August 2009 Newsletter

Posted By on September 4, 2009

Government Insurance Bill Would Allow Coverage for Abortion Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar / Associated Press Washington–Health care legislation before Congress would allow a new government-sponsored insurance plan to cover abortions, a decision that would affect millions of women and recast federal policy on the divisive issue.  Federal funds for abortions are now restricted to cases involving rape, incest or danger to the life of the mother.  Abortion opponents say those restrictions should carry over to any health insurance sold through a new marketplace envisioned under the legislation, an exchange where people would chooe private coverage or the public plan.  Abortion rights supporters say that would have the effect of denying coverage for abortion to millions of women who now have it through workplace insurance and are expected to join the exchange.  Advocates on both sides are preparing for a renewed battle over abortion, which could jeopardize political support for President Barack Obama’s health care initiative aimed at covering nearly 50 million uninsured and restraining medical costs.  The dispute could come to a head with House and Senate floor votes on abortion this fall, a prospect that many lawmakers would like to avoid.  “We want to see people who have no health insurance get it, but this is a sticking point,” said Richard Doerflinger, associate director of pro-life activities for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.  “We don’t want health care reform to be the vehicle for mandating abortion.”  The church can’t accept a public plan that covers abortion, he said.  Write, call or email your US Senators and US Representative and voice your concern.

“We’re All Human…Scott Klusendorf, Life Training Institute…I had some fun at the end of the school year.  I spoke to my daughter Emily’s 2nd grade class.  Emily attends our local public school and her teacher thought the class would benefit hearing a real life author.  How could I resist?  Here’s how I began:  I held up a parchment copy of The Declaration of Independence (which the class had studied a bit) and read the following:  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. – That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men.  I then asked, “What makes us equal?  It can’t be our body size, because some are larger than others. It can’t be our intelligence, because some have good report cards while others have bad ones.  It can’t be our bellybuttons because some point out rather than in.  So what makes us equal?”  From all over the room, tiny voices shot back “We’re all human!”  Exactly!  The only thing we all share equally is our humanness.  I then held up my book The Case for Life.  The cover shows a picture of two tiny feet.  “What’s this?”  Without a moment’s delay, kids all over that room shouted, “a baby in the mommy’s tummy.”  “Right!  And what kind of baby is this?”  Again, there was no delay.  “It’s a human baby.”  Right again.  “But how is this human in the picture different than us?”  Hands shot up everywhere.  “It’s smaller.”  “It looks different.”  “It can’t talk yet.”  “You can’t see his eyes yet.”  “True.  Do you think that any of those differences mean the baby in the picture is less human than any of us?”  A resounding chorus of voices shot back, ”No!”  Notice the kids didn’t need a doctorate degree to grasp the obvious truth about our common human nature.  I made a case for human equality (and thus, a case for the pro-life view) without mentioning the word abortion.  More importantly, they understood perfectly what I was driving at.  Admittedly, I was having a blast with these kids.  At the same time, they were teaching me an important lesson.  The pro-life movement must find ways to reach kids earlier, before the surrounding culture talks them out of what they already know to be true.  In many ways, these youngsters had better moral reasoning skills than many college students I meet!  That’s why here at Life Training Institute, we’re committed to reaching kids not only at the university campus, but long before they arrive.  Now that my book The Case for Life is published, we’re stepping up plans to release additional speakers who connect well with middle school and high school students at Catholic and Protestant schools.  I hope one day we’ll even have something for grade school kids—just like those at Emily’s school!  I can sum up the day this way.  Making a case for the pro-life view to my daughter’s 2nd grade class—fun!  Hearing her tell the whole class, “I love my daddy”—Priceless!    For more information or to purchase the book, The Case for Life, go to prolifetraining.com.

Life Thought…The horror of abortion happening over 3,000 times each day in the US should make Christians angry.  The silence of the Church and the indifference of fellow congregational members should make Christians angry.  But anger must not lead us to sin (Ephesians 4:26).  Screaming and yelling and returning evil for evil is not the way of the body of Christ.  The truth needs to be proclaimed but without “bitterness and wrath” (4:31).

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