South
Carolina's legislature has passed a ban on abortion after nineteen
weeks. Twelve other states have similar laws. Why nineteen weeks? The
bill's supporters believe that a fetus can feel pain at twenty weeks.
This legislation is just one of many ways pro-life supporters are
responding to the tragedy of abortion.
The numbers are staggering: globally, one in four pregnancies
ends in abortion.
This equates to fifty-six million babies killed each year. The number
of babies aborted in America is one-and-a-half times the total
population of Canada. (For more, see my
Abortion and the Mercy of God.) However, in addition to legal efforts restricting abortion, a number of other strategies are also making a difference.
One: Women's health care.
A number of clinics are now providing alternatives to Planned
Parenthood, the leading abortion provider in America. An example in
Dallas is
Thrive Women's Clinic.
It offers pregnancy testing, sonograms, registered nurses, licensed
doctors, nutrition and childbirth classes, clothing and furniture
support, and referrals to social services—all free of charge. Similar
clinics exist in other cities around the country.
Two: Adoption.
Consider
BraveLove, a movement dedicated to changing the perception of adoption and increasing domestic infant adoptions. Its newest video, "
(un)Wanted," tells the story of brave mothers who placed their children for adoption.
Three: Foster care.
May is National Foster Care Month, calling attention to the nearly
400,000 children and youth in the American foster care system. One of
our ministry team members is caring for a foster child. I invite you to
read her remarkable story at
www.christianparenting.org, one of the ministries of Denison Forum.
Four: Optimism.
It is easy to be discouraged by the moral trajectory of our culture.
Marriage has been redefined; gender is being redefined as we speak.
Euthanasia is gaining momentum. Genetic manipulation of human embryos is
now a reality. Jihadist terrorism continues to dominate the news. Many
Americans are discouraged by the tenor and direction of our politics.
But it's always too soon to give up on God.
Consider these facts:
in AD 100 there was one professing Christian for every 360
non-Christians in the world. By AD 1500, the ratio was 1:270; by AD
1500, it was 1:85; by 1900, it was 1:21; by 1970, it was 1:13. Today?
The ratio is one to two.
Here's a related fact: the number of Christian missionaries has grown
from 17,400 in 1900 to more than 400,000 today. During the twentieth
century, the number of believers in Africa has risen from less than ten
percent to nearly fifty percent. Christianity in Asia is growing twice
as fast as the population. The country with the fastest Christian growth
rate? Iran, at twenty percent. God is still on his throne.
How is the Lord calling you to support life? Perhaps he wants you to
volunteer time or finances with pro-life health clinics and adoption
ministries. Perhaps he is calling you to consider adoption or foster
care. Undoubtedly he is calling you to pray for at-risk children and
their parents and care providers.
We are called to be pro-life, not just pro-birth. How does God want you to support life today?
Whatever your Father calls you to do, he will empower you to do. You can
do all things through Christ who strengthens you (Philippians 4:13).
Pope Francis was right: Jesus wants to turn "your energy into moral
virtue, your good will into genuine self-sacrificing love! This is the
path you are called to take. This is the path to overcoming all that
threatens hope, virtue and love in your lives and in your culture."
Let's take the path of moral virtue today.
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