October Baby, a moving film with a message of life at the center of its story, surprised many in the media during its opening weekend by doing very well at the box office despite many odds. What resonated with viewers? I suspect that in addition the film’s genuine and heartfelt approach to the issue of …
Many of us grew up watching the TV sitcom, “Growing Pains”, in the 1990s but probably never imagined that the star of the show, Kirk Cameron, would one day be a voice for the anti-abortion movement and other Christian values in this country. Cameron did not back down from hard-hitting questions on CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight” last Friday. In an age where bold biblical values are rarely expressed in the mainstream media, Cameron clearly voiced his anti-abortion views in one segment of the interview, which you can see here or read below.
Piers Morgan: What is your view on abortion?
Kirk Cameron: I think that it’s wrong
Latinos have often been referred to as a “sleeping giant” in the arena of national politics. They “account for more than half of U.S. population growth and one in four American newborns,” writes Michael Scherer, a White House correspondent for Time magazine and author this week’s cover story, which argues that Latino voters could swing the 2012 election. In other words, the sleeping giant has woken up.
Scherer writes that Latinos, who currently make up 16 percent of the U.S. population, are dissatisfied with both Republican and Democratic parties— it is a dissatisfaction centered mostly on the issue of immigration. In a radio interview about the article, Scherer said summed it up this way: “Latino activists believe Republicans look like them on paper, but don't want Latino votes, while Democrats want Latino votes, but don't look like them on paper.”
An estimated 1,000 people, mostly women, gathered in Richmond, Virginia on Monday to silently protest a state legislature bill that would require women to receive a sonogram before they get an abortion. The bill caused a national media frenzy when even Saturday Night Live got involved making fun of the legislation in one of their segments this past weekend.
Opposition and ridicule against anti-abortion legislation are certainly nothing new, but the manner in which the pro-abortion protest was carried out brought Bound4LIFE silent sieges to mind. There was even a woman present at Monday’s protest who covered her lips with gray tape and wrote the word “CHOICE” over it. In both cases, the silence of these processions attracted media attention, but they could not be for more different reasons even if they are treated similarly in the media.
As the dust settles on the Komen Foundation-Planned Parenthood story, social networks like Facebook and Twitter are settling down as well after the media storm resulted from the story. We all saw pink “I Stand With Planned Parenthood” banners, Twitter hashtags, and other supportive material spread through these networks like wildfire immediately after the story broke out. Now we learn that this was not exactly a spontaneous, grassroots movement, but rather part of a deliberate public relations offensive prearranged by Planned Parenthood.
According to a new survey by the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health and the Reproductive Health Technologies Project, 74 percent of Latino voters “agree that a woman has a right to make her own personal decisions about abortion without the interference of government. The data shows that a majority of Latinos in the U.S. hold a sympathetic view in regards to abortion”, reported the Huffington Post.
My heart sunk as I read these harrowing statistics. Just two days ago, thousands upon thousands of people Marched for Life in my hometown of Washington D.C. to protest 39 years Roe vs. Wade, which lead to 54,559,615 lives lost to abortion. Despite the fact that the survey in the study was referred to as “simplistic” because it had a limited sample size of 200 registered Latino voters, I believe that is time to stand in prayer for the Latino population in this country. Why? Latina women made up 25 percent of all abortions in 2008 alone despite the fact that Latinos only account for 16 percent of the overall population in the United States.
I recently attended two Christian youth conferences, onething 2011 and Passion 2012, which focus on loving and glorifying Jesus above all else. At the forefront of these two conferences was also the issue of justice and our role as the church—could this generation be the Jesus generation? Those committed to be His voice, hands, and feet on the issues of justice, motivated by more than an emotional tug at the heart to actually believe that His bride can make a difference through prayer and bold action?
The time is now. There was a palpable sense urgency I felt among the thousands and thousands of young people surrounding me at these conferences, followers of Jesus who are rejoice in His love and long to share it with others. They are moving beyond religion, that is, rather than being moved by “’ought to and have to” they are moved by “get to,” as Lou Engle expressed at onething.
When does life begin?
This is a question that many supporters of abortion dismiss too rapidly. While advancements in technology and medicine have eased the gruesome process of an abortion, these advancements also help prove that life in the womb is just that—a vibrant life. A recent story illustrates this truth: the second smallest preemie in the United States who was born 22 weeks before her due date could be headed home by New Years, as the Blaze reported.
Why Siri isn’t Pro-life and Journalism Needs Work
Apple’s Siri, the uncomfortably pro-life robot
Apple Says Siri’s Abortion Answers Are a Glitch
Siri backlash the end of Apple fanboyism?
The headlines above are a only a small reflection of the “backlash,” as characterized by the last headline, caused by the story that Siri, an Iphone 4S navigation software, could not find abortion centers when commanded to do so. Depending on where people stood on the issue, they either responded with supportive amusement or uncomfortable indignation, as seen on social network streams such as Twitter where the story became a trending topic.
A recent article titled “Abortion-immigration dynamic” in the Washington Times raises some interesting points about the economic and demographic shifts caused by legalized abortion in developed nations. The author argues that immigration is the only thing saving the U.S. from having a similar fate as Europe and Japan, where legalized abortion has led to both declining populations and national economies in those countries.
The article develops this study of population decline caused by abortion within developed countries the following way:
“John Mueller analyzed (population decline) in his recent book, Redeeming Economics (Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2010). The United States’ pregnancy rate has remained doggedly more than 3.0 per woman. However, since Roe v. Wade, roughly 1 in 3 pregnancies in the United States ends in abortion. The baby dearth has caused a slow and steady aging of the U.S. population that is just now catching the attention of Americans in light of the imminent retirement of the baby boomers.”
And how does legalized abortion affect the U.S economy?