Misguided pro-life activism has once again resulted in a chorus of liberals cheering victory across the headlines. When will these overfunded failures going to acknowledge that piecemeal, incremental compromises with the enemy are futile, godless, and detrimental to the profession of “pro-life”?
Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt is yet another case in point. Instead of charging at the true moral root of the pro-life issue—abortion is murder—a misguided attempt to reduce the number of clinics through certain regulations in the name of “women’s health” has resulted in a complete failure in the state of Texas.
And with that failure, several other copycat states will fail themselves. It’s no wonder liberal pundits are calling this “the most significant ruling on abortion in 25 years.”
And here’s how these great conservative leaders and their national pro-life forces tried to push this compromised measure in the courts: “The state said it was necessary to protect women’s health. . . .”
Another report notes likewise: “The state said the provisions protect women’s safety. . . .”
This argument is a farce. Indeed, it is one of the great farces of all the incremental pro-life balks. Without making the truth that abortion is murder their non-negotiable starting-point, these organizations and the lawmakers listening to them end up creating trivial piece-meal laws that stilllegitimize abortion at their core. It doesn’t matter how many restrictions you put here or there, if the root still legalizes abortion, you have compromised with death. The enemy wins, and with his foundations still in place, he will advance back against you.
Indeed, he will go find seven other demons more wicked than him to join him, and the final condition will be worse than the first.
When pro-life leaders proceed like this, they have not only compromised with death, they have implicitly adopted the enemy’s foundations as their own. They may have other intentions for down-the-line, but on paper and in practice they simply agree with the abortionists: abortion should be safe and legal. And we all know about a certain road paved with good intentions. Good intentions don’t mean anything. The law and the practice do.
Once you’ve propped up your so-good intentions on the legal presuppositions of the infanticidal maniacs, you have handed them victory. One of the most embarrassing casualties of this moral and intellectual surrender is the grand ease the enemy enjoys in defeating your argument in court.
Thus, for example, the liberals at NPR can note immediately after reporting the farcical “women’s safety” argument of the pro-lifers: “medical groups such as the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said in a brief that the law would not enhance safety and would in fact impede women’s care.”
Well, that was easy. So easy. Piece of cake, really.
You see what the enemy did there? They said, you wanna talk about women’s health and safety? OK. We can do that. Let us bring in the experts on women’s health and safety. They will give us expert medical counsel on women’s safety. And whom do you think the Court will regard on this issue? The political activists or the medical experts? Checkmate, pro-lifers. Oh, and btw, thanks.
The lawyers for the right made the same mistake in arguing against homosexual marriage. They based their defense of traditional marriage on Darwinistic and humanistic foundations and explicitly not on God’s Word—the argument that must not be named!
The same is true here. This “pro-life” law and every law like it was flawed like this from the start. It neglected the whole truth, suppressed the Word, compromised the Word, dishonored God. Instead, it left the majority of the laws legalizing abortion in place, and worst of all, left the entirety of the legal foundations of pro-abortion in place.
What does any professing Christian expect to gain in such a case?
Simply put: when you adopt the enemy’s presuppositions, you ensure the enemy’s victory. The pro-life industry has been doing so, and failing so, for over forty years.
Further, there is a great irony in today’s ruling. When our ministry joined others in pronouncing the need to #EndAbortionNow, national-group activists attacked us, saying that any radical, no-compromise approach would simply be struck down by the Supreme Court. As proof of their assertion, they sent a link to some piece of legislation that the Court had already struck. Oh the irony! It was just one more piecemeal approach built on compromises with godless laws! It is not our approach that has failed (it has not even been tried!). It is their own that has failed, failed repeatedly, and predictably failed again today.
Now, we are in a position to watch the full compromise of these futile groups. Watch the response. I predict that you will see national pro-life agencies not adjusting their tactics or message from this failure, but rather trying to raise money from it. You are about to hear from them how this ruling was opportunist on the part of the Obama administration since, you know, Scalia. You’ll hear about judicial activism on the part of rogue leftist justices. You’ll hear that this setback means we must double-down and pledge ourselves to even greater and more difficult work ahead. We are doing everything we can. But we need your help! Give, give, give!
Here’s what you should give them: a link to our #EndAbortionNow messages.
It’s simply time for every Christian who cares about the defense of the unborn to reject completely the organizations that have abjectly failed for over forty years while wasting tens of millions of dollars on failed tactics of compromise and fear, and tens of millions more convincing Christians to elect politicians who cave the first chance they get while smiling all pro-life like.
It’s time to adopt a radically faithful approach that begins with the definition, “Abortion is Murder.” Anything short of this is not worth defending, engaging, or supporting with your time and money.
A no-compromise approach will go much deeper: it steels the hearts and minds of Christians and legislators to expect the Court to strike, but also to tell that Court to go jump in lake. A no-compromise approach will train local and state leaders in interposition, nullification, and the biology of backbones. It’s time to forsake federal funds for the sake of upholding life.
Until the pro-life cause adopts such measures, it will, and can, only continue to fail.
Until then, let the conscientious adopt the mottoes:
“Abortion is murder.”
and
“Increments kills babies.”
You are absolutely right,baby killing is murder when we allowed legalized murder to be stand we became the new barbarians.We threw western civilization and Christianity in the trash and became worse than Hitler.