Somehow it seems insufficient just to make a statement that Lutherans For Life is “pleased with the guilty verdict in the Gosnell trial” as if it is now over and we can move on. While we certainly give thanks that the crimes were acknowledged for what they were, “guilty as charged” does nothing to erase the horrors of mutilation and death that took place in his “butcher shop.” “Guilty as charged” does nothing to stop the murder of born babies that continues to happen in other abortion mills around the country. As Patricia Heaton tweeted, “Gosnell is just the less sanitary version of what goes on every day … the cheapening of human life. Lord have mercy.”
“Guilty as charged” does nothing to stop the murderous mutilation of unborn babies which society labels just the opposite of the Gosnell atrocities—“legal,” “a right,” and “good.” What a testament to the devil’s duplicity and man’s idiocy that the distance between “good” and “grotesque” is the few inches of a birth canal.
Lutherans For Life prays that the Gosnell case and verdict will raise people’s awareness, not just of one horrible crime that is now over, but of the continuing crimes against the sacredness of human life. The murder of children is still the murder of children whether born or unborn, whether in a squalid environment or a septic one.
And we need to raise more than awareness. We need to raise our voices as Christ’s people. For abortion does not just destroy someone, but someone created by God, someone for whom Jesus died, and someone God desires to call into an eternal relationship with Him. We need to raise our voices, not just because these children are precious, but because they are precious to God.
We need to raise our voices for those deceived by the great evil of abortion. The Gosnell trial reminded us that women die having abortions. For thousands more, something dies within them, something that is replaced with hopelessness and a deep-seated regret. We need to raise our voices so that those so wounded will know that the cross of Jesus paid for their sin, that the empty tomb of Jesus gives them victory and a living hope, and that the ascension of Jesus means He rules over all things and will never forsake them.
“Guilty as charged” is not enough. Lutherans For Life will continue with its mission “to equip Lutherans to be Gospel motivated voices For Life.” We will continue to provide Word-based resources so that hearts and lives will be changed. We will continue to pray that lives so changed will influence our culture by calling wrong things wrong, by loving our neighbor, and by pointing people to the Lord of Life not the god of death for rescue from their problems.