From Planned Parenthood to Pro-Life: Dr. Brown Interviews Abby Johnson; and What’s So Bad About Abortion?

[Download MP3]
Participating in an abortion procedure changes Planned Parenthood Director Abby Johnson’s stance on abortion in an instant; listen as she shares the experiences that have fueled her pro-life work, then join Dr. Brown to discuss the destructiveness of abortion, and join in the discussion online here or on facebook!

Hour 1:

Dr. Brown’s Bottom Line: God, the Creator, forms life in the womb. And when we take life in the womb, we are doing that very thing: taking life, snuffing out a human being into whom God breathed life. If you’re a mother contemplating an abortion, look at an ultrasound. Look at the baby that’s been formed, realize the precious life that is growing there. If you can’t care for it for yourself, there are others that will care for that life. Those who have had an abortion: Jesus died to forgive us and cleanse us from our sins. Turn to Him and ask Him to wash you clean and remove the weight of that, and He can have mercy on you.

Hour 2:
Dr. Brown’s Bottom Line: This is a very, very weighty issue. This is an issue of life and death. This is an issue of the snuffing out of potential life, an issue which leaves much regret, much pain, and an issue upon which the church MUST stand, in love, grace, mercy, truth, and wisdom. May the Lord anoint and help each and every one of us to find out, what is our part, our role, in eradicating abortion on demand in America today, and offering life and hope to these mothers, these fathers, and their children.

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Meet Abby Johnson:

Abby worked and volunteered for Planned Parenthood for eight years. For the last year of her employment, Christ had been working on her heart. Although she didn’t understand why, Abby had begun to question her work and the motivations of the company she had dedicated herself to for eight years.

In September 2009, she saw something that forever changed her mind on the issue of abortion. Abby was asked to assist in an ultrasound guided abortion procedure. On the ultrasound screen she saw a 13 week baby in the womb fight for its life…only to lose the battle in the end. Read more about Abby and her work here.

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Other Resources:

Unplanned by Abby Johnson: The true story of a former Planned Parenthood director’s courageous choice in favor of life.

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Revolution: A Call to Holy War by Dr. Brown: This book is not a call for the violent overthrow of the government, nor is it a call to take up arms, nor is it a call to political activism in and of itself. It is a call to something far more extreme, a call to live out the gospel…

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2009 School of Cultural Engagement [MP3 CD]

Including:

Only Genesis: The Basis to Interpret the Bible and Life (Taught by John C. Rankin)
Reclaiming Godly Sexuality (Taught by Joe Dallas)
It’s Time to Rock the Boat (Taught by Michael L. Brown)
Cultural Apologetics (Taught by Frank Turek)
Separation of Church and State (Taught by Joseph Infranco)
Engaging Culture, Congress, and the Media (Taught by Patrick J. Mahoney)

Summary of main points from How to Defend Your Pro-Life Views in 5 Minutes or Less:

1. Clarify the issue: Simplify the abortion controversy by focusing public attention on just one question: Is the unborn a member of the human family? If so, killing him or her to benefit others is a serious moral wrong. Conversely, if the unborn are not human, killing them for any reason requires no more justification than having a tooth pulled. Arguments based on “choice” or “privacy” miss the point entirely.

2. Defend your pro-life position with science and philosophy. Scientifically, we know that from the earliest stages of development, the unborn are distinct, living, and whole human beings. Prior to his abortion advocacy, former Planned Parenthood President Dr. Alan Guttmacher was perplexed that anyone, much less a medical doctor, would question this. “This all seems so simple and evident that it is difficult to picture a time when it wasn’t part of the common knowledge,” he wrote in his book Life in the Making.⁴

Summary of Main Philosophical Arguments: Size, Level of Development, Environment, Degree of Dependency (SLED)

Size: True, embryos are smaller than newborns and adults, but why is that relevant? Do we really want to say that large people are more human than small ones? Men are generally larger than women, but that doesn’t mean that they deserve more rights. Size doesn’t equal value.

Level of development: True, embryos and fetuses are less developed than the adults they’ll one day become. But again, why is this relevant? Four year-old girls are less developed than 14 year-old ones. Should older children have more rights than their younger siblings? Some people say that self-awareness makes one human. But if that is true, newborns do not qualify as valuable human beings. Six-week old infants lack the immediate capacity for performing human mental functions, as do the reversibly comatose, the sleeping, and those with Alzheimer’s Disease.

Environment: Where you are has no bearing on who you are. Does your value change when you cross the street or roll over in bed? If not, how can a journey of eight inches down the birth-canal suddenly change the essential nature of the unborn from non-human to human? If the unborn are not already human, merely changing their location can’t make them valuable.

Degree of Dependency: If viability makes us human, then all those who depend on insulin or kidney medication are not valuable and we may kill them. Conjoined twins who share blood type and bodily systems also have no right to life.

3) Challenge your listeners to be intellectually honest. Remind your critics that if we care about truth, we will courageously follow the facts wherever they lead, no matter what the cost to our own self-interests.