The Culture of Death is an apt characterization of our world and as Christians, we are called to resist and speak out against every attempt to undermine the sanctity of life.
That is why every week I share articles, essays, and posts from around the internet of interest to those who care about the value of human life from conception to natural death. This weekly post will inform the reader on a variety of bioethics issues, including abortion, assisted suicide & euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, genetic engineering, biotechnology, and more facets of the culture of death.
Scientists Confirm Unborn Children Feel Pain
Even though SCOTUS justices Sotomayor and Kagan, along with Biden’s nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, deny it’s reality, or plead ignorance when asked if the fetus experiences pain. This is a typical response from someone who has bought into the culture of death.
However, a pro-abortion scientist shows how wrong they are.
There are, of course, some experts who deny that fetuses can feel pain. As bizarre as it sounds, there is no scientific, objective measure of pain, which leaves its assessment open to interpretation. But by using the same kinds of inferences we make about adult pain, powerful scientific evidence for fetal pain is bucking the old consensus. Its adherents, however, want to freeze the old status quo in place.
The presumptive justice and her colleagues should avoid this trap and let the American people make policy based on the most current science. Here’s why.
Neuroscientist Stuart Derbyshire and I disagree on the morality of abortion: He’s pro-choice; I’m pro-life. But we concur, as we wrote two years ago in the Journal of Medical Ethics, that fetal pain may exist “from as early as 12 weeks.”
That’s a startling reversal for Dr. Derbyshire, who for decades had been “a leading voice against the likelihood of fetal pain.” He co-authored a 2010 report, widely considered being the authoritative view on the topic, arguing that fetal pain was not a serious consideration.
Suicide: Oregon Becomes America’s Switzerland
For years, Switzerland has been the destination for suicide tourism. If your country doesn’t permit assisted suicide for any reason, travel to Switzerland and die with a view of the Alps.
But now Switzerland has a competitor, Oregon, right here in the United States, wants to be the preeminent location of the culture of death.
The Associated Press reported Oregon has expanded its state assisted suicide law to permit all Americans to die by assisted suicide by Oregon eliminating its state assisted suicide residency requirement.
This decision has changed assisted suicide from a state to a national issue since all Americans will be able to die by assisted suicide in Oregon. The assisted suicide lobby announced that they will now pressure other states that have legalized assisted suicide to also eliminate their residency requirements.
This decision also highlights our concerns with the use of telehealth. The assisted suicide lobby wants to approve out of state assisted suicide requests via telehealth and to send the lethal drugs by mail to the out of state requestor.
This is an historic decision because it extends assisted suicide nationally, including the many states that have strengthened their laws prohibiting assisted suicide.
Modern-Day Infanticide in Maryland?
Abortion on demand rests atop on a slippery slope. Now, Maryland is preparing to slide down that slope and legalize infanticide, furthering the cause of the culture of death.
If passed, Maryland Senate Bill 669 would disallow any penalty—or even investigation—into early infant deaths. It prohibits the investigation of a “perinatal death related to a failure to act.” Perinatal is defined as the period between the 22nd week and 28 days postpartum. It is sometimes defined as extending to the first-year postpartum.
Understand what this means. The plain text of the bill legalizes the conscious decision to let a child die. Spontaneous abortions after 22 weeks are rare and not easily seen as “related to a failure to act.” Thus, the bill contemplates the legalization of intentional infant death through neglect. And the bill goes so far as to preclude any investigations into perinatal infant death and to give a person the right to sue for civil damages if investigated for causing a perinatal death through neglect.
Simply stated, this Bill permits the murder of newborn infants. Infanticide. What was once a common practice in ancient Rome before Christians put a stop to it is about to become law in Maryland. Soon, other states will follow. In fact, California already has similar legislation pending.
Maryland Legislature Passes “Kill More Babies” Bill That Greatly Expands Abortions
The Maryland legislature is working hard to become the premiere baby-killing state in the nation.
The Maryland Senate passed a radical pro-abortion bill Tuesday that would expand the killing of unborn babies in abortions by encouraging more medical workers to become abortionists.
The bill allows nurse practitioners, midwives and physician assistants to abort unborn babies. It also allocates $3.5 million taxpayer dollars to train medical workers to become abortionists and forces health insurance plans to cover elective abortions without co-pay.
Abortion Laws Across the Globe and at Home
The United States has long been a world leader. But I’m not proud of this leadership position. We are now among the leading nations, fostering a culture of death.
The United States is among a select group of nations allowing elective abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Should we be proud to be among this elite group of nations that includes Canada, China, North Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, and the Netherlands?
During oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Chief Justice John Roberts observed that Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban mirrored restrictions that are common in all but a handful of other countries, such as China and North Korea. While Center for Reproductive Rights attorney Julie Rikelman tried to deny the comparison and downplay its significance, it remains striking and instructive.
Human Rights Must Not Be Twisted to Include Abortion
The World Health Organization (WHO) is making an all-out effort to make abortion a human right. Will the Biden administration, radically pro-abortion and woke, follow suit? Pray not!
In fact, the WHO’s guidelines align with the abortion laws of China and North Korea—two of the greatest human rights violators of our time—and, sadly, the United States. However, they are completely out of step with all but six countries around the world that protect life in the womb after the second trimester. Rescinding the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance policy, which prevented U.S. taxpayer money from funding abortions in other countries, was one of President Biden’s first acts in office, demonstrating his priorities and laying the groundwork for his administration to promote abortion around the world.
Transgender Sex-Change Operations, Hormone Therapy & More – Now Part of the Culture of Death
Allowing children to undergo sex-change therapy and operations amounts to child abuse. That is why I will now include suggested readings on transgender issues in this weekly post on the culture of death.
Biden Administration Endorses Transgender Youth Sex-Change Operations, ‘Top Surgery,’ Hormone Therapy
The Woke Biden administration is stepping over another boundary of decency.
President Biden’s administration has released a series of documents encouraging gender-reassignment surgery and hormone treatments for minors.
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Population Affairs released a document Thursday titled “Gender Affirming Care and Young People.” The same day, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Child Traumatic Stress Network – another subset of the HHS – released a parallel document titled, “Gender-Affirming Care Is Trauma-Informed Care.”
HHS: Castrations/Mastectomies Okay for Transgender Minors
This article contains more detail about the recent alarming statements from the Biden administration regarding transgender surgery and more for children.
President Biden’s HHS has gone all-in on radical transgender ideology, encouraging early body-changing medical interventions as “gender-affirming” care. From the HHS Office of Population Affairs publication:
Gender-affirming care is a supportive form of healthcare. It consists of an array of services that may include medical, surgical, mental health, and non-medical services for transgender and nonbinary people.
For transgender and nonbinary children and adolescents, early gender-affirming care is crucial to overall health and well-being as it allows the child or adolescent to focus on social transitions and can increase their confidence while navigating the healthcare system.
And it can ruin their lives, too.
OK, Groomer: Why Some in the LGBT Movement Are Focusing on Kids
If you think that all the recent news and hype about transgenderism is a fad, you are wrong.
All our young children are now prey for LBGTQ “groomers.” Please read this important essay to see why.
Normal people believe that sexualizing children is predatory. But, in light of the recent passage of a Florida bill that would restrict instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in elementary schools, it is clear that many activist educators and their political allies are comfortable with the idea that elementary school children are already members of the “LGBTQI+ community” and should be instructed accordingly. Ok, groomer.
Implicit in the LGBT movement’s popular “born this way” narrative—there was even a song—is the belief that children are intrinsically sexual. The argument that each of us is born with an immutable sexual orientation and gender identity provided an effective ersatz natural-law case for everything from same-sex marriage to gender transition. But it also ensured that the LGBT movement was coming for your children.
“Don’t Say Gay,”
More thoughts about the LBGTQ attack on our children. The author is responding to criticism of the recent parental rights legislation in Florida, wrongly called the “Don’t Say Gay” Bill.
When signing the bill, DeSantis made his convictions clear: “We will make sure that parents can send their kids to school to get an education, not an indoctrination.” Opponents fear a chilling effect among teachers and young students, coupled with a concern that the law censors and excludes a community of people from public schools.
Why Oppose Parental Rights
Sentiment against the legislation seems to rest on the rejection of any situation or context where there isn’t the freedom to introduce, discuss and teach on issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity—even to very young children independent of a parent’s consent. Somehow, if not allowed, that is a blow to the legitimation of the LGBTQ community.
But why, precisely, would sexual orientation or gender identity need to be discussed or taught in a kindergarten class to protect the LGBTQ community? There is no reason, and none have been offered. Nor is there is a reason, nor one being offered, as to why a teacher needs to be set free to engage potential conversations—if asked—by a kindergartner on such matters. For children of that age, that is for the parent to engage.
And if a child asks an unprompted question on the matter, again, any discussions at such a young age should be between a child and their parent, not a child and their teacher.
The only other argument against the legislation that is suggested is that it harms children who may not have anywhere else to turn. But that is precisely the point of the legislation. It is not the role of a public-school teacher to become the parent of a child. To say that a child would have “nowhere else to turn” insinuates that if a child wants to turn away from a parent’s authority or influence, they should be able to.
Stay strong in your opposition to the culture of death. Support life from conception to natural death.
11 Rescue those being led away to death hold back those staggering toward slaughter. 12 If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done? (Proverbs 24:11–12 ESV)
