Today, The Cleveland Plain Dealer released an article by PolitiFact Ohio rating U.S. Senator Rob Portman's recent claim, that out-of-state abortion clinics "have marketed their services to minors" in states with parental consent laws, 'TRUE' on the Truth-O-Meter.  For more info, click HERE.

Paul's Epistle...
"A Morbid Anniversary"

By Paul Heil
Reprinted with permission

In the United States, during the latest year for which reliable statistics are available...

• 11,101 lives were lost in gun-related homicides (2011).
• 32,163 lives were lost in all gun-related incidents, including accidents (2011).
• 34,676 lives were lost in motor vehicle accidents (2011).

• 1,212,400 lives were lost due to encounters with abortionists' scalpels.

From the above list, choose the circumstance that common sense would dictate that the government should be dealing with to save the most lives.

Unfortunately, there's a considerable lack of common sense in Washington these days.

So, the smallest number above – gun-related homicides – is the one circumstance that's all over the news these days. Gun control, gun control, gun control. The politicians and news media are demanding action! But gun-related homicides were less than one percent as numerous as abortions. (Will there next be a call for "car control" – since cars claim even more lives than guns?)

Nevertheless, at the same time, the government not only does NOT express even the tiniest amount of concern about the holocaust going on every day in the nation's abortion mills, but, instead, fully supports this butchery – in word and, more to the point, the only way the government knows how to support such a "worthy" endeavor – by throwing huge amounts of taxpayer dollars at it.

Last year, Planned Parenthood — an organization originally founded to reduce the black population — did 333,964 abortions, making it the nation's largest abortion chain. Planned Parenthood received 45 percent of its income from the government – $542,400,000.00. Let's see – that's $1,624.13 per pre-born living human being ripped asunder in Planned Parenthood's back rooms and thrown into the bio-waste dumpster. What a deal! And it sounds like business is booming.

(It is indeed ironic that the government's profligate spending means the next generation will have to pay for all of this – while so much of the government's money today is earmarked to wiping out that very same next generation of taxpayers. But then the government has never been accused of being very good with fiscal planning. Ironic, too, is the use of the rallying cry "save our children" in the gun control debate – ignoring an even more obvious way to save our children, on a more basic and much grander scale.)

So, Sir or Madam taxpayer, how do you like financially supporting all of this premeditated killing?

Today – January 22 – is the 40th anniversary ("anniversary" seems like much too pleasant a word for it) of the infamous Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions in 1973 by which the U. S. Supreme Court legalized abortion on demand in the USA. So we have the highest court in the land to thank for the slaughter of some 54,559,615 pre-born children (1973-2011).

54.5 million!  That's roughly the total 2012 population of Texas, New York and Georgia – combined!  Seen another way, it's equal to more than 17 percent of the entire current USA population – lost!

And it goes on. In the time it's taken you to read this far, at least five more lives have been snuffed out by abortionists in the USA. Think about this – 137 every hour, 3,304 every day (more than the number of people killed in the 9/11 World Trade Center terrorist attack), 23,196 every week, 100,516 (roughly the current population of Erie, Pennsylvania) every month.

Where is the outrage?  "Out of sight, out of mind" appears to be true. Although 79 percent of Americans told a Marist Poll that they do not support the current abortion-on-demand policy of the government, they went ahead and voted back into office the most pro-abortion government America has ever had. Go figure.

And, lest you think this is not an issue that affects you (beyond as a taxpayer), Time magazine recently reported that, on average, one in three American women will have an abortion by age 45. One in three! The Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parenthood's own research arm, says 43 percent of women of childbearing age in America have experienced at least one abortion. Incredible.

But there is some good news, of sorts. According to the Time article, the number of abortion clinics is declining across the country making access to abortions more difficult, or, at least, less convenient. In fact, over the past 22 years, 70 percent of all abortion clinics have closed permanently, according to the American Rights Coalition. And, in just the past two years, 24 states have adopted more than 90 new restrictions on abortion.

A Gallup poll in 2009 found that 51 percent of Americans called themselves pro-life. That's the first time in Gallup's annual survey – conducted since 1995 – that a majority of Americans identified themselves in that way. What's more, a Pew Research survey at about the same time found that only 46 percent of Americans say abortion should be legal in all cases. That's down from 54 percent the previous year.

The Bible makes it clear that each child is unique from the moment of conception. Each child is a person – for whom God has already made plans. Each child, even from the moment of conception, is an individual God already knows and loves. And we know what God thinks about murder.

The Alabama Supreme Court recently ruled that the term "child" applies equally to born and pre-born children. The Bible does, too. When, in Luke 1:41, Elizabeth recalls that upon Mary's greeting "the baby in my womb leaped for joy," the Greek word used for "baby" is the same word used for any young child. A baby is a baby – in the womb or delivered from it.

And yet the holocaust of pre-born babies continues because that fact is politically inconvenient.

Please do all you can do to support pro-life causes. Most communities have organizations that provide counseling to women with unplanned pregnancies – counseling, for example, for adoption services. Please vote only for pro-life candidates – not just because they could help turn the tide of legislation to protect the unborn, but also because our society seems increasingly influenced by secular public policy.

And, above all, pray for a moral and spiritual revival in this nation. That will do more than anything else could do to turn the tide against this sin. We need to get back to "God first" rather than "me first."

But it's important to understand that God is willing to forgive even this sin. Women who regret having gone through abortion can humbly repent and then seek and receive God's forgiveness. This is becoming more common – and many such women have actually formed ministries to other women who have gone through abortions and now feel the pain and sorrow of bereavement.

How long will God put up with this tsunami of abortion — and the moral and spiritual depravity that fosters it? I don't know. But 40 years is a Biblical time of testing or probation. That time is now up. I fear for our nation. But I trust in our God.

- Paul

Comments on this? [email protected]

Check out our new billboard which is posted on U.S. Route 23 North in Rosemount.

The pro-life position is gaining support. In a 1995 national Gallup poll, those accepting the “pro-choice” designation held a 23-point margin, 56 percent to 33 percent. In 2012, however, the “pro-life” label was preferred by 9 points, 50 percent to 41 percent — a record low for the “pro-choice” group.

In addition, abortions fell 12 percent in Ohio in 2011, the biggest annual decline in more than a decade. Health department officials said it was the 11th-straight year that abortions dropped, and the 24,764 pregnancies terminated were the fewest since the state began tracking abortions 37 years ago.

Read more online at: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/01/20/pro-life-position-gaining-support.html

A big thank you to Andy Glockner who sponsored a Scioto County Right to Life billboard that will be displayed during the months of May and June in honor of Mother's Day and Father's Day. You can see the billboard as you drive west on Gallia Street, directly south of Cornerstone United Methodist Church.

CRADLE Pregnancy Care Center  wll conduct its Walk-for-Life 2012 on Saturday, May 19 in Portsmouth. The event begins at 9 a.m.  at the Carousel Center in Portsmouth. This is an easy 2-mile walk designed for families and individuals of all ages.

This is a fundraising event in which all proceeds will benefit CRADLE – a non-profit, Christ-centered ministry serving moms, babies, and families in need.  

You may pre-register or register the day of the Walk (beginning at 8:30 a.m.). T-shirts may be purchased at $15 each or are free with $100 in total pledges or personal donation.

For more info, visit online at: http://www.cradlepcc.org/Events.html