National Sanctity of Human Life Day, 2009
A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America

All human life is a gift from our Creator that is sacred, unique, and worthy of protection. On National Sanctity of Human Life Day, our country recognizes that each person, including every person waiting to be born, has a special place and purpose in this world. We also underscore our dedication to heeding this message of conscience by speaking up for the weak and voiceless among us.

The most basic duty of government is to protect the life of the innocent. My Administration has been committed to building a culture of life by vigorously promoting adoption and parental notification laws, opposing Federal funding for abortions overseas, encouraging teen abstinence, and funding crisis pregnancy programs. In 2002, I was honored to sign into law the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, which extends legal protection to children who survive an abortion attempt. I signed legislation in 2003 to ban the cruel practice of partial-birth abortion, and that law represents our commitment to building a culture of life in America. Also, I was proud to sign the Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004, which allows authorities to charge a person who causes death or injury to a child in the womb with a separate offense in addition to any charges relating to the mother.

America is a caring Nation, and our values should guide us as we harness the gifts of science. In our zeal for new treatments and cures, we must never abandon our fundamental morals. We can achieve the great breakthroughs we all seek with reverence for the gift of life.

The sanctity of life is written in the hearts of all men and women. On this day and throughout the year, we aspire to build a society in which every child is welcome in life and protected in law. We also encourage more of our fellow Americans to join our just and noble cause. History tells us that with a cause rooted in our deepest principles and appealing to the best instincts of our citizens, we will prevail.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 18, 2009, as National Sanctity of Human Life Day. I call upon all Americans to recognize this day with appropriate ceremonies and to underscore our commitment to respecting and protecting the life and dignity of every human being.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

GEORGE W. BUSH

• Catholic Hospital Counterthreat. Catholic hospitals threaten to shut down if Obama signs the Freedom of Choice Act.
• Keep Christ in Your Christmas Cards. Stand To Reason blog has posted some meaningful, Christian messages that you can copy, format, and print to glue in your Christmas cards.
• Casting Call for Dawn Treader. According to Hannah Montana Casting, “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” will begin pre-production soon and the casting directors are accepting photos and resumes.
• Movies on YouTube. MGM will be posting full-length films as YouTube tries to compete with Hulu.
• Hubble Advent Calendar. The Big Picture will be unveiling a new photo from the Hubble Space Telescope for each of the 25 days leading up to Christmas.

In September of 2007 Senator Barack Obama told Planned Parenthood that “the first thing I’d do as President is sign the Freedom of Choice Act.” Of course, this is either good news or bad news for you depending on what you think of the Act itself. (You can read more about what the Freedom of Choice Act entails and what effect it would have on abortion here: What is the Freedom of Choice Act?) How about you? Do you support or oppose the Freedom of Choice Act?

(Video length: 1:51)

Click here for more abortion related posts.

Dr. Albert Mohler explains why there can be no middle ground when it comes to the issue of abortion:

One side defines the issue in terms of a woman’s right to control her own destiny … The other side … bases its assumptions on the claim that a human being, at any stage of development, has an intrinsic right to life that must be respected by all humanity …

For the better part of four decades, some have attempted to find a middle ground between these two positions, but to no avail. The reason quickly becomes clear. If abortion is to be understood as a fundamental right, no woman can be denied the exercise of that right. If abortion is the taking of innocent human life, no justification can be offered for abortion as a means of ending an unwanted pregnancy — none at all. Middle ground would be possible only if we can assume that the right to abortion is not fundamental, but merely provisional, and that the unborn child does not have an intrinsic right to life, but only a provisional right. Efforts to frame the issue in this way fail because neither of these assumptions can [be] qualified in this way and remain coherent.

Dr. Mohler also points to a recent essay by Professor Robert P. George of Princeton University detailing Sen. Barack Obama’s views on abortion. George states at the outset of his essay:

Sen. Barack Obama’s views on life issues ranging from abortion to embryonic stem cell research mark him as not merely a pro-choice politician, but rather as the most extreme pro-abortion candidate to have ever run on a major party ticket.

I know this is a hot button issue, but how important is the abortion issue to you in the upcoming election? Will the candidates’ views on abortion influence your vote?

Click here for more abortion related posts.

The GE Healthcare Timeline of Fetal Growth illustrates the development of a fetus from week 6 until birth as viewed through ultrasound. The timeline highlights important developments in the fetus over time accompanied by stunning 4D ultrasound images of the baby in the womb. (You can click on the images to see a larger version.)

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” (Psalm 139:13-14)

HT: Stand to Reason

First there were human rights, then came animal rights, and now there are plant rights. I guess rocks are next.

The most tragic dimension of all this is that a culture increasingly ready to euthanize the old, infanticize the young, and adamant about a “right” to abort unborn human beings, will now contend for the inherent dignity of plants. Can any culture recover from this?

Over 46 million children have been lost to abortion in the United States since the passing of Roe v. Wade on January 22, 1973. Of course, it is hard to picture a number that big. This link provides a helpful way of visualizing the number 46 million all on one page. Make sure you click on the blue dot at the very end.

HT: Mirror of Justice

Click here for more abortion related posts.

(Note: Today is the 35th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision which invalidated state laws prohibiting or restricting abortion.)

Justin Taylor recently interviewed Scott Klusendorf, author of the upcoming book: Equipped to Engage: Pro-Life Christians in the Brave New World. During the interview, Klusendorf shared what he believes are the top 5 pro-life books available today.

1. For newcomers to the debate, Randy Alcorn’s Pro-Life Answers to Pro-Choice Questions (Multnomah, 1992; revised 1999) is terrific. Randy’s work is a valuable reference guide for lay people, highly readable, and meticulously organized so that the reader can pick and choose those parts of the book needed for the immediate pro-abortion challenge at hand …

2. For more seasoned readers, Francis J. Beckwith’s Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion-Choice (Cambridge University Press, 2007) is absolutely stellar. Indeed, this outstanding book is a favorite of advanced pro-life apologists everywhere. The arguments presented are lucid and hard-hitting, but the style is clearly more academic than Alcorn’s book. It’s one of the finest (if not the finest) systematic defenses of the pro-life position to date …

3. The third title is Ramesh Ponnuru’s excellent book The Party of Death: The Democrats, the Media, the Courts, and the Disregard for Human Life (Regency, 2006). Ramesh’s strengths lie in outlining the political implications of the debates over abortion and embryo research and how those debates have been hijacked within the Democratic Party, the Federal Courts, and the Media. His survey of the cultural and political landscape is breathtaking and second to none …

4. Fourth, there is Hadley Arke’s Natural Rights and the Right to Choose (Cambridge University Press, rev. ed., 2004). Hadley’s thesis is simple: If we can arbitrarily alter the definition of “man” to suit our preferences, and if nature provides no definition of a human being that we are obliged to respect, then we remove all claim to natural rights, including the right to an abortion. That’s key, because as you know, secular liberals insist that abortion is a fundamental human right the State should not infringe upon. Arkes simply wants to know where this alleged right to an abortion comes from. In other words, is it a natural right that springs from our nature as human beings or is it a positive (legal) right granted by government? If the latter, the abortion advocate cannot really complain that she is wronged if the State does not permit her to abort … In short, the defenders of abortion cannot tell us where rights come from or why anyone should have them. By advocating an alleged right to choose, they have talked themselves out of the very natural rights upon which their own freedoms are built.

5. Finally, we shouldn’t overlook Wesley J. Smith’s A Consumer’s Guide to a Brave New World (Encounter Books, 2004). The debate over human value has moved way beyond the abortion controversy. We’re now contending with human cloning, genetic engineering, and the creation of human-animal hybrids. As I said before, the very definition of what it means to be human is up for grabs. But how many churchgoers block out time to think seriously about what makes humans valuable in the first place? That, coupled with a deafening silence from our pulpits, and it’s no wonder many believers are ill-equipped to sift through the lies and deceptions coming out of big-biotech. Smith’s book gives Christians the tools they need to think clearly on these biotech issues.

Be sure to read the whole interview for more insights from Scott Klusendorf. Justin also interviews Robert P. George on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

Click here for more abortion related posts.

The New York Times reported last week on some hopeful advances in the whole area of embryonic stem cell research.

The advance is an easy-to-use technique for reprogramming a skin cell of a mouse back to the embryonic state. Embryonic cells can be induced in the laboratory to develop into many of the body’s major tissues.

If the technique can be adapted to human cells, researchers could use a patient’s skin cells to generate new heart, liver or kidney cells that might be transplantable and would not be rejected by the patient’s immune system …

The technique, if adaptable to human cells … would not involve the expensive and controversial use of human eggs, and should avoid all or almost all of the ethical criticism directed at the use of embryonic stem cells.

This seems to me like the best of both worlds – the benefits of embryonic stem cells without the destruction of human embryos. This would allow for medical research to continue while preserving the sanctity of human life in the womb.

Yesterday the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to uphold the constitutionality of Congress’ 2003 Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act. This is the first time a specific abortion procedure has been successfully banned in the United States.

As someone who is strongly pro-life, I was pleased to see this ruling. If you would like to know how the various presidential candidates have responded to this historic decision, 2008 Central has been compiling the candidates’ official statements. 2008 Central seeks to provide “non-partisan comprehensive coverage of the 2008 U.S. presidential election.”

HT: SmartChristian.com

Update: PastorBlog has assembled a number of links for further reading about the Supreme Court’s decision.