Will Simply Defunding Planned Parenthood End Abortion?

In the past months, a series of some nine videos have surfaced, indicating that Planned Parenthood has been involved in harvesting and selling baby body parts.

Since then, there have been angry and outraged demonstrations, marches and multiple petition, calling for the following:

Congress must defund Planned Parenthood immediately!

Congress must promptly dry up all taxpayer funds to Planned Parenthood!

Investigated Planned Parenthood!

Prosecute Planned Parenthood!

Shut down the government until Congress takes action on Planned Parenthood!

The outrage is understandable. But something is missing from all these calls to declare all-out war on Planned Parenthood.

Today as I write, a tenth video has surfaced. The calls are getting louder and louder to simply dry up all taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood. According to the advocates of this drastic action, ending all taxpayer funding to Planned Parenthood would protect the unborn because a source of funding would be dried up and it would dis-empower them. But would defunding this institution protect the unborn?

Let me answer this question with a question. Why do most girls and women seek abortions?

According to both experience and much research, most girls and women so often look to abortion as their only option because they are not ready to parent their own babies. They find the idea of "giving up" their babies for adoption horrific. Often many turn to abortion because they are terrified that their families will find out and they will be rejected or ostracized. Then many turn to abortion for economic reasons, because they feel that they "cannot afford" to raise this child. Yet they cannot cope with the idea of "giving up" that child for adoption, knowing he or she will be out there but is being raised by strangers. And, we have become such an abortion-accepting culture that abortion has come to be seen as girl's and women's healthcare! But is it?

I don't know what actual percentage abortion comprises in Planned Parenthood's services. According to sources, they do about an estimated 330,330 abortions yearly. As followers of Jesus, we see each abortion as the taking of a human unborn life. This means that Planned Parenthood is responsible for the loss of about 330,000 lives a year. It is true that federal funds may not directly go to abortions, but should taxpayer dollars go to an institution which oversees 330,000 murders a year and profits from them?

That is where all the calls to defund Planned Parenthood come in. But will that alone stop abortion and protect the unborn?

I admit, when I hear all the calls to defund Planned Parenthood and even how much money that will save the US, I wonder, "Where does this leave all the people who truly feel that Planned Parenthood is their only option because they cannot afford private OB/GYNS (who typically do not accept Medicaid). Also, so many truly feel that abortion is their only option in times of crisis. Doctors tend to too readily counsel women to abort for eugenic or therapeutic reasons. Yes, too many families and friends of girls and women pressure them to get abortions and these girls and women, desiring to please, comply. Sadly, I know of people who have turned to abortion because of family pressure. How will simple drying up of taxpayer $$$ end these scenarios born out of fear, ignorance and desperation?

I could not understand why no one, of all these people who are demanding that Congress simply defund Planned Parenthood, are not calling for those taxpayer dollars to be re-allocated to other, life-affirming services for girls and women. So I created a petition for this purpose. It calls for the increase of Medicaid reimbursements to OB/GYNS so they will have incentives to care for low-income girls and women. The petition also calls for an increase in subsidies to qualified adoptive parents. It also calls for funding for community clinics where abortions are not done and for funds for single mothers so they can spend more time with their children. The petition also calls for Congress to pass legislation that will create the option of temporary foster care for girls and women in crisis pregnancies so another, life-affirming option will be open to them.

Are these perfect solutions? No, of course not. They are steps in the right direction, in my humble opinion.

For Congress to listen to us, a "critical mass" of signatures (around 100,000) are needed. If you agree that this petition is important, I hope that you will not be one of those followers of Jesus who believe that we should "stay out" of so-called poltical or controversial issues. This is not about politics or issues. This is about the lives and futures of babies and their mothers.

Will you both SIGN and SHARE the petition? Go to the petition here. Thank you!

What Is The Christian Response To the Iran Nuclear Deal?

Hello, Brothers and Sisters in Jesus,

I'm sure that if you have been following the news at all, that you are aware that a nuclear deal has been reached with Iran. When I got up this morning and checked emails, I heard the morning news, "A nuclear deal has been reached with Iran." For many months, we have watched as these talks kept getting extended. I'm sure we all know that Iran is considered our enemy and the enemy of Israel, our ally and God's historical people.

Now I must offer a disclaimer before I start this post. I know next to nothing about foreign policy or about the implications of this deal for us or for the world. I know that people are either swearing by or swearing at this nuclear deal. I know that the deal is conditional upon Iran holding up their end of the bargain. Like everyone else, I certainly do not want Iran to be empowered to build weapons against us or anyone else. It remains to be seen if this deal will help or backfire. I do not take a position on the deal itself.

But whenever the media talks about deals with Iran and when I heard the news this morning about the deal that America struck with Iran, I do not think so much about the deal itself.

I was thinking about Pastor Saeed Abedini and his family. I was thinking about three other Americans and their families. I was thinking about these four Americans and their families because these four Americans have been in Iranian prisons for years. And it looks like they have been abandoned, at least by our American government. I am very sure that four families are experiencing incredible personal pain because the State Department has provided no word that their loved ones will be freed from incarceration in Iran. Yet the media, in all their coverage about this deal, are saying nothing about these four Americans or their families. Nothing that I can discern.

When you think of Iran, what do you think of? Nuclear weapons?

If your answer is that when you think of Iran, you think of nuclear weapons, that is totally understandable. The media give us the impression that Iran's nuclear threat to us all is all we need to know about this country. But the media often withhold valuable, needed information from us. We dare not depend on the media alone to get our information. If you will do your research, you will discover that Iran is an oppressive Muslim stronghold country and Iran's leaders oppress their own people even as they indeed pose a threat to the world. You may be aware that four Americans have been in Iran's prisons for years. Pastor Saeed Abedini, has been imprisoned for his faith for over three years. His wife has done all she could to persuade Congress and the American government to release her husband. She has traveled overseas to the United Kingdom to advocate for her husband. I'm sure the families of the other three Americans have put forth similar heroic efforts to secure their loved one's releases. Nonprofits have created petitions that millions of Western Christians have signed, demanding that President Obama release Pastor Saeed and the other three Americans. One petition called on the President not make no deal with Iran without securing the releases of the four Americans. President Obama has opposed this measure and, today, it sadly seems like all the families' pleas and our pleases have gone unheard by the American government. Yes, to be fair, Congress has voted to release the four Americans but without Presidential co-operation.

So where do we go from here?

You will never hear about it from the media, but the people of Iran are reportedly incredibly open to God. In fact, the Church in Iran is reportedly the fastest-growing Church in the whole world! The Iranian people are so disenchanted by their oppression that they have become open to the true God and are reported to be responding to Jesus in record numbers! What will a nuclear deal mean to the Iranian people? The media, of course, are not going to ask such a question. What do our brothers and sisters in Christ think of this nuclear deal?

This post is not being written to take a position on the nuclear agreement with Iran. This deal is already dividing people along political lines. I encourage you to respond to this by looking at Iran from Heaven's point of view, and to maybe join God in what He is doing in Iran by praying, giving, and advocacy.

Blessings in Christ,

Lisa DeSherlia

Visit This Website and Consider Joining God in His Activity in Iran