Safe, Legal, and Rare

I really don’t know what I expected when I decided to attend the opening hearing of the federal court trial, EMW & Planned Parenthood vs the Bevin Administration.  I mean I didn’t exactly expect to hear a full-throated defense of the preborn or an argument as to why abortion is murder.   And it’s a good thing I wasn’t expecting that because what I just saw was a disgusting time of making sure the air around the bush was thoroughly beaten.  If we want to see the preborn treated with equity, stop their bloodshed, and remove the stain of blood-guiltiness from Kentucky, this court case and the arguments made from the Bevin’s administration will not even come close.  Instead, what I witnessed today was a wicked display of futility and cowardly caving to a tyrannical court.
Before going into much more detail of what I saw in court this morning, let me go back and explain what the hearing was about.   Back in March of this year, Governor Matt Bevin, who says that he is unashamedly pro-life, attempted to shut down the last remaining surgical abortion center in Kentucky using a technicality found in a regulation established back in 1998.   The regulation states that an abortion provider must have a written transfer agreement with both an ambulatory service and a hospital.  EMW Surgical Center, which has very cozy relationship with the University of Louisville Hospital. says that they had agreements on file.  The Bevins administration said that the agreements were not current and did not meet the necessary standards.  EMW sued to stay open with Planned Parenthood joining the lawsuit.  Planned Parenthood was prevented from doing abortions at their new monstrosity of a building because they too did not have adequate agreements on file.  EMW and Planned Parenthood are arguing that these requirements are unnecessary and put an undue burden on the “constitutionally-protected right to abortion.”  
I have had the honor of meeting Governor Matt Bevin on two separate occasions.  Both times, I had conversation with him about abolishing abortion.  Both times, Governor Bevin made it known that he thinks that abortion is wrong.  I think he went as far as to acknowledge that it is murder.  He has received Matt Trewhella’s book “The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrate.”   We have asked him to work to criminalize abortion outright in Kentucky by doing his duty before God as a lesser magistrate.  We have shown him how the Supreme Court has become a tyrant and built up a fiction about itself.  We cannot expect to play by their games and see the end of abortion.  We must be willing to call abortion what it is, murder.  We must repent for allowing it to occur in our land and seek God’s face for forgiveness. 
In the beginning of April right after the Bevin administration attempted to use these legal technicalities to shut down EMW, Rusty Thomas and I made a video message to the state government of Kentucky.  We explained that attempting to regulate abortion clinics out of business will not end abortion in Kentucky.  By playing the federal court song and dance, abortion will always be protected.  The unjust, unbiblical, unlawful, and unconstitutional ruling of Roe V Wade has set parameters for the federal courts and they will not scribble outside of those lines.  If we keep giving lip service to that paradigm, abortion will never be abolished in Kentucky or elsewhere.  The courts will overrule any regulation that puts an “undue” burden on abortion.  If Matt Bevin wants to do his duty before God and abolish abortion, he is going to have to call the legislature of Kentucky to criminalize abortion, nullify Roe V Wade, and ignore the federal courts.  The State is going to have to stand up to the Federal bully.    We warned Matt Bevin then and I continue to warn him now that God will not be pleased with half measures that compromise where God has given no authority to compromise
Because we are calling the legislature and governor of Kentucky to a bold and sacrificial act, Rusty Thomas prayerfully considered that an example of Christian sacrifice and interposition would be helpful to show the governor.  In May, 11 men and women from Operation Save America peacefully sat down in front of the doors of the abortion clinic as a Christian witness to the doctrine of interposition.  They were willing to set aside freedom and finances to keep the doors of the clinic shut and to send a message to Matt Bevin. 
Then in July, Operation Save America held its national event in Louisville, Kentucky.  For an entire week, hundreds of Christians from all over Kentucky and the United States came to Louisville to witness to the gospel and present the case to Kentucky for abolishing abortion.  The message from Operation Save America then was that the state of Kentucky must stop playing footsie with the issue of abortion.  Abortion is murder.  It is not a healthcare issue to be regulated but a crime to be punished.
Then came this morning.   This morning I showed up to the federal court believing that attempting to end abortion through a regulation loophole is not the right way to end abortion.   What I found out in court is that according to the Bevin administrations lawyers, they have no goal of ending abortion in Kentucky.   The opening argument from the Bevin administration is that this case is not about ending abortion in Kentucky.  According to their lawyer, abortion is a constitutionally protected right and is a healthcare issue.  The whole morning long, the lawyers for EMW and Planned Parenthood accused the Bevin administration of trying to end abortion.  The lawyers for Bevin denied that so many times that I think I started to listen for a rooster to crow.  They talked about just wanting to ensure that women who seek abortions are protected in case of emergencies.  Steve Pitt, the lawyer for Bevin, argued that this case was not about shutting down abortion clinics but “about to what extent the Commonwealth of Kentucky has the right to regulate abortion practices for the health and safety of women."    It used to be the prochoice side who used the phrase, “safe, legal, and rare” but it seems that the pro-life movement has adopted that as their rallying cry too. Not only did they deny that accusation that they wanted to see abortion end, they made the positive claim that they were trying to make it easier for EMW and Planned Parenthood to meet these regulations.  They suggested that since Planned Parenthood was able to get a transfer agreement with a Lexington Hospital, that they would be able to open and start abortions there. 
I sat in disgust this morning as the Governor’s legal team talked about murder as healthcare, the lawyers for EMW and Planned Parenthood praised mass murders like Tanya Franklin, Ernest Marshall, and Ashlee Bergin, witnesses who admitting to murdering hundreds of children talk about abortion procedures without mentioning the child being killed, and a courtroom full of people act as if something really special was taking place.  It was all too precious.
Here is the thing, let us grant to the Bevin team that they really do want to end abortion but are just trying to be sly by playing the political game, let us grant that they aren’t compromising the truth away by speaking of abortion as women’s health,  at the end of the day this argument is a losing argument.   Planned Parenthood and EMW this morning were able to trounce out two expert witnesses with a host of studies to back them up saying that ambulatory and hospital agreements are redundant and unnecessary.  The ol’ prolife canard about complications arising from abortion as a reason not to support abortion is a bit played.  Even if abortion was 100% risk free to the mother, it would still be the unjust and sinful taking of human life.  The risks of complications from an abortion procedure done by a professional is very low.   EMW and Planned Parenthood are going to be able to show that in this case.  Furthermore, they are going to make the argument that if Bevin and company are able to shut down EMW, that women might try abortions on themselves and thus the risk to women’s health goes up not down because of these regulations.   If the argument from Bevin is that abortion is healthcare and that it must be made safe, it is a losing proposition.  Any argument that ignores the death of the human child will easily play into the hands of the pro-aborts.  If the administration and EMW want to have a discussion about who can make abortions safer, they can have at it.   My money is on the pro-aborts winning that fight.