In 2012, Life Sunday was on January 22. Thirty nine years before, to the day, the Supreme Court handed down its Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions ushering in abortion on demand—for any reason or no reason. Since then, however, equipped saints have done many good works to hold back the abortion tide including:
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Educating others on the impact and extent of the abortion culture.
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Working with legislators to pass protective laws.
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Starting crisis pregnancy centers to help pregnant women.
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Witnessing to their community by standing on street corners and in front of clinics praying and sharing the For Life message.
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Reaching out with love and compassion to women and men who are searching for healing from an abortion experience.
Since 1979, LFL has shared God’s Word, explaining the value that all human life has because of what God has done for us. Have the Supreme Court decisions been overturned? No, but great things have been accomplished with God’s help and provision! For example:
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In 2011, more pro-life legislation was passed by state legislatures than ever before (135 bills and provisions!). Five states enacted abortion bans after 20 weeks based on science showing that the unborn child can feel pain during an abortion at that gestational age. Five states enacted laws requiring that women at least be offered the opportunity to see ultrasounds of their baby before the abortion. Seven states moved to limit the so-called “telemed” abortions (where a woman sits at a screen listening to an abortionist and then pushes a button which opens a drawer with the abortion pill RU486).
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4,000 pregnancy centers exist across the country offering real help to women in desperate need. Countless lives have been saved and women protected.
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Young Americans are swelling the ranks of pro-lifers—47 percent of voters under age 30 identify themselves as pro-life and they are active! During the 2010 March for Life, Nancy Keenan, of the abortion advocacy group, NARAL, remarked after viewing the estimated 400,000 marchers that, “there are so many of them, and they are so young.”
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Ultrasound has successfully shifted public opinion causing Kate Michelman of NARAL to comment, “the technology has clearly helped to define how people think about a fetus as a full, breathing human being.”
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In many Lutheran congregations, Lutherans For Life is welcomed, well respected, and appreciated. Plus, new life-affirming church bodies, formed out of the ELCA, are giving LFL enormous opportunities to reach congregations that have previously been closed to us. The Church is waking up!
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Post-abortive women and men are speaking out. From the founding of Women Exploited by Abortion in 1987 to the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, individuals wounded by an abortion decision in the past are being heard. (Ministries such as LFL’s Word of Hope have arisen to offer healing and hope to men and women wounded by an abortion decision.)
No, the battle is not won, but the “equipped saints” have made progress.
What about you? Are you ready to be equipped to go out and do battle? I am firmly convinced that most people don’t speak up about this issue because they feel they don’t know enough. They feel they will be challenged and not know what to say. But you can do it!
Follow your gifts and serve where God would want you to be—speaking, educating, and serving. Equip yourself with the Word—know your Scripture! Equip yourself with knowledge—know the basics of human development, the risks of abortion, and a few abortion statistics. Equip yourself through acts of compassion—volunteer, donate, be a doer! Be prepared for some challenges. Learn to not let yourself be drawn off topic—refocus the conversation. And Pray! Pray! Pray!
God will be with you as you speak out on life issues. Keep Ephesians 2:10 in mind: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
God has called you to make a difference in the world He created. So follow His leading and go do it!