Cursed is the man who trusts in man

Jeremiah 17:5
Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.

Like most Christians who oppose abortion I was pleasantly surprised to learn of the recent Supreme Court ruling which upheld the federal ban on partial birth abortion.  After more than thirty years of nothing but pro abort rulings from the court it seemed that at last abortion opponents were making some headway in their efforts to ban the indiscriminate murder of babies in the womb.

After reading portions of the ruling however I began to have my doubts. The problem, it seemed to me, was that the ruling did not answer the most pertinent question of all, that being, does a woman have a constitutional right to end the life of her unborn child. Not being a lawyer, the finer legal points of the majority opinion evaded my layman’s mind but it did seem that the court may have actually further cemented the actual question of a constitutional right to an abortion.

Now I see that my doubts about laws efficacy were well founded. This article by Stephen Warshawsky  in The American Thinker makes it clear that the ruling was even worse than we first thought. The entire pro life community it seems has been taken for a ride.

According to Warshawsky’s thorough review of the Justice Kennedy’s majority opinion, the law doesn’t really prohibit late term abortions at all. It simply bans a specific, narrowly defined procedure known as partial birth abortion, aka D&E or dilatation and evacuation. In case you are not familiar with the D&E procedure, it goes something like this:

A fully formed baby is brought through the birth canal and out the woman’s vagina except for the head which remains inside.  The abortionist then takes a pair of scissors and makes a hole in the babies head. A suction hose is placed inside the hole and the babies brains are sucked out. The baby is then delivered dead and disposed of in the trash, incinerator, or shredded in a garbage disposal.  

Naturally most of us were glad to hear that this barbaric operation would finally be halted once and for all. Not so fast, says Kennedy. All the court upheld was the ban on this specific method of murdering a late term baby. In fact Justice Kennedy helpfully demonstrates the many ways a late term baby can still be murdered without violating the law. Here is a portion of the article.

As Justice Kennedy noted near the start of his opinion, the Partial Birth Abortion Act of 2003 "proscribes a particular manner of ending fetal life."  (Slip. Op. at 3.)  In affirming the constitutionality of the Act, therefore, the Court appears to be upholding a ban on "partial birth abortions."  As noted above, most interest groups, commentators, and politicians have so understood the decision.  This is not correct.  The Court in Gonzales simply refused to strike down the statute itself on the grounds that it is "facially" unconstitutional (i.e., unconstitutional no matter how applied in practice).  Throughout his opinion, however, Justice Kennedy repeatedly identified ways in which an abortion doctor still could perform a partial birth abortion, or similarly barbaric late-term abortion, without running afoul of the statute.  In other words, although upholding the statute in theory, Justice Kennedy's decision provides a blueprint for the continuation of partial birth abortions in practice.  For example: 

• "The Act does not restrict an abortion procedure involving the delivery of an expired [i.e, dead] fetus." (Slip. Op. at 17.) Hence, methods of late-term abortion that involve killing the fetus before the procedure takes place are not prohibited.

• The Act defines "partial birth abortion" by reference to specific "anatomical landmarks" involved in the delivery of the live fetus before it is killed and removed from the mother's body. Thus, "if an abortion procedure does not involve the delivery of a living fetus to one of these 'anatomical landmarks' . . . the prohibitions of the Act do not apply." (Slip. Op. at 17.) Hence, slightly altering where the fetus is physically located at the time it is killed will render the procedure lawful. (See Slip. Op. at 25-26.)

• The Act also contains "scienter requirements involving all the actions involved in the prohibited abortion," meaning that the abortion doctor must intend to violate its provisions in order to be held criminally responsible under the Act. (Slip. Op. at 17-18.) In other words, as Justice Kennedy helpfully explained, "if a living fetus is delivered past the critical point by accident or inadvertence, the Act is inapplicable." (Id.) Hence, even the prohibited form of partial birth abortion still can take place so long as the doctor claims he "accidentally" or "inadvertently" failed to perform the procedure in a lawful manner.

• "The Act excludes most D&Es in which the fetus is removed in pieces, not intact. If the doctor intends to remove the fetus in parts from the outset, the doctor will not have the requisite intent to incur criminal liability." (Slip. Op. at 20-21.) Hence, late term abortions in which the fetus is "disarticulated" -- i.e., cut or torn into pieces as it is being removed from the mother's body -- do not violate the statute. Even if the prohibited form of partial birth abortion happens to occur during this process, no criminal liability can be imposed because such an outcome was not intended by the doctor. (See Slip. Op. at 24.)

• "The conclusion that the Act does not impose an undue burden is supported by other considerations. Alternatives are available to the prohibited procedure. As we have noted, the Act does not proscribe D&E [in which the fetus is removed in pieces]. . . . If the intact D&E procedure is truly necessary in some circumstances, it appears likely an injection that kills the fetus is an alternative under the Act that allows the doctor to perform the procedure." (Slip. Op. at 34-35.) Hence, as mentioned above, simply killing the fetus at the start of the procedure will render it lawful.

And so on. 

I began this article with Jeremiah 17:5 – cursed is the man who trusts in man - because this is the root of the problem with our efforts to end abortion on demand in America. We have been sold a bill of goods by our religious leaders. They have convinced us that if we will place our trust in the political process and elect the right leaders, we can end abortion along with a host of other social evils. This kind of thinking is a lie and a trap into which most Christian have fallen. 

Abortion is a form of God’s judgment upon America. It will never be ended by laws or the actions of politicians and judges. God’s judgment can only be satisfied by repentance. 

2Chron 7:14
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Church leaders like to quote a portion of this scripture but they always seem to leave off the most important part. Not only are we instructed to humble ourselves, pray and seek His face but we must also turn from our wicked ways. For some reason (could it be pride?) we never seem to quote that part.

What wicked ways must we turn from? We must repent of our self indulgence, our worldliness, and our acceptance of sin. We must deny our own selfish desires and seek the work which the Lord Jesus Christ has called each one of us to do.

We must be willing to go into the world, among the highways and byways and declare that God has appointed a day in which He will judge this world in righteousness by His holy servant Jesus. We must be willing to tell a hostile world that unless they repent they will soon perish and be eternally damned.

Until we are willing to take up our crosses and follow Him, we have no hope of ever ending abortion or any of the other forms of judgment God has begun pouring out upon this world.

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Steve Lumbley 2007  www.apostasywatch.com
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