Plan B

I was on a website today with a banner ad that flashed to an advertisement for Plan B® birth control.

I decided to go to Plan B® ‘s website, since it wouldn’t be very wise to reference things I saw in a flash ad.

On their website, Plan B® makes these statements:

“Plan B One-Step™ will not affect an existing pregnancy.”

“Plan B One-Step™ will not disrupt or affect an existing pregnancy.”

But how is pregnancy being defined?

Here is a quote:

“There has been resistance to contraceptive equity legislation from some groups . . . These groups incorrectly claim that the Pill and IUDs induce abortion instead of preventing pregnancy.  The fact is that the medical community defines pregnancy as the point at which the fertilized egg has attached itself to the uterine lining.[2]”

I learned this last year for the first time.  There are two ways of defining pregnancy:

• At the point of fertilization
• At the point the fertilized egg attaches

I find it so strange to think the difference is a matter of traveling and hook-up.

I hope I have a right to my life whether I’ve made it to my destination or I’m still traveling.

And I’ve never heard a patient about to be connected to a ventilator called something other than a person before hand.

I cannot make moral decisions about conception based on the way we defined terms yesterday, or the way we’re going to define them today.  And I cannot make moral decisions based on how often we think emergency contraceptives prevent the egg from fertilizing as opposed to destroying the fertilized egg.  No, I make my moral decisions about conception based on what the Author of life says about the beginning of life.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. (Psalm 139:13, NIV)

I don’t find life in Plan B®.  I find life in God’s plan.

[1] Plan B® website, Frequently Asked Questions, http://www.planbonestep.com/plan-b-faq.aspx

[2] “Contraceptive Equity Bills Gain Momentum in State Legislatures”, CRLP Publications, August 2000, http://lobby.la.psu.edu/013_Contraceptive_Coverage/organizational_statements/Center_for_Reproductive_Law_and_Policy/CRLP_Contraceptive_Equity_Gains_Momentum.htm, accessed August 2, 2011

More Information: Can emergency contraceptives really stop the fertilized egg from attaching?

From Familydoctor.org, Emergency Contraception, link http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/women/contraceptive/805.html:

“Pills used for emergency contraception can prevent your ovaries from releasing an egg, can prevent an egg from being fertilized by sperm or can prevent a fertilized egg from attaching itself to the wall of the uterus.”

From ec.Princeton.edu, How Emergency Contraceptives Work, link http://ec.princeton.edu/questions/ecwork.html

“We can’t always completely explain how contraceptives work, and it is possible that any of these methods may at times inhibit implantation of a fertilized egg in the endometrium.”

From Medline Plus, a Service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, link http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/007014.htm:

“It is also possible that emergency contraceptives prevent a woman’s egg from joining with a man’s sperm (fertilization), and make it hard for the fertilized egg to implant correctly in the womb.”

Articles can disagree about the likeliness that contraceptives impact the fertilized egg, but not that there is no chance.  For example:

From Womenshealth.gov, a Project of the U.S. Health and Human Services Office on Women’s Health, link http://www.womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/emergency-contraception.cfm#b

“While it is possible that ECPs might work by keeping a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus, the most up-to-date research suggests that ECPs do not work in this way.”

These same exact words are found on Plan B®’s site, too, link http://www.womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/emergency-contraception.cfm#a:

“While it is possible that ECPs might work by keeping a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus, the most up-to-date research suggests that ECPs do not work in this way. “

All websites were accessed on 8-2-2011 or 8-3-2011.

See Copyright Page for Bible translation information.

Alone

I am so struck by the Truth that I am not alone.

It is not whatsoever frightening, because I know who I am with, and I know He loves me.

I want you to understand, it is not that I deserve this privilege.   I don’t.  And from human rationality, it can’t make sense to me why it’s true.  I don’t deserve to be in the presence of love.  I know this.  And yet I am not alone.  And I am loved.

What is the one thing that I wish the world could hear?  What is the one thing I would say, if I could say just one thing and nothing more?

It would be John 3:16.  Not because it is a well-quoted verse or because it sounds good in Sunday School, but . because . it . is . real.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16, NASB)

I love the Lord.

I love Him so much.

But it wasn’t my idea.

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.  (1 John 3:16, NIV)

It was His.

And I am not alone.

I am not alone.

And I am in good company.  I am in the best of company.  I am a friend of God.

How do you say, “I am a friend of God”?  How can my tiny little human mind process such a statement?  I am a friend of God?  Me?  With my flaws, my failures, my ruin?  I am a friend of God?

Yes I am a friend of God.

But how?

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16, NASB)

But why?

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.  (1 John 3:16, NIV)

Jesus Christ did this for me?  For love?

What is love, then?  Can I even say I understand it?  Love is to take a sinner and make a saint?  How is it possible that God can be inclined to feel pity for a sinner?  How is it that the pity God feels can be so great it leads Him to die?  How is it that when I feel sorry for someone, I am at most merely inclined to help, but when God feels pity, He gives up His throne and suffers all the horrors of the world and dies?

Why would He care that I am alone?

How could He care that I am alone?  He is infinite in being, free from space or time, and yet He concerns Himself with me, a person who lives on a globe that is not even a speck in the galaxy[1], a galaxy that is one of what we think are billions?

Or is it that I have it all wrong?  Is it that this little not-even-a-speck-in-the-galaxy is the reason the stars surround us?  Is God showing us how vast and incomprehensible His love like a master artist, leading us from painting to painting, each telling us a little more of His love for us?

How?  How can this be?  That the stars were created around us and not us from the stars?  That we alone in all the universe are made in the image of God, that He should lavish such love upon us?

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16, NASB)

Not perish.

Not perish.

Not perish.

That whoever believes in Him should not perish.

No clauses.

No amendments.

No disclaimers.

Whoever.

That means me, too.

It’s hard for me to believe sometimes that such a thing so good to be possible for so bad a race as the human race, for so bad a person as me.

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23, ESV)

There wasn’t any hope.

But then there was.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16, NASB)

Are you alone?

If you are, why?

There is a Savior.  A Savior who is exactly who we need.  A Savior who gives us His Word He will love us eternally if we live in Him.

This Savior, He is a friend.  He is a friend as I have never had one.  He is a friend as you have never had.

There is nothing in this world, in this universe, in Heaven, or anywhere at all that can compel me to love as I love my Savior, His Father, His Spirit.

I pray you will love Him, too.

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.  (1 John 3:16, NIV)

[1] “How Many Galaxies Are In The Universe?” by Fraser Cain, May 4, 2009, http://www.universetoday.com/30305/how-many-galaxies-in-the-universe/

Photograph by David Woo, profile on http://www.flickr.com/people/mckln/

See Copyright Page for Bible translation information.

Roe vs. Wade and Public Opinion

The argument can be made that the Supreme Court decision in Roe vs. Wade to legalize abortion reflected public opinion, and therefore upheld the Constitution’s emphasis on the will of the people.

There were definitely abortions taking place before Roe vs. Wade.  Even though abortion wasn’t legalized in the whole U.S., it was legal in certain states (usually with restrictions)[1,2].  In 1970, there were 193,491 abortions [2].  In 1971, there were 485,816 [2].  In 1972, there were 586,760 [2].  In 1973, there were 615,831 [2].  In 1974, there were 763,476 [2].  And in 1975, there were 854,853 [2].

Roe vs. Wade was argued December of 1971 [3].

It was reargued October of 1972 [3].

The decision was made in January of 1973 [3].

Given the number of abortions already being performed, it is clear: Many people were ready for abortion to be legalized.  We can tell that by the growth in abortion from 1970 to 1971.  Roe vs. Wade did not give people the idea to have abortions.  Roe vs Wade was a result of people wanting to have abortions.

Between 1971 and 1975, 3,500,227 abortions were legally performed.  If each abortion was represented by a dime, the total cost would be $350,022.70.

Why did I pick dimes as a representation?  Because the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform has rescued ‘remains’ from abortions and often uses coins to show the tiny size, yet incredible intricacy, of what is now called ‘the fetus’.

The graphic website Abortion No shows one dime with fetal remains.

Whether or not Roe vs. Wade represented the majority of public opinion is totally irrelevant, like asking whether American slavery represented the majority of public opinion in the south or whether extermination of the Jews represented the majority of public opinion in Germany.  Public opinion changes based on current leadership, the media, education systems, economic status, and popular philosophies/values.

And the thing about ‘public opinion’ is, it has a tendency to exclude the opinion of the people whose lives are being decided upon.

American slavery didn’t represent the opinion of African-Americans.

The Jewish Holocaust didn’t represent the opinion of Jews.

And abortion doesn’t represent the opinion of an unborn people who never get to come into the world to voice their opinion.

Life is far, far too valuable to be taken away from a people not allowed to have an opinion by the opinion of a people not living or dying by the decision made.  We are not formed by human opinion, but rather by the Creator God.

Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.  (Genesis 2:7, NASB)

The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. (Genesis 2:22, NASB)

Your hands made me and fashioned me; Give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments. (Psalm 119:23, NASB)

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[1] Wikipedia, “Roe v. Wade”, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe_v._Wade

[2] Wikipedia, “Abortion in the United States”, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_the_United_States

[3] U.S. Supreme Court Media Oyez Project, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, http://www.oyez.org/cases/1970-1979/1971/1971_70_18

See Copyright Page for Bible translation information.

I Am Tissue

A fetus is said to be tissue.

AbortionNo.org

I am tissue, too.

He [God] gives everyone life, breath, and everything they have.

(Acts 17:25b, GW)

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See Copyright Page for Bible translation information.

Side effects

American Pregnancy explains the possible side effects of a suction aspiration abortion as including “cramping, nausea, sweating, and feeling faint[1].”

But what about the effect of separating ourselves from our children?

And what about the effect of separating ourselves from the God who creates all life?

Do not be far from me, O Lord. (Psalm 35:33b)

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[1] Surgical Abortion Procedures, American Pregnancy, http://www.americanpregnancy.org/unplannedpregnancy/surgicalabortions.html

Website accessed 8-12-11

Bias & Worldview

Bias seems to me to be the inclination towards one thing over another.

If you go to dictionary.com, you can read this definition (one of many) of bias: “to cause partiality or favoritism in (a person); influence, especially unfairly.[1]”

Take, for example, my love of brownies.  If I pick up an article that says Brownies Are The New Vegetable I’m going to probably think in my mind, I so want to read this article.

Bias can be sneakier, though.

Bias can be being more inclined to believe, focus on, or enjoy one thing over another. Favoring something.

So anytime I say anything, I’m going to have to show ‘bias’.

That is, if I say, “I just saw an elephant who fits in a coffee cup”, I am showing a bias towards that information.  I could have talked about something completely different, like how much Dave Ramsey says you save if you don’t buy coffee at coffee shops (and save the money in the bank instead–sadly, it doesn’t count if you spend it on something else).

But whether an elephant can fit inside a coffee cup, whether I would save money brewing coffee at home . . . neither of these beliefs change every action in my life.  So I can show bias without it profoundly changing my life (in a way I see, anyway).

But bias can also change everything about me.  I used to think of this in a negative way, like the “especially unfairly” part of the Dictionary.com description.  But can’t bias also be positive?  What if I come to someone who is bias to showing kindness to everyone, whether the other person is behaving kindly or not?  I wouldn’t mind that kind of bias, even though the person is favoring kindness over meanness.

My life goal isn’t to get rid of bias.  My life goal is to get rid of bad bias.  I want to be bias towards love.  And I want to be bias towards the one and only source of love: God.

We understand what love is when we realize that Christ gave his life for us. (1 John 3:16a, GW)

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[1] Dictionary.com, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bias

Photo by JBelluch, profile on http://www.flickr.com/people/jakescreations/

Photograph is under Creative Commons License.

See Copyright Page for Bible translation information.

Violence Against Women

One link on the pro-abortion site, feminist.com, caught my attention.  It’s name: “Anti-violence.”  One article on the link called “Until the Violence Stops”[1].  The article discusses how to stop worldwide violence against women.

Another pro-abortion site, Now.org[2], also talks about the violence against women.  The site says, “Despite the fact that advocacy groups like NOW have worked for two decades to halt the epidemic of gender-based violence and sexual assault, the numbers are still shocking[2].”

They are right.  They are referring to the 1,181 women who are killed by their lover each year in 2005 in the U.S.[2].

From there I researched and found a total of 3,155 women murdered in 2005 in the U.S., and possibly more, because 22 people could not be identified as male or female[3].

Supposing all those unidentified people were female, that would be 3,177 women murdered.

Supposing 1,000 women who were either not discovered to have been missing and murdered, or were incorrectly labeled as suicides/accidental manslaughter, that would bring the number to 4,177 females murdered in 2005 in the U.S.

Each one of those women is a precious soul before God, a life ended because of someone’s selfish choice.

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Statistically right now, there are 100 girls born for every 105 boys in the U.S[4].  That’s 48.78%.

48.78% of the 820,151[5] abortions performed in the U.S. in 2005 would be (rounded down) 400,069 girls.

Including the 400,069 preborn women murdered and the 4,177 (number adjusted for possible unknown victims) women murdered in the U.S. in 2005 gives a staggering total of 404,246 women murdered that year.

1.04% of women were murdered after birth and 98.96% (rounded down) were murdered pre-birth.

It doesn’t matter when they died: each one of these 404,246 women is a precious soul before God.

Abortion is a serious issue in our determination to end violence against women.

LORD, you know the hopes of the helpless.  Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them. You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed, so mere people can no longer terrify them. (Psalm 10:17, NLT)

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[1] “Until the Violence Stops” by Eve Enlser, http://www.feminist.com/violence/vday.html

[2] Violence Against Women in the United States, National Organization for Women, http://www.now.org/issues/violence/stats.html

[3]Crime in the United States, U.S. Department of Justice: Federal Bureau Investigation, 2005, http://www2.fbi.gov/ucr/05cius/offenses/expanded_information/data/shrtable_02.html

[4] Boy or Girl? It’s in the Father’s Genes, Newcastle University, Science Daily, December 12, 2008, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081211121835.htm

[5] Abortion Surveillance–United States, 2005, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion: Division of Reproductive Health, November 28, 2008/57(SS13);1-32, MS Sonya B. Gamble, MA Lilo T. Strauss, Wilda Y. Parker, MBIS Douglas A. Cook,
DVM Suzanne B. Zane,  MD& PhD Saeed Hamdan, http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss5713a1.htm?s_cid=ss5713a1_e as cited in Abortion Statistics in the United States, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_statistics_in_the_United_States

All websites accessed 8-11-11.

See Copyright Page for Bible translation information.

The Best

I clicked on an ad on an abortion-promoting site, Feminist.com, because the motto interested me: “Women in Power: Our Time to Lead.[1]”  The website has the faces of many smiling, beautiful women.

I wonder if they know that the reason they can have a photo of women on this site is because these women were once daughters, and these daughters had mothers who chose to keep them.

The words at the top of the website read, “Awakening the best in the human spirit.[1]”

I wonder.

Have we awakened the best in human spirit?

Or the worst?

Those who would tell us, I am afraid, cannot.

Rescue those being taken off to death,
    and save those stumbling toward slaughter.

If you say, “But we didn’t know about this,”
    won’t He who weighs hearts consider it?
    Won’t He who protects your life know?
    Won’t He repay a person according to his work? (Proverbs 24:11-12, HCSB)

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[1] http://www.eomega.org/omega/wi-power

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Better, Safer

According to Feminist.com, in the history of U.S. abortions before they became legal, “Some abortionists were rough and sadistic[1].”  The exerpt goes on to explain that we now have “better, safer abortion services.[1]”

You need only go to (and these are graphic sites) http://www.abortionno.org or http://www.priestsforlife.org/images/index.aspx to ask, “Better and safer for who?”

With new abortion techniques, only one person usually dies . . . but is that good enough?   Safe enough?

Suppose we all drove cars with no seat belts.  Whenever a driver crashed into something, it would be likely both the driver and any passengers would die.  As time progressed, seat belts were created for drivers, so that, when they crashed into something, they would be protected.  But there was still no seat belt installed for passengers.  Would we call this a “better, safer” car?

Maybe.

But we can do a lot better than that.

If 2 people go into surgery and 1 comes out alive, it is better and safer than 0 people coming out alive, but it surely isn’t good enough and it surely isn’t safe enough.

50% isn’t good.  And 50% isn’t safe.

50% just isn’t acceptable.

For he will deliver the needy when he cries; the poor, who has no helper.

He will have pity on the poor and needy.  He will save the souls of the needy.

He will redeem their soul from oppression and violence.  Their blood will be precious in his sight. (Psalm 72:12-14, WEB)

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See Copyright Page for Bible translation information.

[1]Our Bodies, Ourselves for the New Century http://www.feminist.com/resources/ourbodies/abortion.html

Amillia

Amillia, the world’s most premature surviving baby, was born the length of a “ballpoint pen”[1].  You can see a photo of her as a baby.  Amillia, born at 22 weeks old (actually, a day less), could already breathe on her own.

An article on her birth says, “Doctors are cautious about saying whether Amillia’s survival is good news or worrying[1].”

Another article has a photo of her at two years old[2], and I think the verdict’s in:

Amillia is good news.

But actually, the verdict was in about 2 years and 22 weeks ago.

You alone created my inner being.  You knitted me together inside my mother. (Psalm 139:13, GW)

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[1] The Age, http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/florida-girl-worlds-most-premature-baby/2007/02/20/1171733764459.html

[2] Just News, “World’s Most Premature Baby Turns Two”, http://www.justnews.com/2008/1025/17801088_240X180.jpg