Many years ago a woman challenged me saying that the reason we have so many abortions in this country is that the church did not treat the death of premature children as the loss of a child. Her statement made me look at myself as a pastor. Early in my first pastorate, a couple’s preborn child died in the first trimester. I prayed with them and thought I had done ministry. Nothing in seminary prepared me for ministering to families in the death of a premature child.
The infanticide offhandedly described by Gov. Northam of Virginia shocked most Americans. The Northam interview coupled with New York’s just-passed radical abortion law, is a wake-up call to all of us to renew our commitment to stop the killing of our born and preborn children. What can we do?
We should make pro-life the first criteria in the election of any official. We also should support pro-life pregnancy centers that care for women in crisis.
There is more, however, that we can do. We should make sure that the medical insurance plan that covers our pastors and church staff does not pay for abortions. For example, the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s self-insured medical plan, which pastors are required to participate in, covers abortions through all nine months of pregnancy.
That means that donations by pro-life people put in the offering plate on Sunday morning in their local church will pay for abortions. If you are in a Presbyterian Church (USA) congregation and want to know how to redirect your medical dues, contact Presbyterians Protecting Life.
To live out the truth that each preborn child is a child, we should encourage local hospitals to support families in the death of a baby, full-term or premature.
