Abortion Talk

Luke Humphries

Abortion • Sermon • Submitted a month ago • Presented a month ago

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How Many Abortions Since 1973?

73m

Introduction — Who Am I?

Luke

Working with ALC

Goal:

End abortion in Arkansas… ?

I. “Is Abortion already Banned in Arkansas? The Dobbs Narrative vs. Reality

A. The Public Narrative

“Dobbs victory”

Trigger laws

Headlines after Dobbs

“Zero abortions in Arkansas”

Closed clinics

Arkansas presented as “most pro-life”

B. What Actually Happened

Abortions shifted:

Abortion pills

Telehealth

Out-of-state abortions

From 2024 to 2025:

Roughly 300 abortions/month

Reality:

Abortion became less visible

Easier to ignore

More decentralized (no clinics needed)

Abortions have actually increased in Red States (even in banned states)

Organizations like Mayday Health are telling the country, 501c3

Merch

Transition statement: It is undeniable that abortion is not only still taking place in Arkansas, but it is increasing.

The majority Christian response at the moment (for most, not all) is

Problems: Unaware of the reality or don’t know the solution (informed), Desensitize to humanity, Apathetic/ don’t care

C. Main Danger: Apathy

“Desensitized”

Current danger is apathy

Solution is to take to the scriptures and see abortion from God’s perspective, from the truth.

Abortion is: One of the highest forms of rebellion against our creator.

Killing image bearers (prohibited by God in Genesis 9:6 ““Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.”

Killing the weakest & most defenseless

In this one act, we are trampling upon the two great commandments.

Proverbs 24:11–12 “Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?”

II. Why is this happening in Arkansas, an overwhelming Christian state, and republican/pro-life state?

A. Legal Reality

Legislators shape the framework in Arkansas

Current laws still allow forms of abortion access

Arkansas abortion laws declare that “life begins at the moment of conception and that the child in a woman’s womb is a human being” (Ark. Code §5-61-302). The law also states that “a person shall not purposely perform or attempt to perform an abortion except to save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency” (Ark. Code §5-61-404). However, the same statute prohibits “charging or conviction of a woman with any criminal offense in the death of her own unborn child” (Ark. Code §5-61-404). In effect, Arkansas law seeks to criminalize the abortionist while protecting the mother from legal consequences. Though well-intentioned, this framework is the very reason abortion remains legally protected in Arkansas. This approach is inconsistent with the pursuit of justice and with the claim that life begins at conception.

Example of:

An eighteen-year-old woman discovers she is pregnant. Her fiancé is the father. When he finds out that she is pregnant, he threatens to call off the wedding if she doesn’t get an abortion. He tells her it is not the right time and that they need to wait before having a baby. He tells her that this baby will ruin their marriage and she must get an abortion. Feeling like she has no choice, she orders the abortion pill through an out-of-state telehealth clinic that ships her the pills in the mail. After receiving the pills, she follows the instructions and self-administers the abortion at home. The pills are successful, and she expels the remains of the baby into the toilet.

In this scenario, Arkansas’s current laws are powerless to prosecute, hindering justice and removing any meaningful protection for the preborn. Why? In this case—as in most abortions today—the mother is the abortionist, and Arkansas laws specifically protect her from any criminal consequences if she kills her preborn baby. Therefore, Arkansas has legally protected the act of killing a preborn child.

Perhaps you think this is a good outcome, given that she was coerced into it by her fiancé’s threats. To test this position, let’s imagine the same situation after the child is born. Suppose the mother, under the same pressure from her fiancé, drowns her two-month-old baby in the bathtub. In this situation, who should be charged with the death of the baby? If you said both, you would agree with state prosecutors across the country. Why? Because our laws recognize and protect human life. The mother would be charged with murder, and the father would be charged as an accomplice to murder.

Under our current laws in Arkansas, both parents would be legally protected from prosecution for the death of the preborn child. The example reveals that Arkansas abortion laws are incompatible with justice. Life has been unlawfully taken, and the killers are given immunity, freedom from legal consequences. It also exposes a contradiction within Arkansas abortion law: the law declares that life begins at conception while denying legal protection to that same life.

C. Abortion Is Legally Protected in Arkansas

The unborn are not equally protected under the law

D. Equal Protection Under the Law (The Only Solution)

Define Equal Protection: It is this: all human life deserves protection under a society’s governing laws. This principle says that the government should protect the lives of all its citizens and pursue justice when anyone’s life is taken.

This protects image bearers by the governing authorities as God requires in the scripture.

Equal justice under law

Simply strikout the the clause.

Supporting Foundations

Biblical basis

Genesis 9:

Romans 13

This is what God requires

Logical basis

If we believe and say life begins at conception, then we need to be consistent and try babies in the womb as human life.

To not, would be a denial of that life, a contradiction of our convictions.

Constitutional basis

Founding document: all men are created equal, endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights: life

Founding principle: government exist to protect all equally.

Founding protection: the government’s structure was designed to protect the rights of a minority faction/group from the majority.

III. Roadblocks in Arkansas

A. Political Roadblocks

Politics vs. principle

We don’t hold them accountable (thats our problem)

Pro-life Lobbyist

Victimhood arguments

B. Quick Historical Context

Arkansas 2023 - shut down

Louisiana example

IV. So What Do We Do?

A. What we can’t do!

We can’t act as if it's not happening. (Ephesians 5:8–11 “for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” Romans 1:32 “Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.”

We can’t say we have more important things to do (worship/evangelism over problems around us)

I’m convinced that the bible teaches us that through true worship and be obedient to the great commission, there is direct impact on the world around us, its problems, injustice, and darkness. (salt and light)

Jesus did both: Gospel & reform - he brought grace and the gospel, but he also brought a hammer to make change

John the Baptist brought an axe

One thing jesus stressed was the people of God seeking to make worship the thing they do, but neglect their impact on lives. Matthew 23:23 ““Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.”

As God’s people, we must be lawful, and to avoid and say we must not, cannot address the issue is to be lawless

The types of people who say, we do things for God but are lawless people, he says depart from me I never knew you. you workers of iniquity, you workers of lawlessness.

The end purpose of the law is love Romans 13:10 “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”

Historical Note: we have a unique opportunity in history as Christians in this country.

We have the ability thru a constitutional republic to apply light and salt to our own laws.

what a blessing and gift we must steward well.

B. What we Must do!

We must say the truth: legally protected abortion is… direct contradiction to God.

One of the highest forms of rebellion against our creator. (mentioned above)

The antithesis of justice and is lawlessness (which is against the character of God and therefore displease God)

Image bearers are murdered and we protect the guilty.

Historical Note: the foundation of our government was designed to

Protect all equally

To protect minority factions from loosing rights by the majority rule.

The actions of our country has manifested hypocrisy to this point once before we slavery.

But Christians sought to smash that hypocrisy and did and we must do the same.

May 250th anniversary be a turning point (may God spoil our celebrations of freedom if we exalt our rights of freedom while not seeking to secure the same rights of the preborn.

A hinderance to the gospel. (Legalizing sin means no need for forgiveness)

While the God’s grace is greater than any sin, and the gospel is the power of God for salvation:

The law is a teacher, and it is teaching that murdering babies in the womb is not a sin that needs forgiveness.

This hardens our hearts of our society to the gospel even more than they already are.

We must act now:

With zeal, pursuing the things God loves and seeking to destroy the things God hates. That zeal drives us to act now.

Unashamed: Like all Christians in the past, we stand for truth not matter the societal consequences and pressures we face.

Diligently: Stay the course and not let up, keep going day by day, month by month, year by year if necessary.

Prayer

Increase / Unceasing prayer (OT prophet illustration?)

Prayer for repentance and justice

2. Address the Three Problems

Fill-up to pour out - Learn for yourself

Share and Teach the reality

Evaluate your heart

Are you desentized to humanity

Have you been apathetic?

Talk to others biblically (family, friends, Sunday School class, neighbors)

3. Outreach

Contact legislators

Start a ministry in your church

Equip members with tools needed to

5. Personal Responsibility

Refuse apathy

Treat abortion as a present moral crisis

Closing Exhortation

The issue is not over

Dobbs was not the end

The church must not go silent

Call Christians to:

Truth

Courage

Prayer

Action

Final challenge:

“What will we do now?”

The Problem: Why are we here?

Abortion is: One of the highest forms of rebellion against our creator.

Killing image bearers (prohibited by God in Genesis 9:6 ““Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.”

Killing the weakest & most defenseless

In this one act, we are spitting upon the two great commandments.

Abortion in Arkansas (legally protected - connect to equal protection)

Our laws, protect this act of rebellion.

The authorities that should enforce Genesis 9, for the protection of humans, is protecting the violent act God has prohibited.

Example

The church should be on the frontlines with the goal of ending it.

You are here today because you’ve had a Nehemiah type response (felt the Christian duty to act for God’s sake and the babies)

Some know exactly how to respond

Some know you should but don’t know how.

More many Christians, they are not aware of this reality and/or they don’t know the proper response

We have to be the Nehemiah's in Arkansas and take the problem, act, inform, gather more to join.

What must be our response

Be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Four points of response: two negative and two positive

We can’t say we have more important things to do (worship/evangelism over problems around us)

Jesus did both: Gospel & reform - he brought grace and the gospel, but he also brought a hammer to make change

John the Baptist brought an axe

As God’s people, we must be lawful, and to avoid and say we must not, cannot address the issue is to be lawless

The types of people who say, we do things for God but are lawless people, he says depart from me I never knew you. you workers of inquity, you workers of lawlessness.