Christians must use all legitimate civil means to stop the government of Virginia from embracing Governor Ralph Northam’s position on infanticide and abortion. In an radio interview on WTOP earlier this week, He said the following in regards to House Bill 2491,
If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.
Regardless of how one may attempt to slice or to spin the governor’s comments, the words always point to one meaning: Infanticide. Governor Northam believes parents and doctors should be allowed to determine whether or not a child lives. If a mother’s physical or mental health could be hurt by the existence of the “comfortable” baby, then the mother could choose to kill her baby. And the definition of health provided by court case Doe v. Bolton is so vague almost any maternal inclination would be ample justification for killing the baby in question. A mother could terminate her child because the child was the ‘wrong’ gender, or because the child threatened the mother’s financial or career goals, or because the child had deformities that promised to consume the mother’s time and financial resources. Governor Northam’s statement did not concern women’s health. It concerned infanticide.
Now before I proceed further, I want to be clear. I do not want to minimize the sacrifices associated with motherhood. My four siblings and I taxed my mother to no end. And as the father of three kiddos, I watch my dear wife repeatedly sacrifice her desires, health, money, and mental well-being for our children. Motherhood is a huge undertaking.
But Governor Northam and by extension Kathy Tran who sponsored House Bill 2491 are not seeking to support motherhood through tax breaks or government programs. They are seeking to empower mothers to kill their children after birth. They are seeking to normalize infanticide. They are seeking to allow one portion of the population to exterminate another portion of the population.
And once one part of a society is permitted and licensed to kill for convenience sake, others will seek similar permissions. If all human life is deemed to have no intrinsic value, then ultimately any life can be sacrificed for the ‘greater good’ or mental health reasons. If the old, the Jews, and the mentally infirm (to name a few groups) are deemed by the government to be causing a significant portion of the population mental anguish, what will stop Virginians from exterminating them?
The press and the Democratic Party of Virginia has attempted to deflect the outrage bubbling up around House Bill 2491 and Governor Northam by claiming the whole ordeal is an orchestrated political stunt engineered by Republicans seeking to protect their control of the Virginia legislature. After all, four similar bills have already been put forward and voted down in Virginia over the last three years with little fanfare. Sarah Jones from New York Magazine dismissed the whole controversy and encourages us to do the the same writing,
The idea that abortion providers tear apart full-term, viable babies about to breathe has animated the right for a long time. It’s the stuff of pulp fiction, and the myth bears little resemblance to reality.
And as Governor Northam’s office said, “No woman seeks a third trimester abortion except in the case of tragic or difficult circumstances.”
Sadly, Sarah Jones and Governor Northam are mistaken. The idea of abortion that Sarah Jones mocks as pulp fiction is not the day dream of crazied political junkies; it is reality. Abortion kills millions of viable babies in the cruelest and most uncaring of ways as can be seen in the medical drawings that detail the abortion procedure. Abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood suck babies from the womb piece by piece.
Infanticide will also harm the innocent. Notice that the governor’s office defines tragic and difficult circumstances as things, “such as a nonviable pregnancy or in the event of severe fetal abnormalities.” Non-viable pregnancies that could claim the mother’s life such as ectopic pregnancies are already covered by Virginia law. The governor is not talking medically non-viable pregnancies. He is talking about killing babies who have fetal abnormalities such as Down Syndrome or anencephaly that may disrupt their mother’s quality of life. In short, Governor Northam believes doctors and mothers should be allowed to let unwanted yet viable babies die.
Though the press may now view the defense of life as being ‘sensationalism,’ Christians must continue to declare the truth about abortion and infanticide. Abortion and infanticide are not Democratic Party and Republican Party issues. These practices are moral issues of the highest level, issues of good and evil.
Regardless of their political affiliation, Christians cannot call evil good; they cannot sit quietly on their hands as their government casually discusses murdering its citizens. Christians must deal with reality identifying abortion for what it really is…murder.
The Scriptures clearly teach that all life from inception to death represents the image and beauty of God. The words of Psalm 139:13 apply to all people regardless of their age, gender, or health.
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
Luke chapter 1 also clearly teaches that both babies in the womb and out of the womb are fully human. And Exodus 21:22-25 states that anyone who takes the life of a baby should be charged with murder.
Theologian Wayne Grudem concludes,
The Bible teaches that we should think of the unborn as child as a person from the moment of conception, and therefore we should give to the unborn child legal protection equal to that of others in the society.”
As a Christian, as a husband, as a father, as a pastor, and as a voting Virginian, I call upon Governor Northam to defend the life of every Virginia. I call upon him to disavow his support of infanticide and of abortion on demand. I also urge my fellow Christians to join me in supporting life. I encourage them to use their voices and their votes to defend the life of every Virginian.
Will you join me?
Witkowski Blog 