“A Day at the Circus”

“A Day at the Circus”
Written by Angela Michael
September 7, 2005

What do you find at a circus? Clowns and animals. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!
As God's messengers delivered His mail to the Missouri legislators

Angela and Daniel Michael traveled to Jefferson City, Missouri to weigh in on the hearings of House Bill-1. This was the bill that was going to penalize people and hold them accountable in civil court if they take a minor across state lines for an abortion.

Battle lines were drawn as lawmakers opened public testimony on the centerpiece bill. This bill would allow civil lawsuits against those who help a minor get an abortion without parental consent. That's it. No felony. No fines. It targets the Hope Clinic in Granite City. Under Illinois law, the clinic is authorized to perform abortions on teens without parental consent.

Rep. Jane Cunningham, one of the sponsors of the bill, summoned the police on Angela, (as she stood outside in the hall waiting for directions to the testimonial room). Missouri Alliance for Life Director and former CEO of PRC told her we slandered him. What a pity that we had to expose he had hired a pro-choice Miss Missouri to be the main speaker at Pregnancy Resource Center's pro-life banquet in 2004.

So three police officers ran to her office and stood guard around Angela. The truth is so dangerous! The police then escorted Cunningham and her hand-picked clowns scheduled to testify onto the elevators.

We made our way to the hearings, praying for favor that the truth must be exposed. There were twelve members of the legislature present. It appeared ten were for the bill and two were against it. Both sides gave testimony on the pros and cons of the bill. But the most interesting came from Angela and pro-choice Rep. Low of St. Louis. Rep. Low asked, “Why if you are all pro-life, why don't you just pass a bill banning all abortions? Why go only half-way, and then leave it in the hands of lawyers and judges?”

Then Angela said, “This bill isn't worth the paper it's written on. Who is going to enforce this bill?” We stand outside Hope Clinic with an outreach center five days a week and watch many underage girls from all over come there. We view on average 150-200 abortions weekly, approximately 30-45 abortions daily. Of those, 20-23 are minors. 80% are teenagers. I have stood with many parents, literally holding them up, while their minor daughters are undergoing abortions without their knowledge or consent. Far too many times I've seen that special covenant between a daughter and her mother broken when Hope abortion Clinic assumes the role of the parent and, only two and a half hours later, they throw these minor girls back onto the streets into their devastated mothers' arms to resume the responsibility of raising this child.

Mandatory reporting laws are being broken, and no one is going to enforce this new law either. The statutory rape law is not being reported and enforced in Granite City , Illinois . The Hope Clinic is its own kingdom, unfortunately. Who's going to make sure they abide by this law? Will you place a federal marshal on that front sidewalk with me? Or should we trust Hope Clinic with the honor system? “Why don't you do as Rep. Low suggested and ban abortion altogether!” Dead silence. If you legislators really want to do something about abortion, then let's draw up a bill to ban it all together. An executive order. Then, the legislators went in to executive session.

It's a shame that they spend all this time and money to pass a bill and nobody will enforce it. It's a pro-life bone to the pro-life community and financial supporters. The pro-choice community is happy because they know it won't be enforced, and how can Missouri legislate Missouri law in Illinois? The pregnancy centers will be happy that more donations will come in because they endorsed this worthless piece of legislation, and legislators will be happy because they passed this pro-life legislation and retain their office and jobs. If they really want to penalize people they should impose a $10,000 fine and a one year jail sentence for transporting teens. At least it would be more of a deterrent. We don't need another law; parents need to be raising their children, not the government.

One other note, not one clergy testified on the pro-life side, all the clergy that testified spoke against the bill.

As Flip Benham says, “Abortion will end when the Church of Jesus Christ wants it to end and not one second sooner.”

There is a lie that has infected the pro-life movement for the past 32 years. It has paralyzed the Church of Jesus Christ. It has moved us from standing upon the Word of God to end child killing, to relying upon our own ability to make compromises with the enemy of God in order to stop abortion.

It is the primary reason that we still have abortion in our land today. It has caused us to believe that we can legislate this evil out of our culture slowly but surely by education, sound reasoning, and political maneuvering. It is called incrementalism. It gives the appearance of accomplishing a desired end but, in reality, it only enables the enemy to continue killing.

You've seen the lie of incrementalism in the “all or something” legislation proposed by many in the pro-life movement to end Roe v. Wade under the auspices of parental notification, parental consent, and the partial birth abortion ban.

Incrementalism is a devastating lie that prevents Christians from standing upon God's Word and God's Word alone. It causes us to make compromises with “the seed of the serpent” that God would never have us make. Case in point, Parental Notification and Parental Consent: it is not all right to kill children when their parents have been notified. Neither is it all right to kill children whose mothers have been given parental consent. A Christian cannot sign on to legislation like this, no matter how well intentioned the motive, for it is contrary to God's Word. Unfortunately, incrementalism, has caused us to be ashamed of God's Word (Mark 8:38).

In signing or sponsoring legislation like this, you have just put yourself in the place of Almighty God. He never gave you the moral authority (the bargaining chip) to make this kind of a decision. Your duty is to stand on His Word and His Word alone.

This bill will not save one baby, but it will cause God's people to feel good about it. At least we're doing something, when all we have to do to bring this injustice to an end is to show up on these frontlines of the battle at the very gates of Hell and proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord, and His laws reign.

House approval is expected next week.

Click House Bill No. 1 to read this bill