I call upon You, Lord, God of Abraham and God of Isaac and God of Jacob and Israel, You who are the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God who, through the abundance of your mercy, was well-pleased towards us so that we may know You, who made heaven and earth, who rules over all, You who are the one and the true God, above whom there is no other God; You who, by our Lord Jesus Christ gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit, give to every one who reads this writing to know You, that You alone are God, to be strengthened in You, and to avoid every heretical and godless and impious teaching.

St Irenaeus of Lyons, Against the Heresies 3:6:4


Wednesday, July 9, 2014

RH RealityCheck.org Needs a Reality Check on Reporting!



Reporting for www.rhrealitycheck.org, Teddy Wilson laments the passage and signing of Louisiana House Bill 388.[1] Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (R) signed the bill on June 12, 2014, in West Monroe, home to the bill’s author Representative Katrina Jackson (D). The actual signing (not merely a ceremony) took place at the First Baptist Church in Rep. Jackson’s hometown of West Monroe. According to Wilson, HB 388 represented one of Gov. Jindal’s legislative priorities for the recently ended legislative session.
Wilson understands Louisiana’s HB 388 to be another recent heir of Texas’ HB 2, an earlier omnibus bill that imposes stricter state-wide abortion regulations, which was enacted July 18, 2013.[2] Wilson describes the consequences of HB 388 in terms of three changes: (1) Abortion provides will be required to obtain admitting privileges at a hospital within thirty miles of the performing clinic; (2) a “forced” twenty-four hour waiting period on surgical abortions, and (3) “the number of abortions a doctor must perform in a given year to be considered an abortion provider will be greatly reduced.”[3] Regarding the latter, that number, as a matter of fact, will drop from thirty to five abortions annually.[4]
What Wilson fails to report are the various other results of the bill, not least those points that expose the specious, or better wicked, nature of the business. For example, Rep. Jackson’s bill now requires abortion providers to disclose to the mothers that their “counselors” (i.e., salespersons) have “sales quotas” imposed upon them.[5] So, in addition to the numerous other aspects, the quota disclosure will help the disillusioned, scared, vulnerable women see through the pretense of the abortion mill’s concern for the mother’s best interest and health—the mother can better penetrate through her emotional needs to understand that the abortionist’s priority is not her at all but money, filthy lucre; it is blood money. This is but one glaring omission in Wilson’s radical pro-abortion, axe-to-grind, biased narrative.
Another remarkable element of Wilson’s report is his several and various faulty appeals to authority on the matter. Against the claim made by the bill’s author and proponents that “the restrictions will protect women’s health and make abortions safer,” Wilson suggests that all the evidence is to the contrary, citing major medical associations. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the American Medical Association (AMA) are quoted by Wilson, saying, “[T]here is no medical basis to require abortion providers to have local hospital admitting privileges.”[6] Such a claim is embarrassingly disingenuous and contrary to fact.
One year ago this month Nova Women’s Healthcare in Fairfax, Virginia, was forced to close its doors as a result of a pathological pattern of botched abortions, one of which ended in the mother’s death. This evil is not the rare exception. The cover-up, protectionist reporting methods used to safeguard the abortion industry notwithstanding, the Center for Disease Control reports some four-hundred eleven maternal deaths resulting from so-called “safe and legal” abortion between the years 1973 and 2009.[7] In fact, on February 07, 2014, Planned Parenthood settled for two-million dollars in a botched abortion case, which led to the death of the mother.[8]
Due in part to an increased awareness of the dangers of this most common and highly invasive surgical procedure, reports of maternal deaths resulting from abortion are becoming more public and frequent. Therefore, the response from the ACOG and the AMA to HB 388 is revealing, since a teenager with a smartphone can recognize that there is a “medical basis” for the restrictions of HB 388, namely that “safe and legal” abortions always ends in one murder and sometimes a second manslaughter, death to the mother. If these medical “authorities” do not view maternal mortality as a sufficient “medical basis,” then they have no authority at all in the matter.
Wilson also cites Jennifer Dalven, director of the American Civil Liberties Union Reproductive Freedom Project, who claims that “this law doesn’t protect women’s health.” As seen above, however, it does indeed. Admitting privileges at the nearest hospital could save the life of a hemorrhaging woman, whose uterus or intestines have been perforated, which are not uncommon consequences of the operation.
Wilson shares Dalven’s perspective, quoting her wondering, “Given that doctors and medical groups oppose these laws, we have to ask ourselves why some politicians are pushing them?” Both Wilson’s and those he represents radical pro-abortion bias is readily seen in the question posed by Dalven. By means of this loaded question, they hope to evoke suspicion in their audience. The assumed premise here is that politicians must have some specious, hidden motives for “pushing” this bill. As members of the legislature, though, Rep. Jackson and her bill’s co-sponsors and supporters are responsible for the administration of public safety and justice. This bill, which will reduce both preborn and maternal fatalities, is evidence of these public officials discharging their duties in the protection of their citizens’ most basic right—life. That’s why they are pushing the bill.
Nevertheless, the inverse may be considered, too. If HB 388 will ensure that fewer lives are lost at the hands to the Louisiana abortion industry, and it will, one may rightly wonder why Dalven, the ACOG, and the AMA are opposing it? Granting that abortion is a billion dollar a year U.S. industry, one need not strain to see possible less-than-pure motives beneath the bill’s opposition. 
The primary concern of Wilson shines through his writing, when he admits the clinic closures that will likely follow as a result of the bill. He protests that the bill will force the closure of three, perhaps four, of the five surgical abortion providers in the state of Louisiana.
The entire scope of Wilson’s report drips with enmity and hostility toward the radical biblical conception of what it means to be human, and the most basic ethical demands of God for his image-bearers and their treatment of one another. At the most fundamental level of what it means to be human is the ever-abiding mandate of Genesis 1:28, the dominion mandate, “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, ‘Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion’...” This foundational verse circumscribes the contours of our humanity. Those powers and people that strive against God’s purposes for his creatures—especially as touching the realization of his plan expressed through the dominion mandate—are described in scripture as the most wicked of characters; they are of the seed of the serpent, their father the devil (see, e.g., Pharaoh’s trifold program of pogrom in Ex. 1 and 2; King Herod in Matt. 2; cf. Gen. 3; Jn. 8:44, etc.).
As depositories of God’s own image, and thus presence, the unjust taking of innocent human life is strictly forbidden (Ex. 20:13). Biblically speaking, the most innocent, vulnerable to oppression, the preborn child, enjoys the divine protection and benefits of this prohibition. In fact, in terms of biblical law, to even inadvertently take the life of a preborn child is to surrender one’s own right to life; that is how highly valued life is, according to Scripture (cf. Ex. 21:22-25).[9]
Therefore, in light of Scripture—and the historic orthodox Christian position—Wilson’s axe-to-grind angle on Rep. Jackson’s HB 388’s passing and signing reflects not only a perspective on image-bearing child-bearing that is incongruent with the Christian worldview, but one that is nothing short of an old battle strategy of Satan in his war against YHWH and his image. As such, Wilson is reflecting the image of his father, the one who was a murderer from the beginning (Jn. 8:44).   
  










BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abort73.com, “U.S. Abortion Statistics: Facts and figures relating to the frequency of abortion in the United States,” as found at http://www.abort73.com/abortion_facts/us_abortion_statistics/ (accessed June 17, 2014).

Boland, Barbra. “Planned Parenthood Settles $2 Million Case After Botched Abortion” (February 14, 2014). cnsnews.com. http://cnsnews.com/news/article/barbara-boland/planned-parenthood-settles-2-million-case-after-botched-abortion. 


Jackson, Rep. Katrina (D). House Bill No. 388—Abortion: Provides for Physicians Who Perform Abortions. Louisiana Legislative Regular Session, 2014. http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=875660&n=HB388+Original.

Kline, Meredith. “Lex Talionis and the Human Fetus.” Pages 193—201. In Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 20. (1977).  

Operation Rescue Staff. “30th abortion clinic closes in 2013 after botched abortions, patient death.” LifeSiteNews.com. http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/30th-abortion-clinic-closes-in-2013-after-botched-abortions-patient-death.


Reardon, D. C., T. W. Strahan, J. M. Thorp, M. W. Shuping. “Deaths Associated with Abortion Compared to Childbirth: A Review of New and Old Data and the Medical and Legal Implications. Pp. 279327 in The Journal of Contemporary Health Law & Policy (2004), 20.2.

Wilson, Teddy. “Louisiana Governor Signs Omnibus Anti-Abortion Bill.” RHRealityCheck.org  (June 12, 2014). http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2014/06/12/breaking-louisiana-governor-signs-omnibus-anti-abortion-bill/.

Unknown author. “Texas Omnibus Abortion Bill (HB 2). RHRC Beta Project: RHRealityCheck.org (April 02, 2014). http://data.rhrealitycheck.org/law/texas-omnibus-abortion-bill-hb-2-2013/.



[1] Teddy Wilson, “Louisiana Governor Signs Omnibus Anti-Abortion Bill,” RHRealityCheck.org  (June 12, 2014), as found at http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2014/06/12/breaking-louisiana-governor-signs-omnibus-anti-abortion-bill/ (accessed June 14. 2014). Unless otherwise noted, all references to the subject matter are to this article.

[2] Unknown author, “Texas Omnibus Abortion Bill (HB 2), RHRC Beta, RHRealityCheck.org (April 02, 2014), as found at http://data.rhrealitycheck.org/law/texas-omnibus-abortion-bill-hb-2-2013/ (accessed June 14, 2014).

[3] Wilson, “Louisiana Governor Signs Omnibus Anti-Abortion Bill.”

[4] Rep. Katrina Jackson, House Bill No. 388—Abortion: Provides for Physicians Who Perform Abortions, Louisiana Legislative Regular Session, 2014, as found at http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=875660&n=HB388+Original (accessed June 15, 2014).

[5] Rep. Jackson, House Bill No. 388.

[6] Operation rescue Staff, “30th abortion clinic closes in 2013 after botched abortions, patient death,” LifeSiteNews.com, as found at http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/30th-abortion-clinic-closes-in-2013-after-botched-abortions-patient-death (accessed June 17, 2014).

[7] Abort73.com, “U.S. Abortion Statistics: Facts and figures relating to the frequency of abortion in the United States,” as found at http://www.abort73.com/abortion_facts/us_abortion_statistics/ (accessed June 17, 2014).

[8] Barbra Boland, “Planned Parenthood Settles $2 Million Case After Botched Abortion” (February 14, 2014), cnsnews.com, as found at http://cnsnews.com/news/article/barbara-boland/planned-parenthood-settles-2-million-case-after-botched-abortion (accessed June 17, 2014). 
[9]  Gainsayers notwithstanding, see Meredith Kline, “Lex Talionis and the Human Fetus,” in the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 20 (1977): 193-201.

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