Liberal Muddle on Guns and Abortion

Current Events, ,

The following column is by Regis Nicoll, a freelance writer and Christian columnist.

“When you think of Missouri,” urges New York Times columnist Gail Collins, “give a fond mental shout-out to Stacey Newman.” Collins’ plug comes in response to a bill Newman introduced to the Missouri state legislature intended as an eye-poke to the predominately pro-life body.

What’s Good for the Goose 

Deeming “what’s-good-for-abortion-is-good-for-gun-control,” Democratic lawmaker Newman calls for restrictions on firearm buyers like those imposed on women seeking an abortion. For instance, writes Rudi Keller of the Columbia Daily Tribune,

In Missouri, a woman must sign an informed consent form 72 hours before having an abortion. She must be offered a chance to see an ultrasound of the fetus, be given a booklet with pictures of fetal development every two weeks during a pregnancy and a list of organizations providing help to carry the pregnancy to term. The abortion provider must include information about possible fetal pain and potential hazards to a woman’s health.

Thus, Newman’s bill requires a 72-hour waiting period for gun purchases and a physician’s evaluation of the buyer’s risk “of experiencing an adverse physical, emotional, or other health reaction” from gun ownership. Seriously. And that’s just the beginning.

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Maintaining A Christian Perspective on the CO Springs Shooting

Abortion

As you have probably heard by now, last Friday a horrific shooting unfolded at a Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs, taking the lives of three individuals and wounding others.

While many have taken to ridicule and name-calling on social media in the wake of the shooting, John Stonestreet at the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview released an excellent commentary today on condemning evil while keeping a proper, Christian perspective.

Stonestreet writes,

“First, as my friend Kelly Rosati of Focus on the Family so eloquently wrote at Christianity Today, every person involved is made in the image of God. The victims and the shooter, the pro-lifers and abortion advocates, those for and against us on social media, the unborn and Planned Parenthood workers. As Kelly wrote, ‘Recognizing the image of God in everyone is much easier in theory than in reality.’

“Second, habits of violence, when they go unchecked, breed further violence. We are, as Aristotle taught, shaped by those things we habitually choose. Our choices escalate, and if they go unchecked, take us down a slippery slope to their logical ends. This is true of the gunman, and it’s also true of us. . . . .

“Finally, we know that Dear’s evil neither justifies nor alters the fact that on a daily basis, Planned Parenthood and abortion providers across the country and around the world facilitate the evil of taking unborn lives. Robert Dear robbed children of their parents. Abortion robs parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters, and our community of children.”

You can read Stonestreet’s full commentary here or listen to it below.

[audio:http://www.breakpoint.org/images/content/breakpoint/audio/2015/120115_BP.mp3|titles=The Colorado Springs Shooting]

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U.S. Supreme Court Seriously Considering AR Pro-Life Law

Abortion, , ,

Last October Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge sent a request to the U.S. Supreme Court asking them to review the Arkansas Human Heartbeat Protection Law.

Portions of the law were struck by lower federal courts, but A.G. Rutledge is asking the Supreme Court for a hearing to determine the law’s constitutionality. Progress is being made on that hearing; earlier this month the U.S. Supreme Court asked opponents of the law to respond to the A.G.’s request by December 10.

As the A.G.’s office notes, this shows the U.S. Supreme Court is giving the issue “serious consideration.”

The Arkansas Human Heartbeat Protection Act was sponsored by Sen. Jason Rapert in 2013; it originally prevented most abortions after the twelfth week of pregnancy. Portions of the law pertaining to informed-consent prior to an abortion are still in place, but the provisions preventing a doctor from performing an abortion after the twelfth week of pregnancy if a fetal heartbeat is detected were struck down.

The A.G.’s  office asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review and uphold the entire law as constitutional last October; a review would set the stage for the court to revise or overturn key elements of past abortion decisions, such as Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

 

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