All right, so now that the children are dismissed,
for the rest of us adults, we are talking today about...
The A word, it's nasty.
When you're talking about a...
Whatever you do, don't straight up say what it is.
Seriously, there are so many words and phrases
you can choose to avoid being offensive.
Why say a...
When you can say...
Empowerment.
Words like coercion, killing, regret are not helpful.
Just saying.
Stick to more uplifting terms, such as...
Self-care, health-care, repro-right, or my favorite...
Choice.
Brilliant, really.
So simple and yet so void of anything truthful.
Love it.
A...
Don't call it what it really is, because that's just too much.
Nobody wants to think about that.
Come on.
I like this hat.
It's a difficult subject, and it's one that we don't like to think about or talk about.
But as I said to the youth on Friday evening, this is one of the most important social justice issues of our day.
Let's get some perspective.
How many COVID deaths have there been in Canada in the past two years?
If the numbers are accurate, about 40,000 people died, and COVID was considered a factor.
That's over the past two years.
That averages out to about 20,000 people per year.
But abortion claims the lives of over 100,000 children every year here in Canada.
Five times as many.
As a culture and as a country, we bent over backwards to fight COVID and save lives.
We put all kinds of restrictions on people.
We mandated that they make certain health choices or else suffer the loss of certain rights and freedoms, all to save lives.
But for the 100,000-plus children each year that are being aborted in their mother's wombs, we say,
Oh, it's not appropriate to make laws in this area.
It's the woman's personal health care choice.
Let her do what she wants to do.
And we'll provide the funding and the freedom for her to do it.
This particular issue has come alive in recent weeks,
ever since this U.S. Supreme Court leaked draft suggesting that Roe v. Wade could be overturned in the United States.
Now, we don't know what the final results will be of all that,
but it certainly has shown us that we are in the midst of a battle over this practice in our two nations today.
And for that, I'm grateful.
Because as Christians, I fear that many of us have simply given up the fight on abortion.
We've stopped talking about it until now, some of us.
Or, if we still do talk about it, sometimes it's only to lament what's going on.
But what are we doing about this terrible injustice still going on in our nation, even in our province today?
And so I have a few goals with our time this morning.
First, I want to help you look on the reality of abortion and what's happening in our nation today.
Because I believe that we will continue to be silent.
We will continue to sit on the sidelines of this fight and watch things get worse
until our hearts are gripped by the horror of what's happening.
And we can stand to be silent and uninvolved no more.
Second, I want to point us to the cross of Christ
and the matchless grace and mercy of Jesus
and what it means for this issue.
Third, I want to give you encouragement about why it's still worth fighting for
this seemingly lost cause.
And finally, I want to call you to action
and give you practical things you can do to join in the fight.
So first, I want to help you look on the reality of abortion and what's happening in our nation today.
We will begin by listening to the testimony of a former abortion doctor in court,
Dr. Anthony Levitino.
During the course of his career, he performed over 1,200 abortions.
Listen to what he has to say.
This investigation of Planned Parenthood is based on false premises,
one after another after another.
It's time to stop wasting time, get on it with meaningful work,
and stop picking on women and trying to take their choice away.
I yield back to the balance of my time.
The time of the gentleman has expired.
We welcome our distinguished witnesses today.
Do you and each of you swear that the testimony that you are about to give
shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
So help you God.
And I'll now begin by introducing today's witnesses.
The first witness is Dr. Anthony Levitino.
Dr. Levitino is a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist.
Over the course of his career, Dr. Levitino has practiced obstetrics and gynecology
in both private and university settings,
including as an associate professor of OBGYN at the Albany Medical College.
And Dr. Levitino, we'll begin with you.
Welcome.
Thank you, Chairman and members of the committee.
I only have five minutes, so I'm going to get right to it.
Second trimester D&E abortions perform between roughly 14 and 24 weeks of gestation.
Your patient today is 17 years old.
She's 22 weeks pregnant.
Her baby is the length of your hand plus a couple of inches.
And she's been feeling her baby kick for the last several weeks.
But she's asleep on an operating room table.
You walk into that operating room scrubbed and gowned,
and after removing laminaria, you introduce a suction catheter into the uterus.
This is a 14-French suction catheter.
If she were 12 weeks pregnant or less, basically the width of your hand or smaller,
you could basically do the entire procedure with this.
But babies this big don't fit through catheters this size.
After suctioning the amniotic fluid out from around the baby,
you introduce an instrument called a sofa clamp.
It's about 13 inches long.
It's made of stainless steel.
The business end of this clamp is about 2 1⁄2 inches long and 1 1⁄2 inch wide.
There are rows of sharp teeth.
This is a grasping instrument.
When it gets a hold of something, it does not let go.
A DNA procedure is a blind abortion,
so picture yourself introducing this and grabbing anything you can blindly
and pull, and I do mean hard,
and out pops a leg about that big which you put down on the table next to you.
Reach in again, pull again,
and pull out an arm about the same length which you put down on the table next to you.
And use this instrument again and again to tear out the spine,
the intestines, the heart and lungs.
Head in the baby that size is about the size of a large plum.
Can't see it, but you've got a pretty good idea you've got it
if you've got your instrument around something
and your fingers are spread about as far as they go.
You know you did it right if you crush down on the instrument
and white material runs out of the cervix.
That was the baby's brains.
Then you can pull out skull pieces.
And you have a day like I had a lot of times.
Sometimes a little face comes back and stares back at you.
Congratulations.
You just successfully performed a second trimester DNA abortion.
You just affirmed her right to choose.
One more question, Dr. Levatino.
Why did you end your practice of doing abortions?
I did over 1,200 abortions over a four-year period in private practice,
not counting the ones that I did during my training.
I met my wife during my first year of training at Albany Medical Center.
We got married about a year later and found that we had an infertility problem.
After years of failed infertility treatment and several years trying to adopt a child,
we were blessed with adopting a little girl that we named Heather in August of 1978.
As sometimes happens in those situations, my wife got pregnant the very next month,
and we had two children ten months apart.
Two months short of my daughter Heather's sixth birthday, she was killed in an auto accident
and literally died in her arms in the back of an ambulance.
Anyone who has children might think they have some idea of what that feels like,
but unless you've been through it yourself, you have no idea whatsoever.
I know people find it hard to believe, but what do you do after a disaster?
You bury your child and then you go back to your life.
And I don't remember exactly how long it was after my daughter died
that I showed up at Albany Medical Center OR number nine
to perform my first second trimester D&E abortion.
I wasn't thinking of it as anything special.
This was routine to me.
But I reached in, literally pulled out an arm or leg and got sick.
Earlier on, I described stacking up body parts on the side of the table.
It's not to gross people out, to use a simple term.
When you do an abortion, you need to keep inventory.
You have to make sure you get two arms and two legs and all the pieces.
If you don't, your patient's going to come back infected, bleeding, or dead.
So I soldiered on and finished that abortion.
And I know it sounds, as I said, hard for people to believe,
but I'm telling you straight up my experience.
You know, after over 1,200 abortions, first and second trimester up to 24 weeks,
and all the rest of it, and being very dedicated to it,
for the first time in my life, I really looked.
I really looked at that pile of body parts on the side of the table.
And I didn't see her wonderful right to choose,
and I didn't see all the money I just made.
All I could see was somebody's son or daughter.
And I stopped doing late-term abortions after that,
and several months later stopped doing all abortions.
Thank you.
I find it heart-wrenching to listen to that description of a second trimester abortion,
and I hope you do too.
That's being done in Canada today.
Now, some will point out here that the vast majority of abortions are medical abortions
or chemical abortions using drugs, and happen well before 20 weeks.
The truth is, it's actually quite difficult to get accurate numbers in Canada today,
because only hospitals are required to report abortions in Canada.
For clinics, it's completely voluntary whether they report or not.
Even the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada admits that the numbers during the past several years of COVID
were probably underreported for a variety of reasons.
And then, of course, each province has their own unique system and regulations.
So take, for example, the data from 2020.
This data comes from the Canadian Institute for Health Information,
and it's freely available online to anybody.
And this is just those reported by hospitals,
which make up not very many of that approximately 100,000.
There were 14,815 abortions reported by hospitals in Canada, excluding Quebec.
And as you can see from the first two numbers there,
we know for sure that about 59% of them were first trimester abortions.
If you look at the next couple numbers,
we know for sure that about 18% were either second or third trimester abortions.
And then there are 23% which are unknown.
Even if none of those 23% were second or third trimester abortions,
18% still means that in Canadian hospitals,
2,666 children were torn limb from limb in 2020,
using the technique described by Dr. Levatino.
Now let's remember, that number,
it doesn't include the abortion clinics,
which operate in all but four Canadian provinces and territories now.
And the clinics account for the vast majority of abortions in Canada today,
which means that there are thousands of babies
being destroyed in Canada every year
in the manner described by Dr. Levatino.
Thousands of babies for whom just six months or less,
and they could have had life outside the womb,
grown up, enjoyed the same things that we all do,
these were people,
little people who were ripped apart.
Now one of the common pushbacks here suggests
that first trimester abortions are okay
because it's not yet a human being in the womb.
Well let me ask you,
if it's not a human being,
what is it?
And when does it become a human being?
Almost everybody agrees that it's a human being after it's born.
What about five minutes before it's born?
It's the same baby five minutes before it's born
as it is five minutes after it's born.
The only difference is location.
Does our location make us more or less human?
Surely not.
Well no, it's not location,
it's level of development,
people will say.
It hasn't developed into a human being yet.
Okay?
So at what point does it become fully human
then in the pregnancy,
in the womb?
Here's a picture of Lila Stenzrud.
In this picture she is four years old,
eating a Timbit.
Here's another picture of her with her mom at a party.
She was born in 2014,
and this is a picture of her four years earlier.
She was born in 2014 at just 21 weeks
and four days.
That's basically the halfway point of the pregnancy.
You can find her story all over the internet,
it's even on major news sources,
CNN.
Look at this photo.
Is she a human being?
Is she less of a human being here
than she is here?
She looks admittedly,
maybe,
to us,
less human in this picture.
I mean,
we could look at skin color,
we could look at
the eyes,
the kind of the shape of the head
and kind of
different things going on
with the proportions of her limbs.
But at some point we need to ask the question,
what makes a human being
a human being?
Is it how we look?
Is it our shape?
Is it the proportion of our arms and legs?
Is it whether we have two arms and two legs?
Maybe,
I'm not sure,
some of you have heard of Nick,
I can't say his last name,
Wawoychuk or Wawoychuk.
I was born in Melbourne, Australia, 1982
and my parents had no idea
that I was going to be born
without arms or legs.
I was the only one that I ever saw
without limbs.
My faith in Jesus Christ
was sealed after seven years
of wondering why, God,
I was born this way.
He answered me very clearly
through John chapter 9
and I gave my life to Jesus
at 15 after reading about
how he came across a man
who was born blind.
And I'm like,
hey, hold on a second,
this looks interesting.
And no one knew
why he was born that way.
I'm like,
perfect.
So I read on
and in verse 3
of the ninth chapter,
Jesus said,
it was done so that
the works of God
would be revealed through him.
And I'm like,
wow, God,
if you had a plan
for the blind man,
you do have a plan for me.
And that was the beginning
of my personal relationship
with Jesus.
Jesus said,
no arms,
no legs,
and yet he's happily married,
has two children,
and he has learned
to do all kinds
of amazing things,
including swimming
and preaching the gospel
all over the world.
Being human
is about more
than just our shape.
It's about more
than our appearance.
Lila wasn't any less human
back in 2014.
when she was born
than you or I were
at that stage
in the womb.
Different things develop
at different stages.
It's not us becoming
more human as we go.
Think about this.
Is a toddler
any less human
than an adult?
Of course not.
It's just a different
stage of development
in the normal progression
of a human being.
And so the question
it really drives us to
is not,
when do we become human?
But at what point
does human life
begin in the womb?
Let's listen to
what Tara Sander Lee,
a molecular geneticist,
has to say
about when life begins.
Do we really know
when life begins?
Some people think
that it is a complete mystery
and therefore abortion
should be allowed.
They reason that a fetus
is not a person
or is somehow
not a real human being
or is just a potential life
while in the mother's womb.
But there are two problems
with this kind of reasoning.
First,
even if it were true
that we did not know
when life had begun
in the womb,
that would be an argument
against abortion.
Imagine you go hunting
with a friend
and the two of you
become separated.
You see some rustling
in the bushes ahead
but you don't know
if it's a deer
or your friend.
Would you shoot?
That would be criminally
reckless if you did
because there's a chance
that behind that bush
is a human life.
In the same way,
if there is a possibility
that there is a human life
in the womb,
it would be reckless
to kill that life.
But that's where we find
the second flaw
in this reasoning.
It's not merely possible
that a human life
has begun in the womb.
It is a scientific certainty
that life begins
at fertilization.
At the moment a sperm
fuses with an egg
known as fertilization
or conception,
a new unique human being
that is genetically distinct
from both parents
comes into existence.
Gender, ethnicity,
hair color, eye color
and countless other traits
are determined
at that moment.
This genetic blueprint
remains the same
for his or her entire life.
After conception,
a developing baby grows
at an extremely rapid pace,
especially within
the first trimester.
The baby's heart begins
to beat in the sixth week
of pregnancy,
which is only a little
over three weeks
from the moment of conception.
A new study found
that the first heartbeat
may occur even sooner,
as early as the fifth week,
which is about the same time
a mother discovers
she is pregnant.
The baby's lungs
and digestive system
are also forming.
At eight weeks,
human brain activity
can be recorded.
In fact,
the human brain
will continue to develop
and mature even after birth
and well into the person's 20s.
At 12 weeks,
the tiny child can swallow,
scrunch hands into little fists,
touch his or her face
and scratch his or her head.
The baby's fingers and toes
are also complete with nails.
Fingerprints are developing
by 14 weeks.
At 18 weeks,
the baby's ears can even hear music
and recognize their mother's voice.
Between 18 and 30 weeks,
doctors can treat pre-born babies
while still inside the womb
with life-saving therapies
and repair significant defects
for certain diseases.
And at 22 weeks,
or even sooner,
it is possible for babies to be born
and survive outside the womb.
It is also a fact
that pre-born children
exhibit behaviors
that we do on a daily basis.
They smile,
feel pain,
cough,
yawn,
hiccup,
respond to sound and light,
sleep,
and possibly even dream.
Some researchers have even shown
that babies may cry
while in the womb.
So referring to the pre-born child
as a zygote,
blastocyst,
embryo,
or fetus
at different stages of development
does nothing to lessen
his or her humanity.
Those are just ways
of referring to age.
No different from the terms
infant,
toddler,
adolescent,
or adult.
It is also false
for some to call
the pre-born child
a parasite
or consider him or her
as nothing more
than a blob-like sea cucumber.
First,
parasites are different
in species
from their host.
And if a fetus
were a parasite,
then the mother's immune system
would attack it.
Instead,
the mother's body
undergoes dramatic changes
to specifically provide
nourishment and nutrients
to her child.
even pro-choice atheist philosopher
Peter Singer admits that
there is no doubt
that from the first moments
of its existence,
an embryo conceived
from human sperm and egg
is a human being.
And there are thousands
of biology
and embryology textbooks,
modern DNA studies,
medical dictionaries,
science professors,
and medical researchers
that all confirm
that life begins
at fertilization.
And every mother,
like me,
that has experienced pregnancy
knows that with every kick
and movement the baby makes,
life is blooming
for the child growing inside.
So when does life begin?
It is a scientific certainty
that human life begins
at the moment of conception.
Therefore,
every abortion
kills an innocent human being.
To suggest otherwise
is to ignore
the scientific facts
and miss the miracle of life.
So whether it's the abortion pill
in the first trimester
or surgical abortion
in the second or third trimester,
it's all the same.
Abortion takes the life
of an innocent human being
in the womb.
And this is happening
in Canada today
to over 100,000 children
every year.
Let's go now to the cross.
Maybe you or somebody
that you know
has had an abortion.
There is mercy
and grace
and more.
There is cleansing
and healing from sins
for those who have committed them,
all of us,
at the cross.
God sent his son Jesus
into the world
to die on the cross
and atone
for our sins,
including the sin
of taking the life
of a child
in the womb.
There's a proverb
of Solomon
that catches my attention
every time I read it.
Proverbs 28, verse 17.
Anyone tormented
by the guilt of murder
will seek refuge
in the grave.
Let no one hold them back.
There are lots of sins
that we have no trouble
with accepting
that Jesus' death
paid for it
and I'm forgiven.
But this particular sin
has been known
to haunt people
who have committed it
for the rest of their lives.
So much so
that before Christ came
there seemed in many ways
only one way
to escape that guilt.
But now,
the good news
is that someone
greater than Solomon
has come
and there is a refuge
for those tormented
by the guilt of murder.
The perfect Lamb of God,
the one who sacrificed himself
to take away
the sins of the world,
Jesus Christ.
Christ.
In the words of Isaiah
the prophet,
we all like sheep
have gone astray.
Each of us
has turned to our own way.
We've all blown it.
We've all done bad things.
We've all done evil.
And the Lord,
God,
has laid on him
the iniquity
of us all.
He was pierced
for our transgressions.
He was crushed
for our iniquities.
The punishment
that brought us peace
was upon him.
And by his wounds,
we are healed.
This is just one passage
of many
which describes
what the sacrificial death
of Jesus
has done
for sinners
of all different stripes.
It has brought healing.
It has brought the cure.
It has brought the remedy
for our guilt.
Forgiveness,
atonement,
cleansing.
And so if you
or someone you know
has had an abortion,
God's grace
and mercy
through Jesus
at the cross
is greater.
The Bible tells us
that if we confess our sins,
he is faithful
to forgive us
of our sins
and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness,
you can be free
of that guilt forever.
But there's more
that we find here
at the cross.
Not just forgiveness
for people
who have had an abortion
or performed an abortion,
but forgiveness
for all of us
who have sat idly by
and done nothing
to stand up
for the lives
of the pre-born
in the womb.
I don't need
to convince you
this morning
that abortion
is evil,
that it's wrong.
Every single one of us
after hearing
what's done
in a surgical abortion
and seeing
what it really is
in the womb
even before
the second trimester,
we know deep down inside
that it's wrong,
that it's evil,
that it's something
that God hates,
that it breaks
his heart
to see that happen.
The problem is
that we
all too often
don't feel that way,
the way that God does
about abortion.
We care more about
what other people
think about us
than those children
being slaughtered
in the womb.
And so we won't fly
the pro-life flag.
We won't go march
in the pro-life rallies.
We've got more
important things
to do.
But let me ask you this.
Is there any
more important action
for us as Christians
today in our society
than action
against this vile
and barbaric thing
happening in Canada today?
Listen to these words.
James chapter 1
verse 27.
Religion that God
our Father accepts
is pure
and faultless
is this.
To look after
orphans
and widows
in their distress
and to keep
oneself from being
polluted
by the world.
What is
James' point here?
He's saying a few
different things
but one of those things
he's making the point
that real faith
in God
takes action.
It sees the need
of the needy
and it doesn't just
sit there on the sidelines
and watch.
It gets involved
in meeting that need.
James returns to this again
in chapter 2
verse 14.
He says,
What good is it
my brothers and sisters
if someone claims
to have faith
but has no deeds?
Can such faith
save them?
Suppose a brother
or sister
is without clothes
and daily food.
If one of you
says to them
go in peace
keep warm
and well fed
but does nothing
about their physical needs
what good is it?
in the same way
faith
by itself
if it is not
accompanied by action
is dead.
Real
living faith
in God
in Jesus
takes action.
It not only
notices the need
of the poor
and the vulnerable
but it takes action
to meet those needs.
We are called
by God
every one of us
to love our neighbor.
What did the Apostle John
say about that
in his letter?
1 John 3
verse 18
He said,
Dear children
let us not love
with words
or speech
but with actions
and in truth.
We could consider
the words of Solomon
in Proverbs 24
verse 11.
Rescue
those being
led away
to death.
Hold back
those staggering
towards slaughter.
If you say
but we knew
nothing about this
does not he
who weigh the heart
perceive it?
Does not he
who guards
your life
know it?
Will he not
repay everyone
according to
what they have done?
Or consider
the words
of King Lemuel
in Proverbs 31
verses 8 and 9.
Speak up
for those
who cannot
speak for themselves.
For the rights
of all
who are destitute.
Speak up
and judge fairly.
Defend the rights
of the poor
and needy.
Many of us
are guilty
because we have
not done this
for the unborn
children in our nation.
Some of us
have been silent.
Others of us
have talked a lot
about abortion
but only to one another
as a lament
about how things
are getting worse
in our society
and so we too
must come to the cross
for mercy
and forgiveness.
We have not
loved our unborn
neighbors as ourselves.
We have not
spoken up in the land
for those who cannot
speak up for themselves.
We have not made
efforts to rescue
those who are being
led away to death.
We have watched
things get worse
and worse
and have said
well I guess
there is nothing more
that we can do
about it.
It is pretty much
a done deal
in Canada
right?
Even if I was
to fly the pro-life
flag what would
people think of me?
What if people
are nasty to me?
Listen
if every single
person in Canada
thought that abortion
was good
and that those
who oppose it
are evil and hateful
it doesn't change
the reality
of what is going on.
Taking the life
of an unborn child
in the womb
is wrong.
It's barbaric
and if you and I
are the only ones
left standing up
and saying that
whatever the cost
we do right
and we honor
the Lord
who created
every human being
in his image.
Perhaps for some of us
we just need
to redefine success
when it comes
to the fight
against abortion.
Of course
we want to win
the cultural war.
we want to see
abortion outlawed
in our nation
but even if it goes
the opposite way
our duty
as citizens
of the kingdom
of heaven
is to stand
against this evil
and to act
against this evil
to speak up
against it
in whatever ways
we can
until it's gone
from our land
or the Lord
takes us home.
That's what success
looks like
in the fight
against abortion.
It's not just about
achieving certain
political goals
or societal reforms
it's about being
faithful
where the Lord
has put us
with whatever
wicked injustices
are going on
in our own
neighborhoods.
Think about it
this way
if we all lived
in some of those
Muslim countries
in another place
in the world
we wouldn't even
be having this
conversation.
There'd be
different stands
to take.
There'd be
other societal evils
that we'd be
talking about today
because some of
those countries
don't practice
abortion at all.
It's looked down
on by the whole
society as a
horrid and
barbaric thing
to do.
But this is the
place that we
live and this
is the evil
going on in
our country.
Now I know
for many
Christians in
the evangelical
church we've
been really
discouraged at
how things
seem to be
trending
especially when
it comes to
this issue
of abortion.
it seems
like we're
just continuously
sliding farther
and farther
away from where
we should be
especially when
it comes to
the political
arena.
But we can't
give up the
fight on this
one.
Innocent human
beings are still
dying.
I know some
have looked at
the way things
are just spiraling
downward and
looked at those
warnings in
scripture that
say it's going
to get worse
at the end
but we can't
give up the
fight.
So long as
it's happening
in our own
land we cannot
give up the
fight.
Many of you
will have heard
about the school
shooting in
Texas by now.
We talked about
it during prayer
time and prayed
for those people.
There's a lot of
anger and outrage
at how the
police responded
to the situation.
Some people seem
to agree that the
right thing to do
in this situation
was for the
police to just
charge right in
there and stop
that young man
as soon as
possible even
if it meant
putting their
own lives on
the line.
That's their
duty as law
enforcement officers.
Many are saying
I mean how many
innocent children's
lives were in
danger while that
shooter was alive
and firing things
off in there.
Nineteen of them
were killed.
Parents were
outraged because
it seemed to
them like the
officers were
cowardly waiting
on the sidelines
for the
specialists to
come in
while innocent
children were
in danger.
Whether that's
the whole story
or not I
don't know.
But I got
thinking about
that.
How many of
us are just
like that when
it comes to
abortion?
Waiting on the
sidelines.
All too content
to leave the
fight up to
someone else.
Not wanting to
take flack or
put ourselves into
the crossfire.
But we have to
get in there.
We have to do
whatever we can
to put an end
to this.
We don't know
when the world
will end.
We don't know
when Jesus will
return.
Think back to
William Wilberforce
and how he felt
in the late 1700s
as he looked at
the slave trade.
The barbaric
treatment of
black men,
women,
and children.
It was his
faith that led
him to fight
the fight which
by God's grace
resulted in the
abolishment of
the slave trade.
Can you imagine
if instead
William Wilberforce
had looked at
those passages
of scripture
that say that
it's going to
get worse
and just thought
to himself,
well,
I know it's
evil,
I know it's
horrible what
they're doing,
but it says
it's going to
get worse
and so it's
a lost cause.
What would
our society
look like today?
We don't know
when the Lord
will return
or when the
end will come.
It could be
another hundred
years.
Perhaps
by the Lord's
grace in
answer to
the prayers
of his
people,
he will
grant Canada
a season
of reform
and renewal
even if only
on this one
issue of
abortion.
I mean,
who of us
here today
thought that
we would
even be
hearing news
down in the
United States
of overturning
Roe versus
Wade?
Who of us
thought that
today in
the United
States of
America
there would
be whole
states banning
abortion almost
entirely.
Oklahoma just
passed a law
banning abortion
from the moment
of fertilization
onward with
only one or two
very rare
exceptions and
citizens are
going to be
allowed to file
civil lawsuits
against anyone
caught providing
abortions in the
state as a way
to keep them
from doing it
on the sly.
what this shows
is that change
is still
possible even
in our own
nation.
Even if our
own nation
continues to
slide downhill
morally in
every other
area we can
still pray and
fight for a
Canada whose
eyes have opened
up to the evil
of abortion
just like
Wilberforce did
for the slave
trade.
Let's not
give up the
fight.
I've been at
almost all of
the local
pro-life meetings
for the past
number of years.
I was at the
March for Life
this year in
Regina.
I went to the
SAS pro-life
convention a
couple years
back and
there's one
thing that's
missing from
all of these
things.
The evangelical
church.
There's the
odd few here
and there but
mostly the ones
engaged in some
form of action
against abortion
in Saskatchewan.
They're almost
all Catholic
people.
Where's the
evangelical church
of Saskatchewan?
In a province
of a million
people we had
just 200 show
up for the
March for Life
this year at
the Ledge in
Regina and
those 200 were
from all over
Saskatchewan and
almost all of
them were
Catholic.
And I wonder
is it only the
Catholics that see
and care about
what's going on?
In our nation
today?
I'm told that at
one time the
local pro-life
group here in
Davidson had a
whole bunch of
people in it and
that the Catholics
were actually a
minority.
Now it's just
seven of us and
they're all Catholic
except for me.
Let me ask you
something.
You tell me.
why can't what
just happened in
Oklahoma happen
here in
Saskatchewan?
I think it's
because many of
us are sitting on
the sidelines and
waiting for the
specialists to come
in and do it for
us.
So let me give you
some practical
encouragement this
morning about how
you can join the
fight, about how
you can participate
in rescuing those
being led away to
death, how you can
speak up for those
who cannot speak
for themselves.
First of all, some
of you will say, I
don't have time.
You need to make
time for this.
The lives of
innocent children are
at stake and surely
there are other
things in life that
can be left undone.
Second, I'm not
calling you to
become the next
full-time staff
member of a pro-life
organization.
Each of us has
different gifts and
skills and
abilities and
responsibilities that
we need to care
for.
What are yours?
Have you figured
out how you can
participate meaningfully,
effectively in this
cause yet?
For some of you it
might be really
obvious, for others
it might be a bit of
a journey, growing to
understand what's
going on and how
you can meaningfully
contribute to this
cause.
And that's okay.
I've been on that
journey for myself a
long time now.
And with each
passing year it's
becoming clear what I
can do and what I
can't.
You may be in a
truly busy season of
life in which
everything is
important and so
maybe all you can
manage is something
small but regular.
Others of you may
have a bunch of
time to give but
just you're not sure
what to do.
There are lots of
opportunities.
Let me just list off
a bunch of them.
First of all, make it
your goal each year to
do something for the
unborn.
Maybe you're at the
very beginning of
this journey and
your goal for this
year is simply to get
more information about
the issue, about
what's really going on
and what the
opportunities are.
How can you do
that?
You can come talk to
me.
You could come sit in
on a meeting of our
local pro-life group
and ask questions.
No commitment
necessary.
You can do some
research online about
what's happening with
this in our province or
our country.
You can watch the
movie Unplanned, sort
of a docudrama following
the story of Abby
Johnson.
There are lots of
good websites that have
good information about
the issue and how to
talk about it with
other people.
You could attend an
event or a conference
on the subject that
will help you see what's
going on behind the
scenes.
In fact, our local
pro-life group will do
whatever we can to pay
your way to go,
including hotel fees
if we can swing it.
We're a small group,
but we would love to
see people go and be
informed on this.
There are excellent
books on the subject
that you could read.
And as you learn more
about what's going on
with this issue, you
can begin to prayerfully
make some goals about
what fits for you,
what you can manage to
do that's regular and
beneficial to the
cause over the next
year.
Let me just give you
some ideas of what
kind of opportunities
exist.
Wouldn't it be great
to see the attendance
at the March for Life
explode from just 200
to suddenly 5,000?
Think about the message
that would send to our
province and our
government year after
year.
It's one day a year.
It's a couple hours of
that day.
Or maybe you know of a
young single mother or
a pregnant gal in our
community.
maybe you could simply
offer to help that
person out with
babysitting every other
week.
For many young women,
the deciding factor
between getting an
abortion or not is
whether they have
people in their life to
support them and get
and help them.
Perhaps you could be one
of those people for
them.
I know of a young gal in a
nearby community who not
too long ago told a
Christian woman that she
was pregnant.
She was thinking about
getting an abortion.
And by talking to this
Christian woman, the young
gal decided to keep her
baby and is very glad that
she did.
And it wasn't anything
special that this Christian
woman said to her.
She just encouraged her not
to have an abortion, to
think carefully about making
that decision, to think
about carrying the child to
term and putting it up for
adoption and offered to
help her out however she
could.
Simple conversation for
women to have.
Along those lines, even
just building a friendship
with a young person is a
great way to participate.
Maybe just do a fun
activity with them, take
them out for a round of
golf or an ice cap from
Timmy's, whatever you do,
build a friendship with
them.
Guy or gal,
both could be responsible
for a pregnancy somewhere
down the line.
And you could easily have
opportunity to speak into
their lives at just the
right moment.
They might even take what
you say to them and speak
that same wisdom and
encouragement to their
friends and offer their
support to them.
Or, maybe you decide to
make it your participation
to pray every week about
this issue for a year.
prayer.
Maybe you find another
person to share that with
and to keep accountable to
that goal.
Or even better, meet with
them and pray with them.
Even if it's just 15 minutes
a week, pray with them
about it.
God does amazing things in
answer to prayer.
Then there's the whole
political side of the issue.
We need to get more pro-life
butts in the decision-making
seats in our province and in
our country.
And the amazing thing about
this is, is that it can
require very little effort
sometimes.
It can be as simple as
taking out a cheap
membership for a year and
voting in a nomination race
for a pro-life candidate or
leader.
In fact, there's such a race
going on right now for the
leadership of the
Conservative Party.
And whatever you think about
the Conservative Party and
that whole thing going on,
let me ask you this.
Who would help the cause of
the unborn more in Canada?
Jean Charest or Leslyn
Lewis, an unashamedly
pro-life member of
Parliament who has openly
promised to bring it up in
Parliament if elected?
Your vote can help make the
difference between those two
for ten bucks in a few
minutes of your time.
If you're interested in that,
you'll have to get your party
membership by next Friday.
Or if you're just interested
in that in general, you can
look up the pro-life
organization right now.
It starts right now, .ca.
Their sole purpose is to
connect pro-life people with
those significant voting
moments that can make all the
difference in getting pro-life
people into those positions in
political parties and in the
decision-making seats in our
nation.
Maybe as you think of having
conversations about this issue,
you know that you struggle.
You find it tough to talk about
this with people, not sure what
to say.
But what if I told you that there
were young men and women here in
Canada today who aren't just
having conversations with people
about abortion all the time but are
changing the minds of people about
abortion all the time?
There are.
What if you could enable them to
have more conversations with
people full-time through some
regular monthly giving?
Local pregnancy counseling centers
are on the front lines and they
need financial support.
Other groups like the Canadian
Center for Bioethical Reform are
training young people to engage our
culture effectively with the truth
about abortion.
And they have countless stories about
women who changed their mind, who
made a different choice than they
were planning to make, and kept
their babies.
There are all kinds of ways to be
involved.
If you live on land outside of town,
you can raise awareness by putting
up a sign.
We got a whole bunch of signs we
just ordered.
Charles is getting two of them.
They're great signs.
We'd love to put one up on your yard
by the road if you have land.
We got the pro-life flag up at the
back.
That's the new international pro-life
flag.
We're going to fly that in the month
of May.
If you want a bumper sticker or a lawn
sign of that flag, we can get you
that.
Or if you're online, if you are on
social media and you regularly post
things on there or share things on
there, you could post and share the
occasional video clip related to the
issue.
I'm not talking news clips, but clips
that are made to change people's
minds.
The Choice 42 satire clips, we watched
a couple, are great.
The live action clips are great.
The 3D animated clips of development in
the womb are great.
You never know what somebody will see
as they're stumbling through your
profile looking at stuff and oh, they
watch this and that seed is sown in
their minds.
There are so many opportunities out there
and as I said before, it might take some
exploration to find your niche, your
thing, the thing that fits you.
But it's one of the worthiest causes in
Canada today.
The life of every child in the womb is
absolutely worth fighting for.
And so let's not give up the fight.
Let's not sit on the sidelines and wait
for someone else to come and do it for
us.
Let's get in the fray.
Let's see if we can do something.
I'm going to end with this.
On Friday evening, I gave a talk and led
discussion on abortion with the youth.
I gave them freely the opportunity to be
honest and just tell me whatever they
think about it.
What's their opinion?
When is it okay?
When is it not okay?
Up till what point in the pregnancy?
Most of them were somewhat okay with it
up to a point in the pregnancy.
And one of them afterwards, a 15-year-old
girl said to me, this was after the time,
she said, you changed my mind.
And I thought, if everything I've done and
said and put into this saves only one
life, it will have been worth it.
God's not asking us to change the whole
world.
He's just asking for us to be faithful and
to lovingly move towards whatever needs we
can in our neck of the woods.
And there are some little ones in our neck
of the woods who are deeply in need.
Let's pray.
Father in heaven, this is a heavy topic.
And we pray and ask that you would work with
great power in our country.
We pray for just laws that protect the life,
the lives of human babies in the womb.
We pray for the change of hearts in people all across our
society.
And we pray and ask that you would show each one of us how
we're meant to participate.
Lead us in that.
Guide us in that.
Give us wisdom.
Show us how we can join in this fight.
And we pray and ask that you would bring glory and grace
and life through us.
We ask in Jesus' name.
Amen.