New Birth or Slow Death? by John Frattarola

January 18 is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, and Thursday, January 22, will mark 36 years since the U.S. Supreme Court’s arguably worst decision—the “right” to abortion. Never before has anyone’s “right” caused so much bloodshed as Roe v. Wade, tallying more than 50 million dead at a present rate of 1.4 million a year, or the death of one baby every 24 seconds.

On January 20, the 44th U.S. President will be inaugurated under the theme, “A New Birth of Freedom,” invoking a line from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address: “…this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.” This historical event, however, will be a study in irony, given the fact that the incoming president is proudly and radically pro-abortion and promised Planned Parenthood that his first act as president will be to sign the Freedom of Choice Act, which federalizes abortion on demand as a “fundamental right” and annihilates every state law limiting, regulating, or prohibiting abortion, including the ban on partial birth abortion.

The audacity of using themes such as “birth,” “freedom,” and “rights of the powerless” is a mockery of those ideals and should send an Orwellian chill down the spine of every Christian American, because by the end of the day, more than 4,000 innocent fellow citizens will have been slaughtered.

In John 17, Jesus prayed to the Father for His disciples, and, by extension, for all believers in all generations, “Set them apart by Your truth. Your word is truth.” That truth moved America’s Founding Fathers to craft one of the most powerfully moral, religious, and political statements ever penned: “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.”

From beginning to end, God’s Word declares and defends the personhood and sanctity of all human life from conception to the grave, unalienable rights that apply to every U.S. citizen, including the unborn.

While many argue that the social/moral issues are not important, or not as important as the economic and national security issues, the Bible states just the opposite: the morality of a nation is what determines its social, economic, and national success or failure. In that sobering light, then, in a manner similar to the sad state of ancient Israel when they rejected the true and living God for a man who only looked like a king (1 Samuel 8), the election of a man who espouses compassion and concern for the rights of the powerless while blatantly disregarding the most powerless of all—the unborn—may actually be the judgment of God on a divinely blessed nation that has turned its back on Him.

We must persevere, though, with the heart of God on behalf of the unborn as we shout to be heard above the wind—God is the Giver of life, and abortion is murder.