As thousands of citizens march on the nation’s capital to support life, President Obama issues a statement reaffirming the culture of death. As usual, his remarks are cloaked under the cover of abortion rights euphemisms (e.g., “choices,” “safe, affordable healthcare,” “right to privacy”). It takes the breath away to consider what he is actually saying—that he believes it should be legal for a mother to have her child killed at any time from zero to nine months gestation.

As thousands of citizens march on the nation’s capital to support life, President Obama issues a statement reaffirming the culture of death. As usual, his remarks are cloaked under the cover of abortion rights euphemisms (e.g., “choices,” “safe, affordable healthcare,” “right to privacy”). It takes the breath away to consider what he is actually saying—that he believes it should be legal for a mother to have her child killed at any time from zero to nine months gestation. Here’s what he says:

Today, as we reflect on the 41st anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, we recommit ourselves to the decision’s guiding principle: that every woman should be able to make her own choices about her body and her health.  We reaffirm our steadfast commitment to protecting a woman’s access to safe, affordable health care and her constitutional right to privacy, including the right to reproductive freedom.  And we resolve to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies, support maternal and child health, and continue to build safe and healthy communities for all our children.  Because this is a country where everyone deserves the same freedom and opportunities to fulfill their dreams.

If we could rewrite the President’s statement without the cover of euphemism, it would look quite different. It would provoke the conscience to a different appraisal of legal abortion-on-demand, and I suggest that it would read something like this (my edits are underlined):

Today, as we celebrate the 41st anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, we recommit ourselves to the decision’s guiding principle: that every woman has the right to have her unborn child killed.  We reaffirm our steadfast commitment to protecting a woman’s access to doctors who kill unborn children for a fee and her constitutional right to be free from the consequences of her fertility.  And we resolve toterminate unintended pregnancies, coerce citizens to purchase abortion-inducing birth control devices, and continue to exclude the unborn from the human community.  Because this is a country where unborn children have no right to expect the same freedom and opportunities to fulfill their dreams.

Since 1973, it has been legal to kill an unborn child at any time from zero to nine months gestation. As a result, the regime of Roe v. Wade has presided over the deaths of over 56 million human beings—that’s the holocaust times nine. Legal abortion-on-demand is without question the greatest human rights crisis of our time. It is immoral to be indifferent about it—much less to be celebrating it as the President does. Today is the day of all days to remember that.

Denny Burk is Associate Professor of New Testament and Dean of Boyce College, the undergraduate arm of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminar. He blogs on matters concerning politics, theology and culture. This article is used with his permission.

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