Missouri Baptists lead the charge to push back a constitutional amendment to codify abortion in the state
Commentary
Generations of Americans have been ravaged by the evil of legalized abortion in the United States, either by the loss of their lives as unborn children, mothers who have been victimized by the billion-dollar abortion industry, or fathers who have lost their children or even grandparents who have lost grandchildren.
When it matters most like this election cycle Baptists should stand strong and oppose efforts to legalize abortion; but sadly, so many times the issue is seen as too controversial to touch either from the platform of state convention offices or the local church pulpit.
An example of standing firm on the Word of God comes from the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC), which strongly opposes efforts to amend the state constitution to allow legalized abortion for any reason or at any time. The proposed amendment to the Missouri Constitution would codify extensive abortion rights.
Wes Fowler, MBC executive director, is leading the charge along with the convention’s public policy arm, the Christian Life Commission, and the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC).
Fowler and Brent Leatherwood, ERLC president, co-authored an op/ed piece in The Kansas City Star on Oct. 16 encouraging Missourians to defeat the measure.
Op/ed: “What is the cost of an abortion?”
“Some will read that question and respond, coldly and callously, with a simple dollar amount. To an extent, it’s an understandable response and one that illustrates our larger point. For the cost of an abortion cannot be reduced to a mere financial figure. Nor does reducing it to one victim appropriately capture the extent of the real harm that is done by the procedure. No, the actual cost is far wider and deeper than any of us can fully comprehend,” writes Fowler and Leatherwood.
“Abortion is a grave evil. It snuffs out a life. It permanently fractures a family. It damages a community. It distorts the futures of a whole state. In other words, the cost of abortion is a culture. That is precisely what proponents of Amendment 3 on this November’s ballot are asking Missourians to sacrifice. They just hope you won’t realize this is the fee they’re seeking.”
Missouri is one of 10 states with abortion initiatives on the Nov. 5 ballot. In all, abortion advocates got the amendment on the ballot in 10 of 11 states where it was proposed with the only exception being Arkansas which failed to gain enough signatures.
Voters in pivotal swing states like Arizona and Nevada, the blue-leaning states of Colorado, Maryland, and New York, along with red-leaning states of Missouri, Florida, Montana, Nebraska, and South Dakota, will vote on the future of abortion access in the United States.
‘Predatory exploitation’
Fowler and Leatherwood add in the Star op/ed, “The stakes are incredibly high this election. The immediate question before voters is about codifying the taking of innocent lives belonging to our future sons and daughters. Should Amendment 3 pass, the cost would not be measured only in lives lost, but would be seen and felt in ways that sanction a predatory industry’s practice of exploiting scared mothers, accept the reality of forever broken families and tolerate a future inalterably dimmed because luminous lives are missing from it. In short, we are being asked to sacrifice the soul of a culture.”
In addition to the Star piece, Fowler wrote an article for MBC’s in-house newspaper, The Pathway, encouraging Missouri Baptists to vote “no” on Amendment 3.
“I may never change a single mind about the horrific nature of abortion. But I wholeheartedly believe that 100 years from now, as our present culture is studied and analyzed, abortion will be viewed as barbaric. Future generations will ask, ‘How could they be so blind?’ ‘How could they intentionally kill so many babies?’ ‘Why didn’t they value human life?’” Fowler concludes.
The MBC’s Christian Life Commission has created resources to help churches defend life by speaking out against Amendment 3 on its website. Resources include a downloadable trifold brochure that churches can give to their church members, as well as a document with talking points about Amendment 3.
Links: