NOTE: This is an article I wrote in 2006. Six years later it seems to still be speaking to help us sort out the maze of how to vote with principle in this fallen and broken world we live in.

Since I cast my first rather misguided vote in 1980, I have given much thought and consideration toward developing a principle based grid for political decision making. What are the moral “first principles” to consider when deciding who to vote for and why? These points below represent an attempt to develop a principled approach for social conservatives exercising active citizenship as we choose and support candidates.

1. The pro-life issue is not merely a single issue-it is a disqualification issue.
As a movement, social conservatives have and will continue to have influence only if we are willing to draw an “ethical line in the sand” over certain core moral principles. The single most important such principle is the protection of human life from conception to natural death. From the destruction of human embryos, to killing people because they are old or disabled, pro-life issues represent the most fundamental of all human rights issues. Many have accused pro-lifers of being “single issue” voters. However, the pro-life issue is not merely a single issue, it is a disqualification issue-and one which goes to the core of human dignity and respect. So-called “pro-choice” candidates in essence argue that unborn children and other unwanted human beings should be denied full legal protection as persons under our constitution. This disqualifies them from holding public office. Whether rich or poor, young or old, handicapped or whole, born and unborn, all human life is made in the image and likeness of God and is therefore worthy of legal protection. If we are ever going to roll back the tide of these human atrocities, then we must be firm in our resolve to reject candidates who refuse to support this timeless and controlling principle. This is a hill we must be willing to die upon.

2. We should not vote for candidates based upon where they stand in the polls.
Everyone wants to support a winner and no one wants to be with a loser. This may represent worldly wisdom but certainly not eternal truth. We are governed not by polls, politics nor profits-but by principle. Poll based voting is probably the single most insidious deception we can fall into as a movement. It is unprincipled to the core and a misguided way to engage in political decision making. The insatiable desire to be popular, to be an insider, and to be a winner for the sake of personal or political gain must be resisted with all our might if we are going to be people of integrity who have a sustained and lasting impact upon the process. On the other hand, throwing your vote away for totally long shot candidates can keep good viable candidates from getting elected, so we need to be both wise and strategic. While I do believe that electability and political viability can be legitimate factors to consider, these are not the type of first principles which should guide our initial or final political choices.

3. Character matters-a lot!Modern American political history screams the truth that “character matters”-a lot! Even candidates that seem to be very committed to social conservative issues can still be very bad choices if they lack basic character. Temper tantrums, arrogance, dishonesty, poor judgment, ethical compromise, disloyalty, undisciplined lifestyles, financial mismanagement, rampant immorality and broken promises are all red flags that should be considered in deciding upon a candidate. And unless you know a candidate personally or know someone who knows the candidates you may never know the truth about a person’s character and lifestyle. Having good character is critical and without it, an elected official can easily turn into an embarrassing disaster in no time.

4. We are not electing pastors or priests; we are choosing civil government officials.
While character matters quite a bit, we must also remember that we are not electing pastors or priests-we are choosing civil government leaders. Personal immorality in the lives of our political leaders is an unfortunate but common reality. Affairs, divorce, alcohol and drug abuse, gambling and other manner of vice all present a question about how we should evaluate such behavior. While we must stand for righteousness, we must also guard against our own self-righteousness in evaluating others. Truth be told, there was only one perfect man and we crucified Him over 2000 years ago. While it would be preferable to have men and woman in public office whose personal lives are required to be “above reproach,” like pastors, this is often not an option in our fallen world. A working principle to consider is that we should be more willing to forgive personal indiscretions and immorality that occurred in the long ago past than those transgressions that occurred recently. Time and retrospection offer the greatest opportunity for real contrition and conversion. Was this matter a mistake? An isolated moral failure? Or was it a pattern of long-standing bad behavior?

5. Realize that elections present both clear choices and mixed choices.
In some election years candidates stand in stark and clear contrast on the issues and the choice is easy. However, it becomes more difficult when there is a mixture of good and bad factors to weigh. We live in an imperfect and fallen world and so we are often presented with a sort of choice-of-evils problem. This can be frustrating because many of us understand and want to clearly see right from wrong in the world. Yet, competing strengths and weaknesses can be difficult to weigh when there is no clear moral answer to the question, “who is the best”? Political candidates can hide, lie, misrepresent, and manipulate their past record or present views. However, usually with enough good information, it is possible to determine which of the candidates presents the “lesser of the evils.” Staying home and shirking your most important civic duty should never be an option. Do the best you can and engage in the process as an active citizen.

6. “Professions of principle” are more important than “professions of faith”
This can be a controversial point for some, but I have found this principle to be true over and over again. If I hire a plumber to fix a leak, I am not primarily concerned whether he claims to be a Christian, whether his faith is genuine or whether his theology is accurate. I am primarily interested in whether he can get the job done-and done correctly by the manufacturer’s standards. I would argue the same is true for elected officials. Today it can be “cool to be Christian” and many public officials make professions of faith or church membership. However, we should be more concerned with where candidates stand on issues then where they go to church. The 1980 race between Carter and Reagan clearly highlights this principle. From all external standards, Carter was a “better Christian.” Reagan however, was the candidate that stood for Biblically based values in his social policies. It is clear that true faith can and should have a dramatic effect upon a person’s worldview. But a mere expression of faith is not as important as a demonstrated record of commitment to the values that should flow from faith.

7. A candidate’s past voting record is much more important than any recently announced commitment to policy positions. One of the greatest challenges in political decision making is getting accurate and truthful information. Politicians can be very slippery and difficult to pin down as many try and please everyone and play to both sides. Even more difficult is a candidate who makes an election year conversion to conservative values after having a history of being moderate or liberal. How can we judge sincerity? Is this just political expedience? We can not judge a man’s motive or his heart, but we can judge his words and actions. And when evaluating candidates, past voting records are much more accurate indicators of what type of leader they will be than any recently announced commitments for the future. Apart from a genuine Christian conversion or a major life changing event, seasoned politicians rarely develop deep convictions that are different from what they have displayed and acted out earlier in their careers.

8. Resist the temptation to vote your pocket book over principle.
Of all the principles, this is probably the most important and also the easiest to violate and then try to rationalize the violation. In the world of politics, decisions can affect the amount of profit made by various industries, professions and businesses. Profits can potentially stand to either be enhanced or limited by such matters as insurance rates, tort reform, taxes, regulatory issues, and government subsidies. So many people sadly support candidates solely based upon how their own personal business or industry will be affected. I have spent most of my life voting for candidates that regularly oppose my economic interest as an attorney. I don’t like this and I do not agree with it from a policy standpoint. But my commitment to principle on moral issues is greater than my commitment to maximizing profit. Economic and business issues are important and should be debated vigorously. But social and moral issues are paramount because they define us as a people and guide our destiny as a culture. The Bible says that “the love of money is the root of all evil.” And when we place our own personal profit before principles which are in pursuit of the common good, we engage in some of the most idolatrous compromise possible. We must pledge our allegiance to God and His truth alone, and trust in Him to provide for our businesses and for our families.

John Stemberger is an attorney in Orlando, Florida and a student of politics, theology and philosophy. He was Political Director of the Republican Party of Florida in 1992-93 and currently serves as the President & General Counsel of the Florida Family Policy Council.

There is an endless supply of bad news facing American culture.  However, we can remain optimistic about some good news– we continue to gain significant ground in the battle against abortion.  As a movement, we are advancing the cause of life and winning people on the issue so quickly and on so many fronts, it is hard to keep track.  Despite President Obama’s recent appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court and the challenge they present to the hope of ever seeing the Roe v. Wadedecision reversed in our lifetime, abortions have continued to gradually decline since the 1980’s.  In the past 20 years, abortions have dropped from 1.6 million to about 1.3 million per year.  That’s a drop of 19 percent.  Below are just ten of many recent developments of the last decade that should give us great hope that we may very well be witnessing the beginning of the end of abortion in America. 

1)     Polls Show Americans, and Especially Young People, are more Pro-life Than Ever-For the first time in many years, the majority of Americans are pro-life.  With each new poll, there is growing evidence that we are building a cultural consensus and winning hearts and minds for the idea that we should protect the unborn by banning or restricting abortion in most instances.  In May of 2011, a Gallup poll found that 61 percent of Americans want all or most abortions to be illegal and believe that abortion is “morally wrong.”  This equates to 61 percent of Americans who believe that abortions should be either legal under no circumstances or legal only under a few circumstances.  While one could argue that the data shows that many people have mixed feelings and want to identify with both sides, that conflict in and of itself is progress since even people who identify themselves as pro-choice continue to wrestle with and make concessions regarding the greatest moral and social issue of our day. 

The only thing more encouraging than the poll numbers themselves is the fact that the young people are more pro-life than ever!  This is exciting because if we can capture the imagination and convictions of a single generation, then we are well on our way to gradually moving the pro-life position to a morally preferred position in both secular and institutional circles.  One example of this progress is Students for Life, a national organization that is growing by leaps and bounds and which has become a major force in the pro-life movement as evidenced by its presence on hundreds of university and college campuses around the country.  

2)     Technology Shines Truth Into The Womb- One of the many reasons for the increase in public opinion against abortion is that technology has revealed with stunning visual clarity “what that really is that is in the womb” and it is not merely a ”blob of flesh”.  Pro-life leader and attorney Ken Connor has often said, “It’s not a duck or a Buick– it is a baby!”  In 2004,Focus on the Family began distributing ultrasound machines for the Option Ultrasound Program which has provided 80 percent of the funding for ultrasound machines to pregnancy medical clinics.  Focus estimates that over 90,000 babies have been saved since the program’s inception.  In 2010, National Geographic started distributing an amazing video called the “Biology of Prenatal Development”.   This award-winning documentary uses state-of-the-art technology to present real-time footage of human development from fertilization to birth inside the womb and is designed to be used in schools as an educational tool.  The advent of the internet has also made readily available to women information about abortion including its risks and complications.  Hundreds of videos and websites provide women with instant information to make a much more informed “choice” than was previously available.

3)     Both Politicians and Public Policy-makers Are More Pro-life Than Ever- I was recently in Tampa with Phyllis Schlafly of Eagle Forum and Connie Mackey of FRC Action PAC to help them scout out facilities in which to hold the large pro-life caucus meeting held during the Republican National Convention.  Phyllis has been leading the fight to keep the pro-life plank in the GOP platform since the 1964 Goldwater campaign.    Her experiences in recent history made it clear to me that since 2008, the GOP has virtually conceded that the pro-life position is a critical and non-negotiable part of the Republican platform.   In fact, the leadership of the Republican Party now clearly understands that the GOP cannot win without being pro-life.

It is also apparent that Republican consultants now regularly advise candidates to say that they are pro-life for strictly pragmatic reasons.  “Pro-choice” Republicans are apparently also “losing” Republicans in closed primaries in most political districts in America.  The challenge in 2011 is not to find pro-life Republicans, but to figure out which ones really mean it.  The millions of Americans who view abortion as a morally disqualifying issue prove that being pro-life is not just good policy, but is also good politics.  As Ronald Reagan once said, “It is not necessary for them to see the light– but merely to feel the heat.” 

In April of 2011, Michael New wrote in State Politics and Policy Quarterly, a peer-reviewed publication aimed at state policymakers, that a review of abortion data from 1985 through 2005 provides “solid evidence” that laws restricting, but not outlawing abortion, “have an impact on the childbearing decisions of women.”  Additionally, in just the past 90 days, state legislators around the country have enacted unprecedented pro-life legislation on the heels of the election upsets that occurred in November of 2010.  For example, the Florida legislature has passed only four pro-life bills in the past 15 years, but has approved five major pieces of pro-life legislation in the 2011 Legislative Session alone. 

4)     Blacks and Latinos are Beginning to Lead the Movement- My good friend John Ensor has said that “abortion will end in America when Blacks and Latinos are not just involved– but are leading the pro-life movement.”  He is right.  And this “third wave” of the pro-life movement is gradually starting to appear and grow.  Babies of all ethnicities are being aborted at grossly disproportionate rates.   Although Black and Latino women make up only 25% of the population, they account for 59% of all abortions.  In 2004, Planned Parenthood closed 20% of all their clinics nationwide but still performed about 25% more abortions.   They did this by closing clinics in rural and sparsely populated areas and focusing instead on inner cities with higher concentrations of Black-American and Latino women.  Roughly 94% of abortions clinics are located in cities.  I recently debated a Planned Parenthood leader at the FAMU College of Law in Orlando on this question chosen by the predominantly minority law school students: “Is Abortion Black Genocide?”  Just the fact that the students from this prominent Black-American College chose this title for the debate actually says quite a bit about the progress that we are making in increasing awareness of the sanctity of life.

Every year in January during the anniversary of Roe v Wade, I go to the local Planned Parenthood clinic sidewalks with my children and others to pray and to peacefully draw attention to the great atrocity that takes place at these facilities.  This year, I was amazed to find that there were about 200 people gathered, and that almost half of them were people of color.  I saw Blacks, Latinos, and mixed races.  In addition, about half of those present were younger peopleunder the age of 35.  Furthermore, the minorities present led the prayers, the public speaking and the songs.  When I saw this I first began to wonder, could we be witnessing the beginning of the end? 

5)     Hollywood and its Movies are more Pro-Life than Ever- In the last five to seven years, almost every major motion picture that has directly touched upon the issue of abortion or that has portrayed pregnant mothers has been pro-life.   This development is simply remarkable.  The movies Bella, Juno, Knocked Up, Waitress, Children of Men, Look Who’s Talking, andAugust Rush all portray mothers (and sometimes fathers) who made critical pro-life decisions.  I could not even recommend all of these movies, but even the raunchy ones got it right on this issue.  Fully animated children’s movies like Finding Nemo and Horton Hears-a-Who also present storylines that respect and honor life.  Jason Jones, one of the producers of the movieBella, told me that he knows politically liberal, secular Hollywood producers who are strongly pro-life.  We are talking about Hollywood movie producers!  One openly gay movie producer, who stands in opposition to abortion, reportedly stated, “If I could raise enough money, we could end abortion in America– through movies.”  This is serious progress toward reaching our goal of developing a cultural consensus.

6)     The Resurgence of Side Walk Counseling and other Pro-Life Activism- This observation may just be isolated to my regional observations in Florida, but it appears that more and more pro-life supporters have become comfortable with the idea of physically going to abortion clinics.  By attending to the sidewalks in front of these clinics, pro-lifers are able to peacefully counsel, pray, provide assistance, hold signs, preach and plead with mothers to abstain from killing their babies.  Sidewalk counselors are truly the front line of the pro-life movement; and their courage and commitment is truly admirable.  The depiction of pictures and videos outside of clinics is a more controversial, but some would argue effective tactic that displays the actual practice and product of an abortion by showing the dismembered and destroyed unborn child that results.  Greg Cunningham’s group, the Center for Bioethical Reform, carefully and intentionally uses this strategy.  CBR presents its Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) on college campuses all around the country after requesting the legal assistance of our organization to demonstrate its legal right to be there.  The GAP is a traveling photo mural exhibit which displays graphic forms of genocide in world history and places them in a historical context with abortion.  The photos include the remains of dead bodies from the Cambodian Killing Fields, Jewish Holocaust victims, and African Americans killed in racist lynchings.  The GAP has been to colleges and universities all over the country and has made a lasting impression upon the tens of thousands of students who have viewed it and experienced its sobering impact.

7)     The Crisis Pregnancy Center Movement Begins Planning Strategically – In my view, Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPC) and the people who run them are modern day heroes.  The work  they do is simply amazing.  Time magazine did a cover story in 2007 entitled:  “The Abortion Campaign You Never Hear About:  Crisis Pregnancy Centers are working to win over one woman at a time.”   However, CPC’s have historically popped up organically without serious thought about how many others were around it or the locations of nearby abortion clinics.  In other words, the CPC movement has never thought about itself globally or strategically– until recently.  Heartbeat International under the leadership of Peggy Hartshorn and John Ensor has pioneered a strategic study and a plan to counter the systematic placement of Planned Parenthood’s abortion clinics in inner cities…  Over the last 7 years, Ensor has lived for extended periods of time in Boston, Miami, Los Angeles and then to Pittsburg to plant sustainable CPC’s in those cities that are plagued with the highest concentrations of abortion clinics in the county.  This inner city CPC planting strategy reaches more women and allows Black and Latino churches to take local ownership in and leadership for the sustained support of the ministry.

8)     Planned Parenthood’s Fraud Has Been Exposed and is Being Stripped of Public Funding – 2010 and 2011 were without question the worst years in Planned Parenthood’s (PP) recent public relations history.   Lila Rose, an unassuming but striking college student has rocked their world with a series of undercover sting operations that has exposed the largest abortion provider’s rampant fraud, corruption, and criminal conduct.  Her student lead organization Live Action, and its undercover investigations have repeatedly caught PP clinic personnel lying, covering up child sexual abuse, and aiding those involved in child sex trafficking.  The stunning video that documents the findings of these historic student-led investigations have helped to fuel the fire that led to the defunding of PP by several states which stripped them of taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions.  PP receives approximately 363 million dollars from state and federal public funding.  Recently, Congress tried but failed to ban the funding.  As of June 2011, the states of Kansas, Indiana and North Carolina have all cut state funding directed to PP.   In 2012, Florida will also have a state constitutional amendment on the ballot which will give voters the opportunity to ban the public funding of abortions. 

9)     Post-Abortive Women have become an Increasingly Powerful Voice - The generations of women who grew up under Roe and who were lied to and told that abortion was a safe and simple procedure have become emboldened and are no longer silent about their difficult experiences.  Silent No More, Operation Outcry and A Cry without a Voice are three very different national organizations that all collect the voices, stories and testimonies of women who have had abortions and who want to speak and write about their experiences of pain and regret.  Relational and existential evidence of the dangers and risks associated with abortion is a powerful tool to spread awareness and concern for the issue of life.   These brave women share their deeply personal testimonies about the mental, physical and spiritual pain and complications that have resulted from the abortions they underwent.

10)  Abortion doctors are being disciplined, leaving the industry and not replacing themselves-   All across the country, abortionists are being reprimanded for their violations of local, state and federal laws.  Some have even had their licenses revoked.  Some are being punished by medical boards and others have just walked away from the sickening practice or have been converted and are now pro-life advocates.  There are approximately 40 percent fewer abortion doctors than 20 years ago, and fewer men and women are willing to consider entering the industry.  The bottom line is that each year, fewer abortions are performed and fewer individuals are becoming abortionists in our nation.

The skeptic may argue that many of my observations are anecdotal and unscientific.  However, it seems clear that these developments are relatively recent, unique, and are all occurring at an unprecedented rate.  I was recently in Washington, D.C. speaking on this topic before a group of national leaders.  After speaking, I sat next to Dr. Jack Wilke, one of the founders of the pro-life movement in America and asked him if he agreed with my observations nationally or whether they are confined to Florida.  He quickly agreed that amazing things are happening in the pro-life movement not just in Florida, but around the country.  The entire abortion industry is on the ropes and is being hit hard from multiple sides.  Now is not the time to rest but rather to double up our efforts and to work harder than ever while we have a providential window and extraordinary momentum.

My final prayer is that we will look back upon abortion in America with the same shame, outrage and sadness that we now look upon the barbaric practice of slavery.  While we continue to labor diligently to reach that goal, we can be encouraged by the fact that we are making significant progress and may just be witnessing “the beginning of the end…” of abortion in America.

We have some rather stunning and almost unbelievable news that we need to report. Late last week, we were attacked and the code of our FFPC website at localhost was completely disabled and destroyed by a radical Muslim hacker. Let me explain…

 You may have heard of Rifqa Bary. Rifqa is the young girl from Columbus, Ohio, who converted from Islam to Christianity and then fled to Florida on a bus after her parents threatened to kill her for not renouncing her faith. In my personal capacity as an attorney, I agreed to represent Rifqa in this high-profile Orlando case last year. Rifqa’s parents actively attended a mosque in Columbus that had ties to terrorists’ organizations around the world. I wrote an extensive memorandum documenting this to the Florida court. Handling Rifqa’s case was perhaps the most challenging and stressful thing I have ever done in my life.

The case was eventually transferred to Ohio where her parents were located. I agreed to appear on “Fox and Friends” four times as a guest to explain what was taking place in the Ohio case and to discuss Islamic honor killings, which can occur when a very devout Muslim rejects Islam.

Just weeks ago, Rifqa turned 18, and we saw a great victory when her freedom and status were secured as a “Permanent Legal Resident” in the U.S. This ensures that she will never have to fear being sent back to her native Sri Lanka where she could easily be killed as one of the highest profile and most recognizable Islamic Apostates in the world. Rifqa represents a symbol of hope for hundreds of thousands of young Muslims who disagree with Islam and want to leave their faith, but fear the implications of doing so. It was a real challenge but a great privilege to defend this amazing young lady who now desires to “preach the Gospel to the nations.”

However, I have learned that when you oppose radical Islam, there is a price…

Last Monday, the lawyer who represented Rifqa’s parents in Ohio – who claims to be a “Muslim scholar” – filed a $10 million lawsuit against me personally in Federal Court alleging “emotional distress” and “damage to reputation” for my some of my comments on one of the Fox News interviews. This same lawyer has filed multiple grievances against me with the Florida Bar, trying to have me disbarred or disciplined as an attorney.

 In addition to all of this, last Friday a Muslim hacker somehow gained access to our FFPC website, (it appears through the server or some older code) and disabled the entire back-end controls on the site, erased most of the code, disabled the blog and left an obscene message on the events page explaining in broken English who he was and why he was hacking the site. Our web experts tell us that the five-year-old site, which has served us well, is completely unusable and needs to be replaced.

I am writing to ask you to make a special gift to help us immediately secure a new website. The cost for a new website with all the various capabilities we need is estimated at about $20,000. A very generous and close friend of ours who learned of this incident over the weekend has come forward and donated $10,000 as a matching gift in order to help us raise the other $10,000.

The FFPC website is our single most strategic tool for accomplishing our mission to protect and defend life, marriage, family and religious liberty. In just the last 30 days leading up to the primary election, our website had a record number of more than 27,000 visitors. And with the November election coming up, making voter guides easily available online is a mission critical task. Over the next 50 days, we estimate that well over 100,000 supporters from all over Florida will be looking for our website to get information on candidates, ballot issues and judges before they vote.

Would you please make a special online contribution right now to help us in this serious time of need? We have set up a secure, separate site to make an online credit-card or debit-card gift. Or you can just write a check to us at 4853 S. Orange Avenue, Orlando, FL 32806. If we get the funds for the website this week, we can rebuild it – in time to post the voter guides online for early voting and to make them available in hard copy for mass distribution in churches.

Most of all, I need and covet your prayers for my wife and family during this difficult and challenging time. Thank you for your faithfulness and support of our work.

Sincerely,

John Stemberger

So your guy didn’t win the election? Maybe several of your candidates didn’t win. What about all of the time, money and effort you spent? What about the credibility of your personal support? Or what about the countless hours of volunteering, sending e-mails and talking to neighbors and friends? Are you discouraged? Disillusioned? Upset?

Well, at the risk of sounding insensitive, welcome to politics in a fallen world.

I was speaking at a conference in Jacksonville when a man raised his hand and told me he was greatly discouraged by all the insanity of where the country is going politically. He asked me what I could tell him to encourage him. While I can really sympathize with this man’s feelings, my response was straightforward. “Faithfulness is the goal.”

For the world, “winning” is not just the goal, it’s everything. For the believer, faithfulness is the goal. Now don’t get me wrong. I want to win. And we will fight hard to win. In a sense, I have devoted my life to winning the battles we fight. But in God’s economy, the focus is not merely winning– but on us being faithful to the end.

Do we stop proclaiming the Gospel or speaking truth in love because the world rejects the truth? Do we give up on evangelism because we are not “winning” and seeing results with unbelievers? Do we give up as parents because we are not seeing “results” in our children? No, we develop a holy resilience to failure and setbacks and press on in faithful obedience to any task that we are called to accomplish.

In politics, as with evangelism, God simply calls us to be faithful to the message and the task. The results are in His providential hands. When history is behind us, we rest in His sovereign plan. We do our best to promote the virtuous and expose evil and deception. We work hard to elect the most principled candidates. We steward our citizenship by educating ourselves and others and voting with the best possible information we can find. But once we have discharged our responsibility, we can be satisfied and feel God’s pleasure in the fact that we were simply faithful.

As for me and my house, we are done with the emotional ups and downs of the roller coaster of election wins and losses—super elated with a win or totally depressed with a loss. We are learning the discipline of just being content with the knowledge that we were faithful to have done everything within our influence to elect principled men and women that will stand for life, marriage, and family.

It is natural and normal to be disappointed with a defeat and overjoyed with a victory. I am not suggesting we deny the emotional responses that come with either winning or losing. What I am suggesting is that we not become emotional slaves to the circumstances one way or another but instead to sense God’s highest satisfaction in knowing that we were merely faithful to do our part– irrespective of the outcome.

This understanding aligns us with an eternal perspective. It protects us from burn out and it gives us greater endurance and resilience. Most importantly it postures us to humble ourselves before the Creator of history itself to recognize that we can only see in part and know in part and that ultimately His ways are higher, deeper and wiser than our ways.

My favorite historical place to visit in Washington, D.C. is the Arlington National Cemetery. To walk quietly at the feet of over a quarter of a million gravestones representing American soldiers from the Civil War to Iraq can be a profound experience. Looking across what appears to be an endless sea of mostly young men and women who have died so that I might live with freedom, is a sobering if not a completely transforming experience. Suddenly, everything comes into perspective. In that moment, I recommit myself with greater tenacity and courage to what I am called to do and realize that any disappointment or discouragement I have experienced is merely light and momentary compared to those who have paid the ultimate price.

Mother Teresa spent her lifetime serving the poor and unborn in conditions which just seemed insurmountable. Yet her timeless admonition still gives fresh motivation today. She said, “We do nothing. God does everything. All glory must be returned to Him. God has not called me to be successful. He called me to be faithful.” Would that we could all have this same steady and eternal perspective when we face the wins and losses of life.

Excerpt from The Palm Beach Post:

Vaughn Walker, the federal judge who “ruled” California’s marriage amendment is unconstitutional, is wrong – on the law, on the social science and on his role as a judge.

Read the rest of the article by clicking on the link below–
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/commentary/commentary-same-sex-marriage-ruling-ruling-not-just-846080.html

http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/article1096733.ece

By Cathy Ruse, special to the Times

In Print: Monday, May 24, 2010

Last year, in the dead heat of the summer, I developed pneumonia. When my doctor suspected the cause of my fatigue and shortness of breath, he ordered an X-ray and in a short while we were examining the picture of my lungs. This window to an erstwhile unseen world provided by modern medicine allowed my doctor to confirm his diagnosis and provided the information I needed to make decisions about my treatment.

A dozen states are considering laws that require abortion clinics to provide ultrasound images for women seeking abortion. Obstetric ultrasound is a safe and noninvasive procedure using high frequency sound waves to provide a picture of the moving fetus on a monitor screen. A “transducer” is placed on the abdomen and moved to capture different views inside the uterus. The fetal heartbeat can be viewed as early as four weeks, and other fetal measurements can be made accurately from the images on the screen.

Opponents of these laws, like the editors at USA Today, say the ultrasound mandates “cross a line” and force “unnecessary medical procedures” on women. Yet the reality of abortion in America suggests this rhetoric is off the mark.

There are far too many stories of women who were not fully informed before their abortion and are suffering now because of it. In fact, there are women in court today suing abortion doctors for lying to them about the state of development of their child. The people in various states considering these laws have the right to decide that women deserve factual information before an abortion and that the best information about fetal development is an ultrasound picture.

Florida’s proposed law prescribes an ultrasound prior to every abortion. Women must be allowed to view the live ultrasound images, though they must also be informed that they have the right to decline to view them under the law. In either case, the law requires that the physician or sonographer review and explain the images. (Most obstetric ultrasound procedures are performed topically, as described above. An alternative is the transvaginal ultrasound, which produces an enhanced image quality but is not a common prenatal procedure. The Florida measure does not require this more invasive procedure.)

The fact is, ultrasounds are used today by abortion clinic doctors (they actually make abortions safer) but the screen is turned away from the woman. Proponents of bills like the one in Florida believe, quite simply, that the information an ultrasound provides ought to be in the hands of the person who is making the abortion decision, not only the person who stands to profit from it. And there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the information an ultrasound provides is relevant and meaningful to that decisionmaker. Various studies suggest that about 80 percent of women change their mind about abortion after seeing an ultrasound. If women themselves say ultrasounds make a difference, “prochoice” politicians shouldn’t stand in the way of making this information available.

Some charge that providing ultrasound images equates to emotional blackmail for a woman who has already made an agonizing decision, but a recent study published in the European Journal of Contraception and Reproductive Health Care would suggest otherwise. In an article entitled, “Women’s perceptions about seeing the ultrasound picture before an abortion,” the authors report that women presenting for medical and surgical abortions at two urban clinics were asked if they wished to view an ultrasound image. Of 350 participants, 72.6 percent chose to view the ultrasound and, of those, 86.3 percent found it a positive experience.

Abortion proponents could adopt this standard of practice voluntarily, of course, but they won’t. Abortion clinics are for-profit ventures, and notoriously underregulated — animal hospitals and beauty salons are better regulated than some abortion clinics. They will always oppose laws that strengthen a woman’s right to know because when women are empowered, they tend to choose life for their children. That’s good medicine, but bad for business.

Cathy Ruse is senior fellow for legal studies at the Family Research Council.

The Ultrasound bill question that Ipsos Public Affairs presented to callers painted a vastly biased and misinformed characterization of HB 1143 and the choice that the bill provides to women seeking an abortion. The question makes it sound like the ultrasound is some new cost imposed on women, when in reality, most abortion clinics charge for an ultrasound now to determine the age of the baby and never provide that information to the woman. In other words, she is paying today for a service that benefits the abortion doctor because he determines from the ultrasound how large the baby is and how much more he can charge the woman for the abortion. The poll question also falsely claims that the woman will be forced to view the ultrasound and listen to a description of the ultrasound. In reality, the bill provides every woman the option, for any reason, to deny the opportunity to view the image and have the ultrasound explained.
See the full poll results here:
http://blogs.tampabay.com/files/florida-polling-topline-5-20-2010.doc