Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Truth and the culture of death

Last week I mentioned how pro-abortion activists were attacking pro-life crisis pregnancy centres in the UK. They mirror what is happening in the US.

The culture of death is getting desperate, American theologian Albert Mohler says on his blog. War, he says, has been declared on crisis pregnancy centres:

First in Baltimore and then in New York City, municipal governments passed laws intended to shut down or curtail the work of crisis pregnancy centers in their cities. The crisis pregnancy centers have been among the most important platforms for saving unborn human lives and reasserting human dignity. This is especially true in more recent years, as many of these centers have begun using sophisticated ultrasound imaging technologies in order to show pregnant women the unborn babies within them.

These centers are staffed by brave workers and an army of volunteers who are committed to counsel women against killing their unborn babies. The ultrasound images have been massively important in this counseling process. Once the woman sees the unborn life within her, the chances of that baby surviving to live birth are tremendously enhanced.

As one abortion rights activist famously declared "The fetus beat us." When the fetus is seen for what it really is, the mother has a much harder time deciding to abort it. Crisis pregnancy centers generally offer a variety of services, ranging from counseling and adoption services to medical care and support for new mothers. All this is too much for the abortion industry, which rightly sees crisis pregnancy centers as their increasingly powerful opposition. . .

Forty percent of all pregnancies in New York City end in abortion (and fully 60 percent of all pregnancies to African American women). Those horrendous and chilling percentages are evidently not enough for the abortion industry and its ideological supporters. They want to shut down crisis pregnancy centers or render them ineffective. . .

Now, city officials in San Francisco have launched their own effort to shutter crisis pregnancy centers, claiming the staff at the centers impose "anti-abortion propaganda and mistruths on unsuspecting women."

Albert Mohler concludes:

Crisis pregnancy centers deserve the support of all who cherish the sanctity of life, the defense of the unborn, and the right of free speech. As defenders of life, crisis pregnancy centers should be committed to nothing less than comprehensive truth-telling. It is the Culture of Death, not the Culture of Life, that fears the truth.

One further point: There is no doubt that ultrasound imaging equipment has been a valuable tool in the US in persuading women to keep their babies. Crisis pregnancy centres in the UK are generally staffed by unpaid volunteers and run by organisations not overburdened with cash. When are pro-life organisations in Britain going to be able to afford ultrasound equipment?