Saving as many heartbeats as possible

As many of you now know, the Georgia House passed House Bill 481, known as the Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act. This legislation will outlaw abortions after a doctor has determined that there is a heartbeat. This bill, sponsored by Representative Ed Setzler and supported by Governor Brian Kemp, passed through the House of Representatives late Thursday night by a 93-73 vote (see Index article). The bill is now in the Georgia Senate and is entering the committee process. It has to make its way to the floor for a vote before the April 2^nd deadline!

I am not overstating when I tell you how desperately we need this legislation to pass! In Georgia, depending on which year you look at, we have been aborting babies in numbers that have been as high as 33,000 in one year! Before the fetal pain bill (HB 954) was passed in 2012, Georgia had been ranked #3 in the nation for late term abortions! We were experiencing 1,000 to 1,500 late-term abortions a year. We also, in essence, had become a “destination location” for women from other states to have these kinds of abortions. Statistics show that as high as 49 percent of late-term abortions in Georgia were performed on women from other states.

We now have an opportunity to progress from protecting unborn children of at least 20 weeks, because of the fetal pain legislation, to six weeks with the heartbeat bill! Think about it! We can eliminate most abortions after six weeks in the state of Georgia! This kind of legislation, even with its exceptions, would save thousands of lives (based on recent state statistics).

Listen to me, friend! If the heartbeat bill just saved one baby’s life it would be worth it! I urge you to remember what President Trump said in his state of the Union speech: “Let us work together to build a culture that cherishes innocent life. And let us reaffirm a fundamental truth: All children – born and unborn – are made in the holy image of God.”  

This statement made by the President is true because he is reflecting what God thinks about human life. He is stating what is taught in the book of Genesis chapter one, about mankind being created in the Image of God! This means all human life is sacred. This means each individual life is important, even if it is just one! Therefore, we should be seeking to save as many of the “ones” as we can!

HB 481 will not save just one, but thousands of lives, as we move forward to recognize that life begins at conception and that ALL life is worthy of protection, because God’s word teaches it and because it is part of our Constitution.

I think President Ronald Reagan said it best when he said, “We cannot diminish the value of one category of human life –the unborn – without diminishing the value of all human life!” Why do you think we are now debating “after-birth abortion” and “fourth trimester abortions” in our country? It is because we have devalued the worth of innocent little children in the womb. Now children outside the womb have been devalued as well.

I believe that “Kermit Gosnells” exist in our country today because there are those who think that since we as a nation do not see anything wrong with killing a child in the womb, we should not see anything wrong with killing them on the outside! This mindset is confirmed by the shocking news out of New York and Virginia – approving abortions up to the day of delivery and even refusing basic care for those born in botched abortions!

This is exactly what Ronald Reagan warned us about! Devaluing life on the inside leads to devaluing life on the outside. This principle, however, also tells me how to increase the value of life on the outside … you start again by valuing life on the inside!

This is what is happening in Georgia! Expanding protection for the unborn to the earliest days of conception, and further away from actual delivery, increases the value of unborn life! The Life ACT is commonsense legislation that says, since we determine the “end of life” with the cessation of a heartbeat, we should recognize the “beginning of life” with the detection of a heartbeat! We begin at six weeks and save as many as we possibly can, as we educate our nation on the importance of all human life!

Never has there been a time in this country, since Roe vs. Wade, that we needed to act more quickly to begin saving more lives and reshaping our nation’s conscience on the sanctity of all human life! You can play a big part by praying and contacting your state legislator and asking them to support HB 481, the Life ACT, today!

Every heartbeat is important, and you can make a difference in saving as many heartbeats as possible!