America’s Abortion Provider: What Everyone Should Know About Planned Parenthood

On February 18, 2011, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to end federal funding of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA). The bill later failed to pass the Senate, by a margin of 42-58. Despite its demise, this legislative act reflected a monumental shift in America’s attitude—a shift against the nation’s largest abortion provider. Had the bill become law, it would have had a significant impact upon the abortion giant’s finances: PPFA receives roughly 46 percent of its budget from federal and state grants and contracts.

Leading up to the House’s vote, a pro-life activist group released videotapes of an undercover sting. Video footage showed employees at a variety of Planned Parenthood clinics who were willing to aid and abet the sex trafficking of minors, a federal criminal offense.

1 While the federal attempts to defund the abortion provider have stalled, state legislators and governors have withheld state dollars from Planned Parenthood. At the time of publication, as many as nine states had taken such action.

Yet to many Americans, the PPFA.... More

Media Misleads on Reasons Behind Abortion Decline

(by Michael New) Last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released abortion statistics for calendar year 2009. The news was good for pro-lifers as the CDC statistics indicate the number of abortions decreased by approximately 5 percent between 2008 and 2009. Overall, the abortion rate has been declining fairly steadily since the early 1990s, but has leveled off somewhat during the current decade. Furthermore, some research indicates that the incidence of abortion increases when the economy slows down. As such, this reported decline in the abortion rate was somewhat unexpected.

 

Unsurprisingly, most of the mainstream-media coverage of the abortion decline was quick to credit contraception use. The Associated Press story on the abortion decline cited two professors and a Guttmacher Institute analyst. They each credited contraception use, even though they were unable to provide any actual evidence of increased contraception use in 2009. Perhaps unsurprisingly, no one representing a pro-life group was quoted or cited in the article.

Sandy Hook and Abortion

Baptist Press (Kelly Boggs)
ALEXANDRIA, La. (BP) -- On Friday morning, Dec. 14, a gunman shot his way into the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. He gunned down 20 precious children and six adults before taking his own life. Earlier that same day, the shooter fired several shots into his mother, killing her while she slept in her home.

The death toll of the murderous rampage that shocked the nation was 28. In the ensuing days memorials were held all over the country. People wept and wondered how someone could be so calloused as to murder children in cold blood.

Amid all the discussions, one question is repeatedly posed: "Why?" Pundits, psychologists and politicians all have suggested possible reasons or motives for why Adam Lanza, the shooter, went on his deadly rampage. But the truth is that no one really knows what motivated Lanza to perpetrate his crime; it was probably a combination of factors. One of which is that sin, the selfish, self-centered reality that stains human DNA, was part of his makeup. MORE

Ten Best and Worst States for Protecting Unborn

(Life Site News, by Ben Johnson)
WASHINGTON, D.C., January 16, 2013, (LifeSiteNews.com) – After a year of pro-life triumphs that was rated the second highest in modern U.S. history, Americans United for Life (AUL) has ranked all 50 states over how well they protect the unborn.

The newly released report also provides 50 individual blueprints for how each state can advance the cause of life in the new year.

The effective pro-life organization examined 50 states and the District of Columbia's laws on abortion, protecting the unborn in the womb, and conscience rights for health care workers, as well as end-of-life and bioethical issues.

Researchers rated Louisiana the best for the second year in a row, after the legislature capped off the most successful pro-life session in memory.

AUL notes that the state “has a decades-long history of enacting.... MORE

40 Years After Roe? Time Hails Abortion Rights

(Al Mohler) The 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade will bring the nation face to face with the abortion question once again. More accurately, it will serve as an opportunity for activists and supporters on both sides of the abortion controversy in America to consider where the nation stands, four decades after Roe.
Roe was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court on January 22, 1973. The divided Court handed down a confusing and complex decision, constructed by Justice Harry Blackmun in an effort to put the abortion controversy to rest. The decision was simple enough in its main point — that a woman had a constitutional right to an abortion for any reason or for no reason within the first trimester of her pregnancy. The effect was to legalize abortion on demand nationwide.  MORE

Evangelical Pastor Pulled from Inaugural Program

Pastor Louie Giglio was a graduate student at Baylor when he launched a Bible study group that became the predecessor to his Passion movement.

 

UPDATE, 11 a.m., Jan. 10: Think Progress is reporting that Giglio removed himself from the program.

“Due to a message of mine that has surfaced from 15-20 years ago, it is likely that my participation, and the prayer I would offer, will be dwarfed by those seeking to make their agenda the focal point of the inauguration,” Giglio said in a statement to Think Progress. “Clearly, speaking on this issue has not been in the range of my priorities in the past fifteen years. Instead, my aim has been to call people to ultimate significance as we make much of Jesus Christ.”

Read Giglio’s full statement here.

HRC President Chad Griffin said in a statement: “It was the right decision. Participants in the Inaugural festivities should unite rather than divide. Choosing an affirming and fair-minded voice as his replacement would be in keeping with the tone the president wants to set for his Inaugural.”
UPDATE, 10 a.m. Central time on Jan. 10: ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl reports on Twitter that Giglio has been removed from the inauguration program. MORE

Why You Should Care About the Hobby Lobby Case

(Kevin DeYoung) The facts are well known: the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) requires employers to provide insurance for their employees. As part of the mandated health coverage, businesses must include contraceptives and abortifacient drugs in their insurance plans. Hobby Lobby, owned by the Green family (strong Christians and generous philanthropists), is refusing to comply with the HHS mandate, believing that the government is requiring what is unethical and infringing upon their religious liberty. Perhaps it is tragically fitting that Justice Sotomayor denied Hobby Lobby judicial relief on December 26—St. Stephen’s Day, the day the church remembers its first martyr.  MORE

Pride, Obama, and Hobby Lobby's Conviction

(Doug Wilson) 
In a constitutional republic, the normal ways for an arrogant politician to come a cropper would be through personal scandal and resignation, and/or repudiation at the polls. That's the way we do. Very few pols, however much they may deserve it, are struck by lightning bolts or small meteorites.
Not to probe old wounds, there really were sound reasons for thinking Obama was going to be rejected decisively in this last election (as I and a bunch of other wrong people thought). For me one of those reasons was the self-evident nature of the president's high-octane arrogance. Pride really does go before destruction, and a haughty spirit really does go before a fall (Prov. 16:18). But as the results of the election testify, Mencken was right, at least in this instance. He said no one ever went broke by underestimating the intelligence of the American people. Hubris radiates from the president like heat from an oil drum stove, and it is astonishing to me that so many people are blind to it.
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Blemishes in Christian Character: a List for Self Examination

(Tim Keller) For years I’ve been haunted by one of John Newton’s letters, which was later titled “Blemishes in Christian Character.” Newton was an 18^th Century Anglican minister who had once been a slave trader. After a dramatic conversion, he went into the ministry and became one of the wisest and most insightful pastors of his time. His hundreds of pastoral letters are masterful and many are in print to this day.
In the letter I’ve referred to, Newton points out that while most Christians succeed in avoiding the more gross external sins, many nonetheless overlook blemishes on their character by passing them off as mere “foibles.” They “may not seem to violate any express command of Scripture” and yet, they are “properly sinful” because they are the opposite of the fruit of the Spirit that believers are supposed to exhibit. While our faults always seem small to us due to the natural self-justification of the heart, they often don’t look so small to others. As a result, these “small faults” cause large swaths of the Christian population to have little influence on others for Christ. Newton lists these faults that we tolerate in ourselves, and which do great damage to our public witness as well as to our relationships within the Body of Christ.
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The Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards in Categories

(What's Best Next / Blog) As I’ve been working on my book on gospel-centered productivity, Jonathan Edward’s resolutions have been very relevant and significant. Edwards is an example to us of true productivity — he shows us that true productivity is about a life well lived and that, even more, a life well lived is a God-centered life.
Edwards also shows us that a well lived life doesn’t just happen; it requires intentionality. And intentionality manifests itself in certain “mechanisms” that help us maintain our intentionality. Edwards’ resolutions are one example of such a “mechanism.”
So Edwards is a good example not just of a life that is lived well, but also of the “practical side” of how to actually build that intentionality into our lives, rather than just letting it remain a vague wish that never takes deep root and makes a real difference.
Toward that end, it’s worth reflecting on and giving some thought to his resolutions. Many of you are familiar with them, I’m sure. What I’ve tried to do here is put them into a few categories that can perhaps help shed some additional light on the resolutions and how Edwards lived his life.  MORE