Pastors, You Must Speak Up: One in 5 U.S. Abortions Are Performed on Women Identifying...

epm.org ^ | January 15, 2016 | Randy Alcorn

[Morgana]

FULL TITLE: Pastors, You Must Speak Up: One in 5 U.S. Abortions Are Performed on Women Identifying as Evangelical Christians

Some Christians may think, “Believers don’t have abortions, only un-churched people do.” This simply isn’t true. In fact, 43 percent of women obtaining abortions identify themselves as Protestant, and 27 percent identify themselves as Catholic. So two-thirds of America’s abortions are obtained by those with a Christian affiliation. As I share in my book Why ProLife?, one of every five US abortions—about a quarter-million a year—are performed on women who identify themselves as born-again or evangelical Christians.[i]

Many church-attending women, younger and older, have had abortions. Many church-attending men got those women pregnant and either pressured, encouraged, or at least agreed with the mother to abort their children.

EPM staff member Kathy Norquist, who prays with a group in front of Oregon’s largest abortion clinic, shares stories that reflect the reality of these statistics:

Once a month, some friends and I stand outside the abortion clinic praying, holding signs, and seeking to offer alternatives to men and women who choose to abort their babies. It’s a difficult place to go to, and I often don’t look forward to it. But once I’m there, it becomes a powerful time of intercession and opportunities and the Lord blesses us in many ways.

Praying outside the abortion clinicSadly, there are many Christians who come to the clinic for abortions or to assist others in getting them. Here are just a few of our encounters:

One young woman who already had an abortion was coming back for a checkup. It was heartbreaking to hear she was a Christian and involved in a church. We were able to offer her post-abortion healing information to deal with the obvious guilt she was carrying.

One of our women spoke with a young girl and her mother (presumably), parked on the street. “I could tell her conscience was working, because she said things like ‘This was such a hard decision for me. You don't know my situation. I put a lot of thought into this and it’s the best decision for me and my baby. I'm a Christian; I'm with you in spirit, but respect my decision and don't keep talking to me, and God bless you, Ma'am!’, shutting her eyes to block me out. I wasn't harassing her, but kept up with what I hoped was just gentle, logical suggestions, like adoption.”

Another morning we spoke with a grandmother who had brought her granddaughter for an abortion. She told us she was very much against it, but couldn’t talk her granddaughter out of it. Yet she was the one who drove her to the clinic. We told her to be prepared that one day her granddaughter might very well have anger toward her for facilitating her decision by driving her. It turns out the grandmother was a Christian, involved in an evangelical church which has a post-abortion Bible study for women, and her husband is a church planter!

We spoke with a woman who was just getting into her car. She was a committed believer who had brought her Christian daughter to get an abortion. The mother was adamantly opposed to the abortion and tried to talk with her daughter for days, but the daughter was determined. The mother was heartsick. Yet, she thought that even though she desperately didn’t want her daughter to go ahead with it, she had to bring her to support her and not let her go through it alone.

I believe this mom sincerely thought she had no other choice and was doing the right thing by her daughter. But I don’t think she truly believed it was a child (who at the moment of conception has a unique DNA with enough information to fill 50 sets of encyclopedias), a human life worthy of protection just like all of us. Because if she did believe it, she couldn’t have any part of helping her daughter kill her own grandchild. What would have happened if she had refused to bring her daughter? Possibly the daughter would have seen her mom’s commitment and changed her mind, possibly she wouldn’t have found another way to get there, possibly…we just don’t know, but her mom would have done the right thing.

We’ve encountered several people who said they were Christians, yet either brought someone or were getting an abortion themselves. Silence in the church sends a message that it’s okay. This hurts women who could be saved from an abortion decision, resulting in life for innocent preborn children. Abortion really does kill children.

Note: EPM has officially become the sponsor for this outreach ministry. If you’re in the Portland area and would like to participate in prayer and presence, please contact me via EPM, and I will connect you with the right people. It would be a great encouragement to us if God were to lead you to this ministry!

Church leaders should take responsibility for the sad state of the church just described. The abortion issue isn’t about the church needing to speak to the world. It’s about the church needing to speak to itself first, and then to the world. Sanctity of Human Life Sunday is a great starting place, but it’s not enough. We must address the pervasive prochoice arguments that daily bombard Christians.

We must not hold back from speaking the truth just because there’s no consensus about abortion in our church. Consensus may never come—but our job is to still teach what the Bible says in no uncertain terms. And knowing that when we address this subject many women who’ve had abortions will be touched, we must offer forgiveness and emotional support.

Some pastors fear “laying a guilt trip” on women in our churches who’ve had abortions. On the contrary, we must address it for their sake. If we don’t speak out, our people will continue to suffer—and continue to kill their babies and assist others in killing their babies—without knowing the forgiveness and healing of Christ.

Pastors should resist the temptation to decide for their people not to see pictures that show the reality of what abortion is. No one should be forced to view such pictures, but neither should others be deprived of the opportunity. By not showing actual pictures of abortion, we keep people from emotionally experiencing the children’s humanity and the horrors of abortion, and leave them liable to consider abortion when they, their family, or friends face an unwanted pregnancy. (We should carefully prepare our audience, allowing people to look away or close their eyes with­out having to leave or call attention to themselves.)

As Christian leaders, we must realize that we’ll be held accountable, both in this life and in eternity, for how we deal with this issue. We need to take deliberate and significant measures to stop the killing, to minister to our hurting women, and to make a difference in our community. The desire to be popular and avoid people’s disapproval is a common reason for church leaders to hold back in pro-life efforts. But for every reason we have, we should be ready to answer a question on the last day: “Was that reason more important than the lives of all those children I created in my image?”

[i] Rachel K. Jones, Lawrence B. Finer, and Susheela Singh, “Characteristics of U.S. Abortion Patients, 2008,” Guttmacher Institute, May 2010.

[Up Yours Marxists]

Speak up??? Speak up???? Ok. How about “we love you but if you keep murdering God’s children we will be forced to ask you to leave.”

Oh, that’s right, we’re supposed to give all these murderers a nice big hug and sing hippie songs around the campfire together. Sorry but the Lord doesn’t work that way. To be saved you gotta get on your knees and beg for mercy.

[Morgana]

Yes speak up! How about they say something to start with!

I’ve had the pleasure to speak with several people from non denominational churches in my area. When I’ve asked “are you a pro life church” Believe it or not here is the response I got “Yes but our preacher does not do sermons on political issues”.

yep yep yep yep yep yep yep yep

You wonder why these women are having abortions? Do you even have to ask?

[Up Yours Marxists]

Ever notice when churches tell their congregations what they want to hear they shrink but when they tell them what they need to hear they grow?

Funny how that’s been working over the past 2000 years.

[thecodont]

I suppose “Do not fornicate, but be sexually pure and faithful to the one you marry” is not a popular sermon topic in these churches.

[Artcore]

My wife and I left a “Seeker Friendly” Church about two years ago. These types of Churches would never think of outright telling their congregation and “visitors” that abortion was necessarily wrong. They avoid any types of topics that might cause the sensitive seeker to not want to join their church. It isn’t about salvation, it’s about numbers.

[Morgana]

“I suppose “Do not fornicate, ......”

Sometimes the women in churches having abortions are married! Not always but it happens more than you think.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Where I live, the vast majority of the abortion clientele (from East Tennessee, SW Virginia and Eastern Kentucky) are at least nominally Christian. The baby-chop-shop in Bristol, TN "counsels" these women with Jesusy-sounding god-talk.

"Jesus understand all, and He forgives all.... You need to do what's best, and in your heart you Have faith and don't worry about the baby, it'll go to heaven, and that's the loving thing to do... God loves you and wants you to be happy. He doesn't want you bringing a baby into all this conflict and turmoil. .... Just ask Jesus for His love and peace, and He will help you get through this abortion OK...."

One of the clinic people "joked" to a local feminist organization, "Oh yeah, all out clients are anti-abortion Christians. They're all against abortions with just three exceptions: 'Rape, Life of the Mother, and my own particular situation...'"

[Marie]

Please don’t misunderstand what I’m about to say. I agree with you.

But you need to understand that social pressures that young women are faced with.

1. Girls are conditioned by schools and the media that ‘everyone is doing it’ and they start to feel weird and left out if they haven’t had sex by their late teens.

I’ve shared my own experience of throwing my virginity away at 18 ‘because I may as well get it over with’. With the young women who I’ve spoken to, *so* many had the same mind-set. And ALL of us felt lied to and betrayed when we found out that half of young people are still virgins by the time they go to college. They’d thought they were the only ones.

Seventeen, eighteen, twenty-one... if you’re still a virgin by a set time, you start to feel like they’re doing something *wrong*.

Yes. You heard me. They feel like they’re doing something *wrong* by NOT having sex.

A once a week preacher isn’t going to undo the daily bombardment of cultural pressure that a young woman feels.

2. The average guy in the US doesn’t value chastity.

You meet a nice guy. You find one another attractive in every way. You enjoy one another’s company...

And the girl feels like she must submit by a certain time or he’s moving on to greener pastures. It’s not that guys pressure girls for sex - it’s more of an understanding. He does NOT have to put up with that. He can get every good thing that you offer him - with sex - from somebody else.

Even worse, now he has no reason to really commit to her for the long run. She’s put in a situation where she’s now stuck, hoping that he’ll finally ‘come around’ and decide to keep her. But he has no real motivation to do so.

Feminism has put women at the worst sort of disadvantage. Welfare gives them the ‘safety net’ so they don’t fear being an unwed mother as much as they used to.

This is a society-wide issue.

It’s so easy to *say* keep your legs closed, but so hard to stand on that conviction when you feel isolated in that choice.

---

On an aside, what I hear from young men is that they’re so desperately lonely. They’re pushed past the point of wanting sex. They just want someone to hold and love.

Their aversion to marriage is almost always anchored in their inability to be a good provider. This is where the economy really matters.

My own daughter is with a man in this situation. They’re very much in love and are together in every way *but* holy matrimony, but he won’t marry her yet because he’s worried that he’s going to lose his job. Once they’re married, she loses her ‘social safety net’ and she’s sunk. So, to protect her, he’s holding off on the big commitment. (He’s flat-out told both families this.)

None of this fits the paradigm that the media paints for us, but it’s the truth.

Both sexes yearn for the same thing. Loving commitment. But they’re so lost and they have no idea how to go about it.

One thing that I’d like to see are set courtship rules that both parties can understand. In the ‘whatever’ era that we find ourselves in, they have no direction. They don’t know how to find one another.

Right now, courtship is:

- date
- have sex
- move in together
- hope the it works out

And this environment of stress, fear, worry, and insecurity is not a good foundation for a long and happy relationship.

We need to stop telling them what *not* to do and give realistic guidance on what *to* do.

[thecodont]

We need to stop telling them what *not* to do and give realistic guidance on what *to* do.

I agree wholeheartedly. There is a void out there and it is impossible to enforce a negative.

This book provides a more positive view:

Defending Marriage: Twelve Arguments for Sanity
Anthony Esolen

Thanks also for sharing the economic angle on why young (and not so young) men shy away from commitment. I have a hunch there are men who long for the olden days of courtship, but would rather drop dead before admitting it.

[Morgana]

“One of the clinic people “joked” to a local feminist organization, “Oh yeah, all out clients are anti-abortion Christians. They’re all against abortions with just three exceptions: ‘Rape, Life of the Mother, and my own particular situation...’” “

That is so close to what Abby Johnson said after she left Planned Parenthood!

[Marie]

My son is 21. My daughter is 24. So I’m very involved with that cohort.

And it’s no secret.

Just last week, my own son sadly told me how much he wanted to be a father and that he’d happily find a girl, fall in love, and giver her a dozen babies if he could afford it.

I listen to my kids’ friends and try my best to dish out advice. (I am a mama) And I hear their frustration every day.

You know which boys are in *real* trouble?

The ones who don’t have the chops for college, but have the mechanical talent. Our future tradesmen. They should be able to provide by 25, but they can’t. So many in this group join (or try to join) the military.

Our boys have been neutered. Our girls have been reduced to sex objects. Both groups are miserable with the situation, but are totally disheartened and have no idea how to fix it.

They’re muddling along as best as they can and it’s not good enough.

[Morgana]

You are thinking only unmarried women have abortions but I’m telling you married Christian women have them too! The reasons vary:

Can’t afford another child because..don’t make enough money, husband/wife recently lost a job, house was foreclosed on.

Then there are other reasons like they wanted a boy and the baby is a girl or vice versa. Or maybe the child has birth defects.

Often times they had all the children they wants and this pregnancy was unplanned and they simply don’t want more.

Maybe the couple just got married and are not ready for children, so they have an abortion.

There are also times wife might not be sure who father is because she had an affair, but more often than not it’s the above reasons.

It’s not all unmarried women/girls who “made a mistake”.

[thecodont]

I’ve worked with some people who have “two child” families — one boy, one girl. There are a preponderance of such families. Like cookie cutters. Professional families, all the same configuration. Not two girls, not two boys, not three kids of mixed sex. I wonder what these people did with the “irregularities.”

I also knew a married woman who confided in me that she had gone in for surgery. When I next spoke with her she said she was “depressed” over the surgery (?) and then went on to say that she “had a D&C to get rid of excess tissue.” She was profoundly sad over this. A childless woman, who was proud of her education and her artistic talents, and her freedom to go globe-trotting with her husband. She then had a miscarriage and shared that with me also, she was very sad about that (I wonder if her previous “surgery” — or “surgeries” — had predisposed her to that miscarriage); she had CHOSEN to not be a mother, and now her body made that choice for her, and it bewildered her.

[Marie]

See, Morgana, you just brought it back to economics.

Hubs has been a soldier for 28 years. We’ve been married for almost 26 now. So those are the people that I hang out with.

In our subculture, the men have job security, a steady paycheck, and medical insurance. The men make enough that the wife can stay home if she wants to.

And we have babies like crazy.

In my entire life as an army wife, I haven’t known ONE wife to willingly abort a healthy pregnancy. Ever. It doesn’t happen.

Even in the few cases of infidelity that I’ve been acquainted with, the husband decided to accept the illegitimate offspring as his own. Why? Because he could afford to and (shock!) turns out that men love babies and kids, too.

The only army wives who have had abortions did so before they became army wives. And many of them became Evangelical Pro-life hard-line Christians as a result. (Turns out that it hurt)

And I’m not counting ectopic pregnancies and preeclampsia, etc. Those are hopeless, life or death situations and thought of as miscarriages - not abortions.

I’m saying that, when human beings are set up, as a group, for success, they will go for that win.

[daniel1212]

43 percent of women obtaining abortions identify themselves as Protestant, and 27 percent identify themselves as Catholic.

Which, as regards comparisons btwn groups, is as misleading as the trumpeted headline i saw elsewhere, "It Turns Out Christians Have More Abortions Than Any Other," (mtv.com) for the higher figure for Prots and Christians would be expected since the majority of the population IDs as "Christian," with 53 percent of Americans being Protestant, 22 percent Catholic. But it is the abortion rate/percentage of each group that obtains abortions that is comparatively relevant.

The abortion rate for Catholic women was 22 per 1,000 women; the rate for Protestants was 18 per 1,000 women...The groups that were the most likely to have an abortion were those affiliated with "other" religions or no religion at all, with abortion rates of 31 and 30 per 1,000 women, respectively. - http://www.factcheck.org/2007/12/abortions-comparing-catholic-and-protestant-women/

Likewise, while white women obtain 60% of all US abortions, yet their abortion rate is far below that of minority women.

In addition, other stats say 13% of abortion patients describe themselves as born-again or Evangelical Christians, (http://www.womenscenter.com/abortion_stats.html) but the study cited by the blog (besides actually saying Protestants represented 37% of women obtaining abortions in 2008) includes charismatic Christians along with born-again Evangelical or Fund. Christians, and 35% of this broader group are not Protestant. Moreover, only "15% of women having abortions reported attending religious services once a week or more...41% never attended religious services" And, "Women with no religious affiliation had a relative abortion rate one and one-half times that of all women." - http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/US-Abortion-Patients.pdf, p. 9

[Elsie]

In fact, 43 percent of women obtaining abortions identify themselves as Protestant, and 27 percent identify themselves as Catholic.

I wonder how many 'Catholic' women identify as Protestant?

[Elsie]

I wonder how many 'Catholic' women identify as Protestant?After all; if you are going to KILL your offspring; what's a little lie here and there.

[Elsie]

...and don't worry about the baby, it'll go to heaven...

Isn't this what ALL churches say?!?!

[Elsie]

... she “had a D&C to get rid of excess tissue.”

---

I'd like to thank the United States Government for protecting me and my kind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You see, 40 years ago, my odds of making it out of the egg, alive, were very poor; about 80% of us died. 

 (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=rachel-carson-silent-spring-1972-ddt-ban-birds-thrive)

 

 

But a lady discovered our plight and wrote a book that addressed our problem,

and, in 1972, a law was ammended protecting us even further. (http://www.fws.gov/midwest/eagle/protect/laws.html)

 

 

 

 

 

 

What I find strange is that the same government passed a law the very next year that allowed for killing

of unborn, and apparently unwanted, humans.  Little ones still nestled safely in their Mother's womb.

Around 25% of them are dying before birth - on average nearly 3,300 - every day of the year.

 

 

I hear that by now, somewhere around 55 MILLION of them have perished.

Wouldn't that kind of mess up the humans plans for growth, and welfare, and

retirement?

 

 

 

 

 

Strange birds; these Homo Sapiens.  Perhaps they'll come to their senses

before they are ALL dead!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'd like to thank the United States Government for protecting me and my kind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You see, 40 years ago, my odds of making it out of the egg, alive, were very poor; about 80% of us died. 

 (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=rachel-carson-silent-spring-1972-ddt-ban-birds-thrive)

 

 

But a lady discovered our plight and wrote a book that addressed our problem,

and, in 1972, a law was ammended protecting us even further. (http://www.fws.gov/midwest/eagle/protect/laws.html)

 

 

 

 

 

 

What I find strange is that the same government passed a law the very next year that allowed for killing

of unborn, and apparently unwanted, humans.  Little ones still nestled safely in their Mother's womb.

Around 25% of them are dying before birth - on average nearly 3,300 - every day of the year.

 

 

I hear that by now, somewhere around 55 MILLION of them have perished.

Wouldn't that kind of mess up the humans plans for growth, and welfare, and

retirement?

 

 

 

 

 

Strange birds; these Homo Sapiens.  Perhaps they'll come to their senses

before they are ALL dead!