The Value of Human Life

1/22/06

 

 

As of today, it marks 33 years that the historic decision was made in the landmark case of “Roe vs. Wade” January 22, 1973.

 

History of "Roe vs. Wade."

 

"Jane Roe" (whose real name was Norma McCorvey) was a woman who challenged the criminal abortion laws in Texas as unconstitutional. The abortion laws at the time forbade abortion except in cases where the mother's life was in danger.

 

Henry Wade was the Texas Attorney General who defended the anti-abortion law.

Dates Argued: December 13, 1971 and October 11, 1972
Opinion Date: Monday, January 22, 1973

 

Sarah Weddington argued the cause for Roe twice. Jay Floyd argued the cause for Texas in the first argument. Robert C. Flowers argued the cause for Texas in the second argument.

 

The conclusion held that a woman's right to an abortion falls within the right to privacy protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. The Roe v. Wade decision gave women the right to abortion during her entire pregnancy and defined different levels of state interest for regulating abortion in the second and third trimesters.

 

The vote during Roe v. Wade was 7 to 2:

Majority: Blackmun(for the Court), Brennan, Powell, Marshall T.
Concurring: Burger, Douglas, Stewart
Dissenting: Rehnquist, White B.

 

Pray

 

What price can be put on a human life?

 

How much is a human life worth?

 

1 Cor. 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

 

 

Rev. 5:6 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. ⁷He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. ⁸And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. ⁹And they sang a new song:

“You are worthy to take the scroll

and to open its seals,

because you were slain,

and with your blood you purchased men for God

from every tribe and language and people and nation.

 

1 Pet. 1:18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, ¹⁹but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

 

Ps. 139:13 For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.

¹⁵ 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,

¹⁶ your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me

were written in your book

before one of them came to be.

 

 

 

Current Statistics on Abortion

46,023,191
Total Reported Mechanical Abortions since 1973

"A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic." — Joseph Stalin

 

Ps. 106:36 They worshiped their idols,

which became a snare to them.

³⁷ They sacrificed their sons

and their daughters to demons.

³⁸ They shed innocent blood,

the blood of their sons and daughters,

whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,

and the land was desecrated by their blood.

³⁹ They defiled themselves by what they did;

            by their deeds they prostituted themselves.

 

Why do women have abortions?

Social Reasons (given as primary reason)
- Feels unready for responsibility 21%
- Feels she can't afford baby 21%
- Concern for how baby would change her life 16%
- Relationship problem 12%
- Feels she isn't mature enough 11%
- Has all the children she wants 8%
- Other reasons 4-5%
TOTAL: 93%

"Hard Cases" (given as primary reason)
- Mother's Health 3%
- Baby may have health problem 3%
- Rape or Incest 1%
TOTAL: 7%

 

 

Everyday we face the devaluating of human life!

 

Wednesday, January 18, 2006:

 

The Supreme Court upheld Oregon's law on physician-assisted suicide yesterday, ruling that the Justice Department may not punish doctors who help terminally ill patients end their lives.

 

By a vote of 6 to 3, the court ruled that Attorney General John D. Ashcroft exceeded his legal authority in 2001 when he threatened to prohibit doctors from prescribing federally controlled drugs if they authorized lethal doses of the medications under the Oregon Death With Dignity Act.

 

Let’s look back at the Laci Peterson case...

 

The head of the National Organization for Women,  Morris County chapter, opposed the double-murder charge in the Laci Peterson case, saying it could provide ammunition to the pro-life lobby.

 

Morris County NOW President Mavra Stark said "If this is murder, well, then any time a late-term fetus is aborted, they could call it murder."

 

Prosecutors in California charged Scott Peterson, of Modesto, both with killing his wife and their unborn son. Laci Peterson was eight months pregnant when she disappeared Dec. 24.

 

More than two dozen states, including California, have adopted "fetal homicide" statutes, and prosecutors often will seek a double-murder charge when a pregnant woman is killed.

 

Now here’s a question....  IS THERE A TENSION BETWEEN THESE LAWS AND ROE V. WADE? According to the Supreme Court of Minnesota No.  In rejecting a challenge to the Minnesota Crimes Against Unborn Children Act, which is similar to the Peterson bill, the Supreme Court of Minnesota emphasized that although the law treats fetuses as legal persons, it does not violate Roe v. Wade by treating them as constitutional persons. The defendant who shot his pregnant girlfriend and killed their 28-day-old fetus was not similarly situated to a woman who exercises her constitutional right to abort a fetus before viability, the court held. The Minnesota law explicitly recognized a woman's right to choose abortion, and it protected that right by punishing assailants who deprived a woman of control over her own reproductive choices.

 

 

Abortion versus Animal Rights

by Ted Altar

 

HUMAN FETUSES AND THE CRITERION OF PAIN AND SUFFERING

“With respect to criterion of pain and suffering, a fetus has not yet developed those neurological preconditions for the experience of pain and suffering. I don't know off hand at what age we could say that the limbric system and cerebral cortex have sufficiently developed for the emotional experience of pain and suffering but I would guess that it is not earlier than 4 months.” On what basis did he come up with that!

 

In a few days the U.S. Senate will be voting on the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. Liberal groups, led by the ACLU, have spent nearly $30,000,000 to defeat his nomination.

 

The court has precisely three conservatives:  Chief Justice John Roberts, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.  Justices John Paul Stevens, Stephen Breyer, David Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg are liberals.  Anthony Kennedy could be a swing vote.  Samuel Alito is definitely conservative.

 

Supreme Court Justices are extremely reluctant to overturn decisions made by their predecessors -- especially when a decision has been in force for 27 years like Roe v. Wade has. This concept is called "stare decisis," and was the basis by which even some current conservative justices upheld Roe v. Wade the last time it was tested.

 

The Supreme Court only tries cases that are brought to it -- they can't decide anything without that. And the case would have to be a compelling one, with sufficient import to get to the Supreme Court level.

 

Hopefully as more states adopt "fetal homicide" statutes, this could be a compelling argument to legitimately  challenge “Roe vs. Wade!”

 

If the Court DOES overturn Row v. Wade, then the only thing that immediately happens is the rule reverts to the states (or they could make some new rules to replace the Roe rules).

 

But reverting to the states is quite a big deal. Many states have intentionally created state laws banning abortion, which cannot currently be enforced because of Roe, so that if Row gets overturned, the state ban will immediately be in force. Other states have encoded abortion rights for the same reason, even though they're not currently needed.

 

 

 

Don’t stay uninvolved!

 

Pr. 24:10 If you falter in times of trouble,

 how small is your strength!

¹¹ Rescue those being led away to death;

hold back those staggering toward slaughter.

¹² If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,”

does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?

Does not he who guards your life know it?

Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?

 

I shudder at the thought of the churches that have turned their backs and refuse to be involved or sound the alarm!

 

Jer. 6:16 This is what the LORD says:

“Stand at the crossroads and look;

ask for the ancient paths,

ask where the good way is, and walk in it,

and you will find rest for your souls.

But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

¹⁷ I appointed watchmen over you and said,

‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’

But you said, ‘We will not listen.’

¹⁸ Therefore hear, O nations;

observe, O witnesses,

what will happen to them.

¹⁹ Hear, O earth:

I am bringing disaster on this people,

the fruit of their schemes,

because they have not listened to my words

and have rejected my law.

 

If you are asked to write a letter--please do it.

 

If you are asked to make a phone call--please do it.

 

Come over to Carbondale today.

 

Go with us to Hope Clinic February 4.