Part 5: Living our faith at the voting booth − Life and Abortion in Scripture

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Originally published September 24, 2024

Examining the Presidential candidates in light of Biblical teachings

By Sandy Szwarc, BSN, RN, retired emeritus
© Szwarc 2024

“This is what the Lord says—your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb.” − Isaiah 44:24

” The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name.” – Isaiah 49:1

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.” – Jeremiah 1:5

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb…My frame was
not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths
of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written
in your book before one of them came to be.” – Psalms 139:13-16

“Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him.” – Psalms 127:3

“You shall not murder.” – Exodus 20:13

The sanctity of life and abortion is an especially impassioned issue this election. The work of Christian discernment required close scrutiny to test how the candidates’ actions aligned with Biblical teachings.

This White House has openly made abortion rights a key agenda. Ms. Harris has consistently been zealously pro-abortion and long supported making abortion rights federally protected, and banning state interference. Federal “abortion rights” translates to a law mandating Americans fund and comply with abortions and making it illegal to fail to provide abortions, while also in reality, eliminating rights of conscience for Christians morally opposed to abortion. Ms. Harris demonstrated with sisters at Daughters of Charity Health System hospitals in California that this is precisely how she interprets abortion “rights.” While Attorney General, their hospitals could only continue if they complied with providing abortion services.

Ms. Harris has been the White House voice for “reproductive health rights” for the past 3 ½ years and it’s central to her 2024 message. She was the first VP to visit Planned Parenthood clinics, did a nationwide tour for reproductive rights, and hosted nearly 100 events (video from April 26,2023). On February 24, 2023, she also convened a White House meeting to push for chemical abortions access.

Ms. Harris has been the driving force for abortion rights, said the Executive VP for health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, a left-wing policy and lobbying group based in San Francisco.

Ms. Harris also worked for two abortion bills, the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance in 2019, which she co-sponsored; and the Women’s Health Protection Act that would have established federal mandates for abortion coverage and bar states or providers from introducing restrictions. Ms. Harris went public telling media she was eager to cast the deciding vote for the Women’s Health Protection Act and in a rare occurrence she presided over the Senate vote. However, it failed in the Senate.

Planned Parenthood Action Fund endorsed Ms. Harris for President on July 23, 2024. Their press release described her long “unquestionable” record as a “fearless, unapologetic champion” for abortion and reproductive rights.

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Ms. Harris launched her “Fighting for Reproductive Freedom” bus tour earlier in September, beginning in Florida, falsely claiming President Trump wants a national ban on abortion.

Under Ms. Harris’ abortion leadership, this Administration has continued to use the Department of Justice to prosecute pro-life advocates across the country, seeing them convicted of FACE Act violation and even adding “conspiracy against rights” charges so they would face up to ten years in prison. One of the latest was a 75-year old grandmother given a two-year prison sentence for entering an abortion clinic and trying to talk to a mother and pray with her.

An example of the growing hostility faced by pro-life students was seen during a campus event organized by the Virginia Commonwealth University chapter of the Students for Life organization, when the speakers were interrupted by a storm of protestors shutting down the event. At least a dozen of the pro-lifers were detained by campus police.

As California Attorney General, Ms. Harris was widely criticized of weaponizing her office against pro-life activists. She charged two undercover journalists, who had exposed Planned Parenthood executives discussing fees and prices for aborted baby parts, with 15 felony charges in 2017. She had reporter David Daleiden’s home raided by 11 state DOJ agents with rifles and K-9 dogs, and seized the journalist’s videos, files and personal information. He is still awaiting trial on eight felony counts in San Francisco Superior Court.

Records obtained from Planned Parenthood, revealed that Ms. Harris’ campaigns had received over $81,000 from Planned Parenthood and abortion advocates. As Senator, she had also hired the daughter of CEO of Planned Parenthood as one of her top aides.

Troublingly, both Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump have spoken in support of IVF (in-vitro fertilization). IVF has actually gone the slippery slope of eugenics, selecting which babies can live sometimes based on their sex and genetics, then contributing to the death of half of the babies that are created who do not survive the process or are discarded when not wanted. Last year, close to 2 million embryos were killed by IVF. Christians who believe it is wrong to facilitate the death of a tiny new life will have struggles of conscience when they are forced to pay for it at an estimated price tag of $7 billion.

Mr. Trump said that since Roe vs Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court and Constitutionally returned to the States for the people in each State to decide, he would support the people’s right to make choices according to their own religious beliefs. But, he said, the “Republican Party should always be on the side of the miracle of life and the side of mothers, fathers and their beautiful babies.”

Pro-life Christians would prefer a President who’s unyielding against abortion, but (with apologies to Abolitionists) the distinct difference currently between the candidates is that Mr. Trump would offer citizens the chance to vote in their States to advance pro-life positions, whereas Ms. Harris is committed to a national government mandate for abortions.

President Trump by his actions was the most active President in the history of the White House in protecting the sanctity of life. His pro-life stand resulted in progressive media labeling him as “divisive” and “polarizing.”

Once elected, President Trump promptly reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy, preventing $9 billion in aid to fund global abortions and ensuring U.S. taxpayer dollars do not fund programs of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilizations. This international policy had first been created during the Reagan Administration and continued through subsequent Republican Administrations.

He was the first sitting President in history to speak at a March for Life rally.

At his 2019 State of the Union address, he set a precedent in the history of modern America when he spoke against abortion, saying: ” Let us work together to build a culture that cherishes innocent life. And let us reaffirm a fundamental truth: all children – born and unborn – are made in the holy image of God.”

President Trump worked to prohibit federal funding for elective abortions; allow employers with religious or moral objections to be exempt from Obamacare reproductive healthcare requirements; cut off funding for the U.N. Population Fund, associated with China’s ethical violations of forced abortions and sterilizations; and issued guidance to enforce the requirement that taxpayer dollars not support abortion in Obamacare exchange plans.

The National Right to Life documented his record on life, and his statement that reverence for life is “the first, and most important, of our ‘unalienable’ rights.”

For voters looking to cast their ballots for the candidate that will most enable God’s work to continue, Mr. Trump is undeniably the only option for life.

In Part 6 , the candidate’s actions as civil leaders were tested. How well did each follow what the Bible calls them to do in as public servants maintaining law and order, and honestly fulfilling the job called upon them?