-AR) Lott (R-MS) Lugar (R-IN) McCain (R-AZ) McConnell (R-KY) Miller (D-GA) Murkowski (R-AK) Nelson (D-NE) Nickles (R-OK) Pryor (D-AR) Reid (D-NV) Roberts (R-KS) Santorum (R-PA) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Smith (R-OR) Specter (R-PA) Stevens (R-AK) Sununu (R-NH) Talent (R-MO) Thomas (R-WY) Voinovich (R-OH) Warner (R-VA) NAYs ---33 Akaka (D-HI) Baucus (D-MT) Bingaman (D-NM) Boxer (D-CA) Cantwell (D-WA) Chafee (R-RI) Clinton (D-NY) Collins (R-ME) Corzine (D-NJ) Dayton (D-MN) Dodd (D-CT) Durbin (D-IL) Feingold (D-WI) Feinstein (D-CA) Graham (D-FL) Harkin (D-IA) Inouye (D-HI) Jeffords (I-VT) Kennedy (D-MA) Kohl (D-WI) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Levin (D-MI) Lieberman (D-CT) Mikulski (D-MD) Murray (D-WA) Nelson (D-FL) Reed (D-RI) Rockefeller (D-WV) Sarbanes (D-MD) Schumer (D-NY) Snowe (R-ME) Stabenow (D-MI) Wyden (D-OR) Not Voting - 3 Biden (D-DE) Edwards (D-NC) Kerry (D-MA) In determining the extent of just how prevalent abortion has become in our society, we need to look at some recent statistics that have been compiled that show the magnitude of the problem. The following is a list of useful abortion statistics. All abortion numbers are derived from pro-abortion sources courtesy of The Alan Guttmacher Institute and Planned Parenthood's Family Planning Perspectives. WORLDWIDE Number of abortions per year: Approximately 42 Million Number of abortions per day: Approximately 115,000 Where abortions occur: 83% of all abortions are obtained in developing countries and 17% occur in developed countries. UNITED STATES Number of abortions per year: 1.37 Million (1996) Number of abortions per day: Approximately 3,700 Who's having abortions (age) 52% of women obtaining abortions in the U.S. are younger than 25: Women aged 20-24 obtain 32% of all abortions; Teenagers obtain 20% and girls under 15 account for 1.2%. Who's having abortions (race) While white women obtain 60% of all abortions, their abortion rate is well below that of minority women. Black women are more than 3 times as likely as white women to have an abortion, and Hispanic women are roughly 2 times as likely. Who's having abortions (marital status) 64.4% of all abortions are performed on never-married women; Married women account for 18.4% of all abortions and divorced women obtain 9.4%. Who's having abortions (religion) Women identifying themselves as Protestants obtain 37.4% of all abortions in the United States; Catholic women account for 31.3%, Jewish women account for 1.3%, and women with no religious affiliation obtain 23.7% of all abortions. 18% of all abortions are performed on women who identify themselves as "Born-again/Evangelical". Who's having abortions (income) Women with family incomes less than $15,000 obtain 28.7% of all abortions; Women with family incomes between $15,000 and $29,999 obtain 19.5%; Women with family incomes between $30,000 and $59,999 obtain 38.0%; Women with family incomes over $60,000 obtain 13.8%. Why women have abortions 1% of all abortions occur because of rape or incest; 6% of abortions occur because of potential health problems regarding either the mother or child, and 93% of all abortions occur for social reasons (i.e. the child is unwanted or inconvenient). At what gestational ages are abortions performed 52% of all abortions occur before the 9th week of pregnancy, 25% happen between the 9th & 10th week, 12% happen between the 11th and 12th week, 6% happen between the 13th & 15th week, 4% happen between the 16th & 20th week, and 1% of all abortions (16,450/yr.) happen after the 20th week of pregnancy. Likelihood of abortion An estimated 43% of all women will have at least 1 abortion by the time they are 45 years old. 47% of all abortions are performed on women who have had at least one previous abortion. Abortion coverage 48% of all abortion facilities provide services after the 12th week of pregnancy. 9 in 10 managed care plans routinely cover abortion or provide limited coverage. About 14% of all abortions in the United States are paid for with public funds, virtually all of which are state funds. 16 states (CA, CT, HI, ED, IL, MA , MD, MD, MN, MT, NJ, NM, NY, OR, VT, WA and WV) pay for abortions for some poor women. These statistics should be alarming to every one of us as the numbers of lives that are taken each year just in the United States equate to more than the numbers of our soldiers who have lost their lives in all of our world wars, including the Civil War. To put it into further perspective I am attaching statistics below of the numbers of abortions recorded each year from 1962 to 2005 that were done in the United States. Year Number of Abortions 1962 292 1963 390 1964 823 1965 794 1966 1,028 1967 2,061 1968 4,630 1969 23,680 1970 193,491 1971 485,816 1972 586,760 1973 744,600 1974 898,600 1975 1,034,200 Year Number of Abortions 1976 1,179,300 1977 1,316,700 1978 1,409,600 1979 1,497,700 1980 1,553,900 1981 1,577,300 1982 1,573,920 1983 1,575,000 1984 1,577,200 1985 1,588,600 1986 1,574,000 1987 1,559,100 1988 1,590,800 1989 1,566,900 1990 1,608,600 1991 1,556,510 1992 1,528,930 1993 1,495,000 1994 1,423,000 1995 1,359,400 1996 1,360,160 1997 1,335,000 1998 1,319,000 1999 1,314,800 2000 1,312,990 2001 1,291,000 2002 1,269,000 2003 1,250,000 2004 1,222,100 2005 1,206,200 Even allowing for the fact that some abortions may not have been recorded in the early 1960's, the statistics show an alarming spiral upwards from 1960 through 1990, and then began a slight reduction each year since. It is difficult to talk about statistics, as each one of these numbers mean a life that has been taken from one of God's most innocent beings. The Case that Started it all So, just how did we allow this horrific sin of abortion to be part of our laws. The case originated in Texas in March 1970 at the suggestion of Sarah Weddington, a young Austin, Texas attorney who would play the leading role in pursuing the case. Weddington brought a lawsuit on behalf of Norma McCorvey, an unmarried pregnant women of Texas, to overturn the state of Texas's anti-abortion law. The name "Jane Doe" was used as an alias to protect Norma McCorvey's identity. After filing the initial lawsuit, the case was expanded to include several other parties, including: James Hubert Hallford, a licensed physician who had been arrested for violations of the Texas abortion statutes; "John and Mary Doe," aliases for a married couple whose doctor had advised against pregnancy; "all couples similarly situated" to the Doe's; and "all other women" similarly situated to Roe. The law in question made having or attempting to perform an abortion a crime, except by "medical advice for the purpose of saving the life of the mother." The suit claimed that the laws were unconstitutionally vague and abridged the rights guaranteed to pregnant women by the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Dallas district attorney Henry Wade was the defendant in the case. A three-judge district court ruled for "Jane Roe", but refused to grant injunctive relief against the enforcement of the laws. Both "Jane Roe" and defendant Wade appealed to the Supreme Court and the case was argued there by Weddington and Texas assistant attorney general Jay Floyd on December 13, 1971. Chief Justice Warren Burger assigned the opinion of the Court to Harry Blackmun, who wrote an opinion that would strike the Texas law down as unconstitutionally vague. Burger proposed that the case be put over for reargument, and the justices, unimpressed with the first oral argument in the case, underwhelmed by Blackmun's opinion, and wishing that new Justices William Rehnquist and Lewis F. Powell, Jr. participate, voted to reargue the case on October 11, 1972 at the behest of Chief Justice Burger. At the reargument, Weddington again represented Roe, while district attorney Wade was represented by Texas assistant attorney general Robert C. Flowers. As recounted in Bob Woodward and Scott Armstrong's The Brethren, Justice William O. Douglas was outraged by Chief Justice Burger's proposal to put the case over for reargument, believing Burger wished that the case be decided after the November 1972 elections (Burger was a close friend of President Richard Nixon). Douglas threatened to write a dissent from the reargument order, but was coaxed out of the action by his colleagues; his dissent was merely mentioned in the order without further statement or opinion. The Court issued its opinion on January 22, 1973 with a 7-2 majority voting to strike down the law and Justices White and Rehnquist dissenting. It should be noted that "Roe" never did obtain an abortion. Since that fateful decision by the Supreme Court, there has been a continuing controversy about the decision. The Roe decision sparked nationwide protest, including a massive letter-writing campaign to the Supreme Court. Many Americans, including many Catholics and evangelical Protestants, believe that abortion is morally equivalent to infanticide. Others believe that life begins upon conception, and thus the right to life of the fetus trumps any other rights. Widespread protest over the decision resulted in the creation of the Pro-Life Movement, which organized large protest rallies outside the Supreme Court. Pro-Life protesters frequently picket abortion clinics, distribute literature and other forms of persuasion to women considering abortion, and have promoted adoption efforts to steer women away from abortion. More extreme variants of the movement have also developed, and abortion doctors have been the targets of harassment and even murder by individuals who claim that by taking the life of an abortion doctor they are actually saving many fetus' lives. Just this week Dr. George Tiller, one of the most well-known abortion doctors who was performing abortions in the late trimesters of pregnancy, was gunned down by a Pro-Life protester. Although I detest the actions that Dr. Tiller has taken throughout the years, and the number of abortions he performed himself, this kind of action by the man who killed Dr. Tiller cannot be condoned, as this also is murder. Some abortion opponents have claimed that there exists a link between abortion and breast cancer, and Texas has enacted a law requiring literature advancing this theory be distributed to women considering abortion; more credibly, abortion has been linked to persistent guilt feelings and other psychological problems, and to a higher risk of future infertility. Every year on the anniversary of the decision, protesters continue to demonstrate outside the Supreme Court Building in Washington D.C. In response to Roe v. Wade, several states enacted laws limiting the right of abortion, including laws requiring parental consent for minors to obtain abortions, parental notification laws, spousal consent laws, spousal notification laws, laws requiring abortions to be performed in hospitals, not clinics, laws barring state funding for abortions, laws banning the partial birth abortion procedure, laws requiring waiting periods before abortion, laws mandating that women read certain types of literature before choosing an abortion, and many more. The United States Congress in the 1970s, passed the Hyde Amendment, barring federal funding for abortion. Abortions are currently prohibited in overseas military hospitals, and the U.S. is barred from aiding international family planning organizations that might advise abortions. The Supreme Court struck down several state restrictions on abortions in a long series of cases stretching from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s, but consistently upheld restrictions on funding, including the Hyde Amendment, in the case of Harris v. McRae (1980). There currently is a movement in the congress, spurred on by President Obama, to reform health insurance. I am afraid that there is going to be legislation in this reform package that is going to include more freedom on making abortion more accessible to the general public. If this occurs I feel this will further weaken the cause to have this barbaric killing of the unborn done away with. Even though the Supreme Court Decision has not been overturned to date, there is still hope that it will eventually be overturned. In only two more years the majority of the Senate and House of Representatives will be up for election. We must pray that all Americans will wake up and elect legislatures that will uphold God's commands and stop this barbaric practice. Our churches, our pastors and all Christians need to be aware of every candidates position on abortion, and vote anyone out of office that supports this ungodly act. Our churches and our pastors need to take their place as leaders of the cause, as our forefathers did, and educate their congregations and have this decision reversed. The time is coming for the church, and its pastors, to again speak from their pulpits, and lead the charge to educate their congregations on this barbaric issue, and the politicians that favor this sin of abortion. We cannot allow our churches and our pastors to remain silent any longer.