© 2015 The Wired Word
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On August 12, the anti-abortion group The Center for Medical Progress (CMP)
released a sixth video in its drive to have Planned Parenthood Federation of
America, a nonprofit reproductive health services organization that, among
other things, is an abortion provider, defunded of federal monies. Overall, the
six videos, released by CMP at a pace of about one a week over the last month
and a half, accuse Planned Parenthood of breaking federal laws by profiting off
the selling of organs and tissues of aborted fetuses.
Planned Parenthood denies that it has broken any laws and has repeatedly
dismissed CMP as an extremist group with an agenda.
Several of the videos were recorded secretly by actors hired by CMP and
posing as employees of a company looking to procure fetal material for research
purposes. On the videos, Planned Parenthood officials explain how the tissue is
obtained from aborted fetuses, and mention the cost to acquire such samples.
CMP founder David Daleiden charged that the videos provide evidence of
"criminal conspiracy to make money off of aborted baby parts reach[ing] to
the very highest levels of [the] organization." Planned Parenthood
maintained that these allegations are false and stated that all tissue
donations are made "with full, appropriate consent from patients and under
the highest ethical and legal standards," and that "there is no
financial benefit for tissue donation for either the patient or for Planned
Parenthood." In states where such fetal tissue collection is permitted, the
organization is allowed to charge to cover the cost of obtaining the tissue,
but not to make a profit.
Some fact-checking groups that describe themselves as nonpartisan (though
their neutrality has sometimes been challenged), including FactCheck.org and
PolitiFact, have investigated the CMP claims and concluded that they
misrepresent the facts (see reports from both of those organizations in the
links list below). You might also wish to view the unedited videos (called
"Investigative Footage") from The Center for Medical Progress'
website, which is also linked below.
On its website, Planned Parenthood identifies itself as "a trusted
health care provider, an informed educator, a passionate advocate, and a global
partner helping similar organizations around the world. Planned Parenthood
delivers vital reproductive health care, sex education, and information to
millions of women, men, and young people worldwide. For nearly 100 years,
Planned Parenthood has promoted a commonsense approach to women's health and
well-being, based on respect for each individual's right to make informed,
independent decisions about health, sex, and family planning."
On its website, The Center for Medical Progress identifies itself as "a
group of citizen journalists dedicated to monitoring and reporting on medical
ethics and advances. We are concerned about contemporary bioethical issues that
impact human dignity, and we oppose any interventions, procedures, and
experiments that exploit the unequal legal status of any class of human beings.
We envision a world in which medical practice and biotechnology ally with and
serve the goods of human nature and do not destroy, disfigure, or work against
them."
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Planned Parenthood
"appears to be gaining traction in its efforts to push back against videos
targeting it and state efforts to cut its funding."
Nonetheless, the undercover videos, whether misleading or accurate, have
been widely covered in the media and have re-invigorated the ongoing American
abortion debate. In some cases, the graphic discussions on the videos have
caused even some abortion-rights supporters to re-examine their commitment to
that position.
As one example, nationally syndicated columnist Ruben Navarrette Jr.,
writing in The Daily Beast, said that after 30 years of supporting
abortion rights, the videos, even if edited, have caused him to waver.
"For those of us who are pro-choice, the Planned Parenthood videos are a
game changer. As to whether that means I'll change my view, I'm not sure. I'm
on the bubble. Ask me in a few weeks, after the release of more videos."
More on this story can be found at these links:
The Big Questions
1. Given that the videos in the first-released, edited form and some of the
pushback against them seemed intended to shape a conclusion, how should
Christians regard them? How does your position on abortion itself affect your
answer? How do the since-released videos, in unedited form, affect your
response?
2. When have you been aware that you were "steering" someone to a
desired conclusion by giving a lopsided report or criticism of some
conversation, sermon, news story or event? How did you justify your decision to
do so?
3. What are the moral issues regarding abortion? What are the social issues?
What are the theological issues? How do differing circumstances -- rape,
incest, health risk to the woman, drug addiction and impact on the fetus,
ability to care for the child, use of fetal tissue for medical research, etc.
-- affect your answers to the questions about moral, social and theological
issues?
4. Can giving a fair hearing to only those whose position you agree with in
a cultural, political or religious debate ever lead you to a full understanding
of the issues? What do you do to give a fair hearing to the other side in such
debates?
5. How important is certainty in leading a Christian life? Assuming
certainty is not required in all things, what makes a topic something in which
certainty is required? How should one deal with varying degrees of uncertainty?
Confronting the News With Scripture and Hope
Here are some Bible verses to guide your discussion:
Numbers 23:13
So Balak said to him, "Come with me to another place from which you
may see them; you shall see only part of them, and shall not see them all; then
curse them for me from there." (For context, read 22:41--23:26.)
The people of Israel were in the wilderness, nearing the end of their
migration from Egypt to Canaan after years of slavery in Egypt. On the way,
they had fought successfully against the Amorites and now had a reputation as a
fierce and dangerous horde. And their numbers were staggering. Exodus says that
when they left Egypt, they numbered 600,000 men (Exodus 12:37), plus women and
children. So when this enormous body of Israelites camped on the plains of
Moab, the people who lived in that region had every reason to be concerned.
Moab's king, Balak, took one look at this encampment stretched out on the
plain and decided to do something proactive to give the Moabites an edge in
case conflict ensued. Balak sent for a local soothsayer by the name of Balaam
to pronounce a curse on Israel. Balaam sent back word that God had already told
him that Israel was blessed, but Balak insisted that Balaam come anyway. When
the soothsayer arrived, the king took him to a high place where he could look
out over the vast multitude of Israel, and instructed him to pronounce his
curse. Balaam spoke, but instead of a curse, a blessing on Israel flowed out of
his mouth (23:7-10).
King Balak was furious, but not ready to give up. He took Balaam to another
location where he'd be able to see only a portion of the Israelite nation. From
the new spot, Balaam spoke, but once again, a blessing rolled out of his mouth
(23:18-24).
King Balak might come off as a fool for thinking that if he could just limit
the soothsayer's sight, the curse would be forthcoming, as if to say,
"Let's look at only this part and pretend that's all that matters."
But we can understand why he might try it. Telling less than the whole truth or
conveniently omitting the parts that suggest a different conclusion have long
proven effective at misleading audiences.
Questions: When have you consciously ignored some
information so as not to upset an accepted conclusion? Do you resent those who
keep bringing up a topic you would rather not discuss? Have you discerned
resentment when you insisted on bringing up a topic no one seemed to want to
address?
Proverbs 18:17
The one who first states a case seems right, until the other comes and
cross-examines. (No context needed.)
This proverb notes the problem of only hearing one side of an argument,
which can happen when one party presents a large amount of information, even if
not all of it is on target.
Questions: Have you ever not reached a conclusion after
listening to only one side -- and why didn't you in that case? Has listening to
another side ever made a difference? How do you seek to become someone who
weighs the various sides of an issue before making a decision?
Psalm 139:13-14
For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my
mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. ...
(For context, read 139:13-18.)
With this poetic expression, the psalmist presents the view that the
beginning of a human life is not merely a biological event, but is the result
of the will and work of a caring Creator. The Creator is pictured as actively
involved in the in utero development, "knitting" the
individual together. (That metaphor is also used in Job 10:11: "You
clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and
sinews.")
These verses from Psalm 139 are often quoted as biblical support for the
sanctity of all human life, which is a legitimate way to understand them.
Though the psalmist's purpose in the whole psalm was not to make a statement
about life in the womb per se, but to declare that God knows and is with him or
her in all circumstances of life as early as in the womb, these verses do speak
of God's presence with the unborn.
Questions: The medical term for an unborn baby is a fetus.
How different is a fetus from a person, or is there any difference? At what
point does a fetus become a person? What affirmation about God do you hear in
these verses?
John 8:31-32
If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know
the truth, and the truth will make you free. (For context, read 8:31-38.)
The second half of this sentence from Jesus -- "and you will know the
truth, and the truth will make you free" -- is often quoted in support of
truth in general, but when connected to the first half of the sentence and to
the larger context of verses 31-38, it becomes clear that Jesus is talking
about the truth of the gospel. Nonetheless, in many situations, truth about
what's going on has a freeing effect. Truth can free us from mistaken
conclusions, biases, hidden agendas, scams and more. Christians should be
committed to seeking and living by the truth.
Finding the truth, however, can be difficult. All too often, perhaps,
"truth" is whatever some authority or opinion-shaper says it is,
whether their statements correspond to facts or not. (Consider how that is
illustrated often from various sides of the U.S. political divide.) Truth
requires us to separate fact from opinion and from falsehood, and to see and
acknowledge when something is true, something is false, something is unknown,
something is guessed, something is a conclusion or opinion, or something is
unknowable.
Questions: Is truth being lifted up or suppressed by the
CMP videos? Is truth being lifted up or suppressed by the pushback? How do you
know? Whom do you trust in this particular situation? Why?
For Further Discussion
1. What is your denomination's position on abortion? How did your
denomination arrive at that position? Has it changed since first formulated? In
what ways, and why?
2. TWW team member Shelly Turner argues that the main question behind this
controversy is not the sale of fetal tissue, but abortion itself. She asks,
"When, if ever, would abortion be allowed in God's eyes?" and
suggests that that is really what's on many people's minds when they talk about
how fetal tissue is collected and used. Do you agree? Why or why not?
3. Since abortions are legal, is there any value in using for research
tissue that would otherwise be disposed of as medical "waste"? Does
that in any way redeem the loss of potential life? Why or why not?
4. What do you think of the opinion expressed by one politician that
abortion should be "legal, safe and rare," especially since abortion
today is not rare? (The abortion rate is, however, currently at its lowest in
decades, at 16.9 per 1,000 women.) How do you respond to this comment from one
Christian: "I really don't think anyone is 'pro-abortion.' Some just believe
that abortion should be one of the options a woman has in a difficult
situation"?
5. TWW team member Michael Harnish says that the conflict over this matter
makes us feel like "the messiness of living in exile ... in a world that
we do not want to claim as our own." However, says Harnish, just as God
told the exiles from Judah through the prophet Jeremiah (see Jeremiah 29:1-11),
we should "make this a permanent settlement in the midst of an unfriendly
environment, knowing that there is a big-picture God who has plans." What
is your response to that?
6. Comment on this, from TWW team member Charles Alkula: "In an age
where there is so much information available at the touch of a finger, the
amount of 'lies, damn lies, and statistics' that is available just as readily
is staggering."
7. Respond to this, from TWW team member Doug Hargis: "Most women will
say that as soon as they had their suspicions confirmed by a pregnancy test,
they believed that they were carrying a life -- a human life distinctly
separate from their own. I can at least say that when my wife told me she was
pregnant (three times altogether), I felt that way. On some level, we would say
a human life had begun. But at another level, everything was just as it was a
few days earlier -- it took a test to say for sure. The clincher, perhaps, is
that had she miscarried at that early stage, both she and I would have grieved
as if the baby were a day away from birth. And, what's more, the longer she
would have carried the unborn child, the more painful that grief would have
been."
Responding to the News
This is a good time to remind ourselves that there is often an agenda behind
widely broadcast claims, and often from those making counter-claims as well. We
Christians have an obligation to seek the truth as best as we can ascertain it.
Closing Prayer
O God of truth, make us faithful disciples of Jesus, who said the truth will
make us free. In Jesus' name. Amen.
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