Notes

Encouraging pastors to preach about abortion

• Sample sermon for Missouri pastors: www.reasonforlife.org/mosermon

• Article explaining why pastors who would have preached against slavery should preach against abortion: https://wng.org/opinions/pastors-and-the-moral-issue-of-our-age-1698096246

Making a simple, biblical case for life

• Start with common ground: human life is uniquely precious (Genesis 1:27) and killing an innocent human being is wrong (Genesis 9:6; Exodus 20:13)

• Knowing this, note that the key question when it comes to abortion is whether children in the womb are humans who are precious in the eyes of God. These three passages show that they are:

  • Luke 1:15, 41-44 (John the Baptist, Jesus, and Mary). You can find an article about this passage at https://thefederalist.com/2022/12/21/even-in-the-womb-christ-was-both-god-and-man/

  • Genesis 25:21-23 (Jacob and Esau)

  • Judges 13:3-7 (Samson)

• Because unborn children are fully human and precious in the eyes of God, we know that elective abortion violates the murder prohibition in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:13) and that unborn children are among the neighbors we’ve been called to love as ourselves (Matthew 22:39)

Confusion about abortion

• Only 54% of churchgoers believe elective abortion is wrong. https://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF23H29.pdf (see page 17)

• At the time women turned to a first-time abortion, 36% of them were churchgoers. https://research.lifeway.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Care-Net-Final-Presentation-Report-Revised.pdf (see page 4)

• People who think abortion should be legal in all or most cases: 25% of “White evangelical Protestants”; 64% of “White nonevangelical Protestants,” 71% of “Black Protestants”; and 59% of “Catholics.” https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/05/13/broad-public-support-for-legal-abortion-persists-2-years-after-dobbs/

• There is confusion about abortion within major denominations, including the Southern Baptist Convention, the Assemblies of God, and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2018/01/22/american-religious-groups-vary-widely-in-their-views-of-abortion/

• This article mentions some of the statistics referenced above and also notes exit polling suggesting that Ohio’s pro-abortion ballot measure only passed because some professing Christians voted for killing children made in God’s image: https://www.liveaction.org/news/two-years-after-roes-fall-churches-silent

Pro-abortion propaganda targeting churchgoers

• Ad featuring a “pastor” encouraging people to vote for Ohio’s pro-abortion measure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6noSw09ksY

• Article providing other examples of pro-abortion propaganda: https://www.liveaction.org/news/abortion-supporters-targeting-christians-pastors/

Scientific evidence

• Animated video from Live Action showing the development of children before birth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-lQOooYAs8

• Details about development in the womb from the Charlotte Lozier Institute: https://lozierinstitute.org/voyage/

• Actual footage of a child 9 weeks and 3 days after conception: https://www.ehd.org/movies/53/Motion-and-Sensation

• Illustration of a child 10 weeks after conception: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/pregnancy-week-by-week/in-depth/prenatal-care/art-20045302#dialogId9353670

Brutality of abortion

• Congressional testimony of Dr. Anthony Levatino regarding second trimester D & E abortions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0tQZhEisaE

• First trimester suction D & C abortions: https://www.abortionprocedures.com/aspiration/

• Chemical abortion drugs: https://www.abortionprocedures.com/abortion-pill/

• Third trimester induction abortions: https://www.abortionprocedures.com/induction/

• Images of abortion victims (VERY GRAPHIC): https://abortionno.org/abortion-photos/

Late-term abortions killing healthy babies

• Interview with Dr. LeRoy Carhart: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywOPuwIkWXE

Text of Amendment 3 (the proposed change to the MO Constitution)

https://www.sos.mo.gov/cmsimages/Elections/Petitions/2024-086.pdf