As we stand aghast at the radically pro-abortion Reproductive Health Act recently proposed in New York, we wonder how this could ever happen in our nation. We also have to wonder if this legislation will eventually become a model for laws in other states—or even the nation.

Thankfully, many New York medical professionals have gathered to speak out against the proposed legislation, and they are making their voices heard, striving to turn the hearts and decisions of the lawmakers toward righteous laws.

God has divinely placed many medical professionals within the pregnancy help movement, with unique gifts, callings and expertise that are critically needed in the medical setting. But our influence should not end there. We are also called to inform those who are determining the future of medicine and the lives of our fellow citizens through the laws and legislations that affect medical practice.

We must not be silent in the face of evil, which strives to change the laws of our land, advance the pro-abortion agenda, and eliminate our religious or civil freedom. As Edmund Burke so aptly admonished, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

The honor, respect, integrity, and trust placed in medical professionals must not be wasted, but maximized to create a voice of influence. We have both the right and the duty to be a voice to our local and state community. This is an issue of faith, courage, and principle.

What is at stake? Nothing less than the right to practice medicine according to our conscience and faith. To live in freedom. To save women and children from the devastation of abortion. Even to be free from the coercive power of government.

How are we to implement our precious First Amendment right? As so beautifully exemplified by Dr. John W. Volk in his letter to the editor of the Greeley (Colo.) Tribune, writing articles for publication is one way to get involved.

We can also get involved by participating in local city councils, school boards, testifying during city legislation, introducing pro-life measures to elected officials, and by befriending those in authority and speaking truth to them. Talk radio, op-ed pieces, and more, can also leave a powerful footprint on our world.

Some would ask if we should be vocal in government. Did Jesus call us to sit out the culture war when He said the following?

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste (its quality), how can its saltiness be restored? It is not good for anything any longer but to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a peck measure, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven? (Matthew 5:13-16, Amplified Bible)

Salt acts as a preservative, preventing decay. It is clear that Jesus, in referring to us as salt, is profoundly issuing the command for us to penetrate society, while at the same time keeping evil from penetrating us. Light penetrates darkness. For us to know wisdom and truth, yet hide it is as absurd as lighting a light and hiding it under a basket.

This same mandate is also expressed in Proverbs 1:20-21:

Wisdom cries aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the markets; She cries at the head of the noisy intersections (in the chief gathering places); at the entrance of the city gates she speaks. (Amplified Bible)

Tom Minnery, in his book, Why You Can’t Stay Silent: A Biblical Mandate to Shape Our Culture, brings the biblical truth of Christian citizenship to bear on our everyday lives with the following paragraph:

The proper role for the Christian citizen is to participate in government as fully as his calling and skill can take him, whether it be limited to voting or as an active government leader. When the sparks fly over moral issues in the councils of government, how much more effective it is (and honoring to Christ) to have skilled Christian people at the center of the debate, in full possession of the facts and a record of public trust. Sometimes, of course, this isn’t enough, and the moral position is defeated. But many times the impact of Christian leaders on difficult moral issues has been astounding.¹ (Emphasis added)

If we do not speak up and do what we can to influence our culture for righteousness, who will bear responsibility for the results?

As we remember the millions of innocent babies who have lost their lives through abortion, we can take inspiration from the words of Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address:

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work … that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause … that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Though the challenge may seem daunting and the forces arrayed against us to be great, let us take courage in the fact that after a long hard battle, one president, with the stroke of a pen freed millions of slaves.

This can happen again if we do not ignore our First Amendment rights, and speak out. Whether we are victorious or not, we have been called to be faithful.

Let us take the wisdom, diligence and faithfulness so beautifully displayed within our pregnancy medical clinics and bring it outside the PMC to influence the influential.

Sources

1. Tom Minnery, Why You Can’t Stay Silent: A Biblical Mandate to Shape Our Culture (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2002), 58.