This past month, five WND pieces have run regarding our widely-publicized open letters to Dr. James Dobson in which we document the 30-year failure of the pro-life movement. Long ago, National Right To Life devised a strategy of introducing laws to regulate child-killing, and now in order to defend those immoral tactics, many of our greatest Christian leaders have adopted the secular humanist principle of moral relativism. The bad fruit of all this is a federal judiciary stacked with Republican pro-choice judges who reject the personhood of the child, and who issue murderous rulings celebrated by pro-life leaders.
Focus on the Family's Tom Minnery wrote (In defense of Dr. Dobson, June 7, 2007, WND) that, "my boss, Dr. James Dobson, praised the [partial-birth abortion] ruling on the grounds that it will save the lives of preborn children. He was attacked ferociously by a small group of pro-lifers who say the ruling did no such thing."
Four days later, Dr. Dobson himself acknowledged this claim of ours, in his monthly email message, that "Ending partial-birth abortion. does not save a single human life" ( family.org). Under the pressure brought by our full-page open letters, other major pro-life leaders and organizations have been making the same concession. As reported in WND by Bob Unruh ( War of words targets James Dobson , June 7, 2007), there is "the fact that the legal [PBA] ruling, itself, does not and cannot be used to proscribe [prohibit] a single abortion."
Mr. Minnery characterized our open letter as a ferocious attack on Dr. Dobson, yet we actually wrote:
"Dr. Dobson. You have led many people to trust in Jesus Christ, so it is with love and great sadness that we admonish you. . We want to follow your lead, Dr. Dobson, but not in the direction you now head. We want to follow the standard in the pledge you made before hundreds of thousands at the Rally for Life in Washington D.C. in 1990, to never support any effort that will intentionally 'kill one innocent baby.'"
The New Testament Epistles are open letters, which admonish believers who have erred, including some by name, and including even well-known leaders like Barnabas and Peter (see Galatians 2). Those defending Dr. Dobson have been dishonest about the PBA ruling and can't address the substance of our Open Letter or the ruling itself, but instead try to discredit us for exposing the truth. We are sure that Dr. Dobson would reject the suggestion that he is above criticism. The signers of the open letters include stalwarts of the pro-life movement such as Judie Brown of American Life League, the Rev. Tom Euteneuer of Human Life International which operates in 80 countries from 99 offices, our own Colorado Right To Life which preceded National RTL, and the Rev. Flip Benham, director of the world's most well-known anti-abortion activist group, Operation Save America/Operation Rescue.
As we continue to publish our open letters in major newspapers like the Washington Times and conservative publications like Human Events, pro-life leaders are asking to add their names to the list of the original fifteen who condemn the recent PBA ruling as wicked. Why? Since it was introduced fifteen years ago, the partial-birth abortion ban as a fundraiser has brought in 250 million dollars to the pro-life industry; as a ban it never had the authority to save a single innocent child.
Last month, forty floors above National Right To Life's annual convention in Kansas City Missouri, we hosted a hospitality suite at the Hyatt Regency for NRTL members. We documented the hundreds of pro-life activists and leaders who spent hours with us, who were devastated to learn that they were misled about the PBA "victory," which requires only a four-inch variation in the gruesome technique of killing the partially-born child. In Gonzales v. Carhart, the so-called "pro-life Justices" produced a virtual manual instructing abortionists on how to perform legal partial-birth abortions using what they call "reasonable alternative procedures" (p. 33), grotesquely ruling that "the removal of a small portion ['say, an arm or leg'] of the fetus is not prohibited" (p. 22).
This evil ruling imposes greater suffering on the unborn and is more brutally wicked than standard PBA. Those celebrating this murderous ruling grope in the dark for justification, claiming as Mr. Minnery does that, now, "it will be nearly impossible for abortionists to run to federal court" ... "without real facts and circumstances." However, back in 1973, when the Supreme Court presumably would require "real people in real circumstances," Roe v. Wade and its companion case, Doe v. Bolton were rendered based upon the lies of the emerging child-killing industry. According to WND's own reporting, "Both [Sandra] Cano and [Norma] McCorvey are attempting to overturn the two abortion cases that bear their names, each claiming their case was based on fraud" ( Supremes to reconsider landmark abortion case, Sept. 29, 2006, WND).
Nothing of substance has changed. Judges and abortionists who reject a child's God-given right to life have a limitless capacity to embrace lies. Pro-life activists led the women of Roe and Doe to repentance, and can possibly lead the nation to repentance, but not by misrepresentations or with the moral relativist strategy of regulating child killing. As long as conservatives defend and nominate judges who reject personhood, we will continue to kill another unborn child every minute. The National Right To Life humanist strategy of regulating child-killing violates God's enduring command, Do not murder, and it drags Christian leaders into the sewer of secular humanism and moral relativism.
Forty years ago, Colorado's Republican Governor John Love signed America's first permissive abortion law for rape, incest and health. Now, Colorado Right To Life has joined a growing national pro-life coalition in hopes that we can lead the way out of the wilderness. Please consider both sides of the debate by reading for yourself our open letter to Dr. Dobson, and please commit yourself to never compromise on God's command, Do not murder!
Sadly I must remind Mr. Minnery and the others praising this ruling that the only "vicious attack" is on the children who are murdered through abortion. And to those who say that we offer criticism but no suggestions I invite you to read the WND article from July 6 ,2007 "Matters of Life and Death. The CRTL board has endorsed this personhood proposal because it can end abortion without authorizing some to be murdered in order to try to save others. I remain available to debate any of these fine columnists on this life and death issue.
- By Brian Rohrbough
Focus on the Family's Tom Minnery wrote (In defense of Dr. Dobson, June 7, 2007, WND) that, "my boss, Dr. James Dobson, praised the [partial-birth abortion] ruling on the grounds that it will save the lives of preborn children. He was attacked ferociously by a small group of pro-lifers who say the ruling did no such thing."
Four days later, Dr. Dobson himself acknowledged this claim of ours, in his monthly email message, that "Ending partial-birth abortion. does not save a single human life" ( family.org). Under the pressure brought by our full-page open letters, other major pro-life leaders and organizations have been making the same concession. As reported in WND by Bob Unruh ( War of words targets James Dobson , June 7, 2007), there is "the fact that the legal [PBA] ruling, itself, does not and cannot be used to proscribe [prohibit] a single abortion."
Mr. Minnery characterized our open letter as a ferocious attack on Dr. Dobson, yet we actually wrote:
"Dr. Dobson. You have led many people to trust in Jesus Christ, so it is with love and great sadness that we admonish you. . We want to follow your lead, Dr. Dobson, but not in the direction you now head. We want to follow the standard in the pledge you made before hundreds of thousands at the Rally for Life in Washington D.C. in 1990, to never support any effort that will intentionally 'kill one innocent baby.'"
The New Testament Epistles are open letters, which admonish believers who have erred, including some by name, and including even well-known leaders like Barnabas and Peter (see Galatians 2). Those defending Dr. Dobson have been dishonest about the PBA ruling and can't address the substance of our Open Letter or the ruling itself, but instead try to discredit us for exposing the truth. We are sure that Dr. Dobson would reject the suggestion that he is above criticism. The signers of the open letters include stalwarts of the pro-life movement such as Judie Brown of American Life League, the Rev. Tom Euteneuer of Human Life International which operates in 80 countries from 99 offices, our own Colorado Right To Life which preceded National RTL, and the Rev. Flip Benham, director of the world's most well-known anti-abortion activist group, Operation Save America/Operation Rescue.
As we continue to publish our open letters in major newspapers like the Washington Times and conservative publications like Human Events, pro-life leaders are asking to add their names to the list of the original fifteen who condemn the recent PBA ruling as wicked. Why? Since it was introduced fifteen years ago, the partial-birth abortion ban as a fundraiser has brought in 250 million dollars to the pro-life industry; as a ban it never had the authority to save a single innocent child.
Last month, forty floors above National Right To Life's annual convention in Kansas City Missouri, we hosted a hospitality suite at the Hyatt Regency for NRTL members. We documented the hundreds of pro-life activists and leaders who spent hours with us, who were devastated to learn that they were misled about the PBA "victory," which requires only a four-inch variation in the gruesome technique of killing the partially-born child. In Gonzales v. Carhart, the so-called "pro-life Justices" produced a virtual manual instructing abortionists on how to perform legal partial-birth abortions using what they call "reasonable alternative procedures" (p. 33), grotesquely ruling that "the removal of a small portion ['say, an arm or leg'] of the fetus is not prohibited" (p. 22).
This evil ruling imposes greater suffering on the unborn and is more brutally wicked than standard PBA. Those celebrating this murderous ruling grope in the dark for justification, claiming as Mr. Minnery does that, now, "it will be nearly impossible for abortionists to run to federal court" ... "without real facts and circumstances." However, back in 1973, when the Supreme Court presumably would require "real people in real circumstances," Roe v. Wade and its companion case, Doe v. Bolton were rendered based upon the lies of the emerging child-killing industry. According to WND's own reporting, "Both [Sandra] Cano and [Norma] McCorvey are attempting to overturn the two abortion cases that bear their names, each claiming their case was based on fraud" ( Supremes to reconsider landmark abortion case, Sept. 29, 2006, WND).
Nothing of substance has changed. Judges and abortionists who reject a child's God-given right to life have a limitless capacity to embrace lies. Pro-life activists led the women of Roe and Doe to repentance, and can possibly lead the nation to repentance, but not by misrepresentations or with the moral relativist strategy of regulating child killing. As long as conservatives defend and nominate judges who reject personhood, we will continue to kill another unborn child every minute. The National Right To Life humanist strategy of regulating child-killing violates God's enduring command, Do not murder, and it drags Christian leaders into the sewer of secular humanism and moral relativism.
Forty years ago, Colorado's Republican Governor John Love signed America's first permissive abortion law for rape, incest and health. Now, Colorado Right To Life has joined a growing national pro-life coalition in hopes that we can lead the way out of the wilderness. Please consider both sides of the debate by reading for yourself our open letter to Dr. Dobson, and please commit yourself to never compromise on God's command, Do not murder!
Sadly I must remind Mr. Minnery and the others praising this ruling that the only "vicious attack" is on the children who are murdered through abortion. And to those who say that we offer criticism but no suggestions I invite you to read the WND article from July 6 ,2007 "Matters of Life and Death. The CRTL board has endorsed this personhood proposal because it can end abortion without authorizing some to be murdered in order to try to save others. I remain available to debate any of these fine columnists on this life and death issue.
- By Brian Rohrbough
| Brian Rohrbough is president of Colorado Right To Life. Seven years after Brian's son Danny Rohrbough was murdered at Columbine High School, he became the president of their state's largest pro-life group, ColoradoRightToLife.org. Rohrbough takes it personally when people advocate the killing of innocent children. He is a nationally recognized leader in the effort to legitimately end abortion without compromise. |
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