The Works of God

Regions Hospital has announced that it is closing the GYN Special Services Clinic as of December 9.  This clinic performed abortions within the Regions Hospital complex off of downtown Saint Paul.

Of course this is good news – one less facility to kill our babies is always good news.

There is another reason to rejoice.  The ‘clinic’ was located in the same complex as one of the best medical facilities in the world for children with disabilities.  Gilette Children’s Hospital is also located in the Regions Hospital complex.  For more than 100 years they have been serving children with many different kinds of disabilities.  We have used their clinics and have received excellent care.

How many children with disabilities – the kinds that are treated effectively by Gilette Children’s – were aborted over the years at Regions?

No longer after December 9, thanks be to God.

Planned Parenthood was asked their opinion of this closure:

Planned Parenthood is not troubled by Regions’ decision, said spokeswoman Jen Aulwes. “Regions notified us about this several months ago,” she said. “We are not concerned. Women will still have access to the full range of services as they need them.”

I thought that phrasing was strange – ‘not troubled.’  Isn’t that like asking McDonalds if they are troubled when a mom-and-pop burger joint goes out of business?  Planned Parenthood will obviously get more referrals now.  And their new ‘clinic’ off of University Avenue, conveniently located on the new light rail line and several major bus routes, will be ready for those referrals soon.

I assume the reporter was wondering if they were troubled that their own abortion business could be at risk of closing.  I’m afraid they aren’t that worried about it at present.

Lord willing, someday they will be.

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Sometimes it seems there is no end to news of men behaving badly after their children with disabilities are born.  It happened again on Friday.

The incredible statistics on divorce when disability enters a family (70%, 80%, 85%) are, to my knowledge, not actually substantiated by any research (if anyone has seen research, please comment below with a link or reference).

But even one man abandoning his family is one too many.

As God ordains things, I came into my office 20 minutes after hearing that news to an email that included a link to the video below.  I had seen this video before some years ago but hadn’t thought about it for some time.  The contrast between one man leaving his family and another man narrating the story of his son with a genetic anomaly was stark.

I may have posted this video before, but it is worth seeing again, particularly since it brings an example of a young man trusting in God and leading his family well.

Please, pray for men, particularly daddies, that we would cling to Jesus and serve our families well today.

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The news from Philadelphia is a nightmare for any parent with a child with a severe cognitive impairment.

Three people were arrested in Philadelphia for imprisoning and neglecting four adults with cognitive impairments.  The three people are accused of locking these disabled adults in a subbasement of a building, without lights or access to a toilet.

The cruelty is breathtaking.

My oldest son is even more vulnerable than those four adults.  He will always be vulnerable.  I read stories like that and fear about the future rises – what will happen when I can’t take care of him any longer?

As God orchestrates things, on Tuesday evening I was in the church affiliated with my children’s school and passed by that church’s regular Tuesday night gathering of adults with special needs, most of them with cognitive disabilities.

But I didn’t watch the participants much; I watched their leaders and volunteers.

They were happy and engaged.  I observed for just a few minutes, but I didn’t see anyone exhibiting anything but delight – no impatient body language, no outward signs of reluctant obligation, no syrupy, overly-cheerful infantile voices.  The worship leader was WORSHIPPING.  And those adults who could, were worshipping with him.

I don’t know anything about that group – maybe they were all family members or paid staff and this was just how they spend every-other Tuesday with their disabled church members.

But in contrast to that horrific news story, I was watching the body minister to and be ministered by adults with cognitive disabilities in some special, God-honoring ways.

My son might outlive me; we have no idea what Paul’s lifespan is and no doctor has ever even offered a guess.  But he won’t outlive the one who created him. He will always have a perfect Father to care for him.  That doesn’t mean evil won’t ever touch him.  But it does mean God knows what he is doing for his glory and my son’s eternal good.

“The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice.
A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.” Deuteronomy 32:4

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

I like to think my few minutes on Tuesday night was a gift for me, a reminder from God that he loves his church with a white-hot, all-encompassing, joyful passion that will never fade.  And my boy is part of that Church.

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A group of lawyers, ethicists, and government officials from a number of countries came together to respond to a growing effort by United Nations committees and officials to force nations to increase access to abortion.

This group has created and released the San Jose Articles to respond to this pro-abortion effort.

It hasn’t gotten a great deal of press, and it should.

In the press conference at the United Nations, the signatories of the San Jose Articles pointed out that there is no United Nations resolution that demands an increase in abortion access.  Yet, some UN officials have behaved as if there is:

Asked to specify what United Nations treaties and officials had recently pointed to a right to abortion under international law, Mr. Ruse said that a few weeks ago, the Special Rapporteur on Health and the High Commissioner for Human Rights had made statements to that effect.  In addition, Kosovo, Timor-Leste, Kenya and other nations that had signed United Nations treaties were increasingly being told that they must legally uphold abortion rights based on non-discrimination, public-health and reproductive-health grounds.  Mr. Rees added that the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) were also promoting abortion rights.  (Press conference on launch of San Jose Articles, 10/6/2011)

This is important – no such ‘right to abortion’ exists under international law, yet the United Nations has officials claiming it does and those officials are bullying smaller countries and governments.

In their own words, why they felt the need to respond:

Why the San Jose Articles?

It is now commonplace that people around the world are told there is a new international right to abortion.

Those who receive this message are people who have the power to change abortion laws; parliamentarians, lawyers, judges and others.

Those delivering this message are influential and believable people; UN personnel, human rights lawyers, judges and others.

The assertion they make is false. No UN treaty makes abortion an international human right.

Even so, the assertion is gaining traction around the world. The high court of Colombia changed their country’s abortion laws based on this false assertion. More are considering such a change.

The purpose of the San Jose Articles is to provide expert testimony that no such right exists. The San Jose Articles were prepared an a group of 31 experts in international law, international relations, international organizations, public health, science/medicine and government. The signers include law professors,  philosophers, Parliamentarians, Ambassadors, human rights lawyers, and delegates to the UN General Assembly.

The purpose of the San Jose Articles is also to demonstrate that the unborn child is already protected in human rights instruments and that governments should begin protecting the unborn child by using international law.

We hope that experts around the world will place a copy of the San Jose Articles on their desks and that the next time they hear this false assertion they share this expert testimony.

It is also our hope that the San Jose Articles will begin to appear in law review articles, in Parliamentary resolutions and in the debate of the UN General Assembly.

Finally, it is our fervent hope that governments will begin to utilize their right to refer to existing international law to protect the unborn child from abortion.

Those who make the false assertion that there is new international right to abortion have had the microphone too long.

The San Jose Articles take that microphone away.

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