Where the death culture leads: Lawsuits over disabled children who 'should' have been aborted - Yellowhammer News

Dr. Harry L. Reeder III 4 years ago

Where the death culture leads: Lawsuits over disabled children who ‘should’ have been aborted

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TOM LAMPRECHT: Harry, I want to take you to two stories today. Both deal with pro-life issues. The first is out of Fox News. The Justice Department has launched federal investigation into Planned Parenthood practices and the sale of fetal tissue. In a letter first obtained by Fox News, Justice Department Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs Stephen Boyd formally requested unredacted documents from the Senate Judiciary Committee, the same panel that led the congressional probe into the Women’s Health Organization.

The second story’s out of National Review. It’s a story by Kristan Hawkins and, basically, the story deals with an editor of New York Magazine writing that, because her son was born with cystic fibrosis, she is now suing the doctors because she should have aborted her son.

The point that Kristan makes is, one day, this son is going to grow up to read this story.

DR. REEDER: Tom, that was an amazing story, wasn’t it? By the way, let me refer to the writer of this story, Jean Gann, that Kristan Hawkins writes about.

WISHING HER CHILD WERE DEAD

She writes this piece about her lawsuit of wrongful birth in which she is claiming the doctors are responsible and is seeking monetary relief from the treatments that she is now required to give to her son who has cystic fibrosis and is also attempting to put a marker down, which, again, will be quite the dampening effect in the medical field in terms of this claim that she should have had better diagnostic information so that she could have aborted the child and should have been informed of the option to abort the child.

Think if you are her child, Dudley, and you grow up and you find out that your mother is basically saying, “You have been so inconvenient that I wish I had killed you in the womb.” What a message to your son.

Now, cystic fibrosis is a challenging situation. I have the enormous privilege of being a pastor to parents who are dealing with that. I have not met any that would ever have taken such a position such as this, even in their wildest moments of frustration, but I believe that’s because the ones that I have the privilege to pastor call upon the grace of the Lord Jesus and realize that, in life, you are faced with challenges because we’re in a broken world and then to bring the grace of the Lord Jesus to bear in the life of their child.

Obviously, the writer of this article knows of no such motivation at this point in time, although I do pray that God’s saving grace would break into her life.

Let me also mention, the writer of The National Review article, Kristan Hawkins, I follow her regularly. She is, perhaps, one of the most effective and principled warriors for the sanctity of life that is currently present today.

WHY ABORTION EXISTS

What you see here is, again, the unabashed testimony that abortion exists for two reasons:

To wipe out the effects of the sexual revolution when it leads to unwanted pregnancies.
To eradicate any children that are not governed worthy of our parenting. Because of their imperfections, they are no longer worthy of our parenting or, the anticipated cost of parenting them, then we want no part of it and we ought to have the right to destroy their lives.

On the altar of convenience, if we have children that are deemed less than perfect, less than acceptable, our parenting them because of their physical or medical conditions would be beyond the scope of what we would want to be bothered with.

What a society that we have developed with that world and life view.

By the way, Kristan Hawkins, as the news story reveals, this is a woman who is raising two children with cystic fibrosis. There are those who, by the grace of God show the grace of God and the strength of God to deal with these issues.

And that’s why I am so grateful for the other news story that you gave. If you remember, David Daleiden and his staff, they had done all of videos as they would interact with Planned Parenthood officials and what was uncovered was the callousness of destroying the lives of children for profit and using mechanisms so that they could save body parts and make money from that.

All of this was, of course, criminal and, somehow, it got swept away – somehow, even the tables were turned on The Center for Medical Progress but, now, Senator Grassley’s going to go back and pick up their material and he’s going to do the investigation into the, dare I say it, bowels of Planned Parenthood and I am so happy for that.

WHY I HATE ABORTION

Tom, let me just go ahead and state it as clearly as I can: I hate abortion.

I will recognize that there comes a time in treating a woman that the triage principles may cost the life of the unborn baby, but that is less than 2 percent of any statistical analysis of pregnancies that come to the birth process.

Having said that, I utterly hate abortion and all of the world and life view it represents. It exists as the sacrament of the sexual revolution – you must believe it, you must embrace it because that’s the way you can erase the unwanted consequences of the sexual revolution when it issues forth in a child.

Secondly, it exists to get rid of inconvenient children like this young little boy who is now going to grow up and read an article where his mother says, “I not only wish I’d killed you, I am going to make money off of those who didn’t recommend for me to kill you,” and that is where we exist in this death culture.

I utterly hate it and I know there is only one remedy and that is to come back to the sanctity of life through a God-centered world and life view of a sovereign God who is at work in a broken world and provides us both the strength, and the power and the resources to deal with difficult situations, even as He graciously deals with the brokenness of our sin by giving His Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross to save us from our sins.

There is the One who was willing to take our sin upon Himself that we might have life.

We have to get back to a saturation of the Gospel from the church of Jesus Christ into this world and discipleship within the church so that Christians learn to think clearly.

A PERSON IS A PERSON NO MATTER HOW SMALL

That would be a premise in our world and life view of the sanctity of life and there’s nothing more sacred than life in the womb and, also, that we believe that a person is made in the image of God and we agree with our founding fathers that they have the inalienable right to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness to whatever degree that they can, no matter what the condition is that they face medically when they’re born into this world and a person is a person from the moment of conception made in the image of God, no matter where they are in the stage of development in human life and no matter what challenges they face in those stages of development of human life.

May God grant us, again, that sacred principle of the sanctity of life and we will continue to deal with that from this program and we ask believers to not only join us to again affirm the sanctity of life through crisis pregnancy centers, adoption agencies, ministry to children who are born with medical difficulties, and mercy ministries caring for women in crisis pregnancies, challenging men to be men in terms of their responsibilities in fatherhood – all of those things, that full-orbed dynamic that we would ask believers to join us in.

And may God allow us to get the root of it in place, which is the glorious Gospel of life that comes through Jesus Christ, life that is meaningful for eternity and that means the church must again not only proclaim the Gospel that people would be invited to Christ, but use the gospel and the entire whole council of God in His word to disciple believers that we might live consistently for the God of glory and grace that has saved us and that includes the sanctity of life.

Dr. Harry L. Reeder III is the Senior Pastor of Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham.

This podcast was transcribed by Jessica Havin. Jessica is editorial assistant for Yellowhammer News. Jessica has transcribed some of the top podcasts in the country and her work has been featured in a New York Times Bestseller.

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Dylan Smith 11 hours ago

Birmingham-Southern College to impose fee on unvaccinated students

Unless students of Birmingham-Southern College are vaccinated against COVID-19, those who attend the private liberal arts school will be forced to pay a $500 fee “to offset continual weekly antigen testing and quarantining.”

In an email sent to students, the college announced its pandemic protocols for those returning to campus for the fall semester. In what appears to be an effort to encourage students to receive the vaccine, BSC told students it will levy a monetary charge against those who are unvaccinated. The school cited the need for funding to be applied toward COVID-related mitigation measures as a reason for the charge.

The email reads in part, “Due to the lack of federal funds for pandemic precautions this term, all students will initially be charged $500 for the fall term to offset continual weekly antigen testing and quarantining. Students who are fully vaccinated prior to the beginning of fall term will receive an immediate $500 rebate.”

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The college announced in the email that it has also set separate move-in dates for vaccinated and unvaccinated students.

The College Republican Federation of Alabama (CRFA) has condemned the move as discriminatory against students who have chosen not to receive the vaccine.

Please see our statement regarding Birmingham-Southern College’s COVID-19 protocols. pic.twitter.com/dcERcqdC3u

— College Republican Federation of Alabama (@CRFAlabama) July 29, 2021

“The College Republican Federation of Alabama condemns this obvious attack on students who are not vaccinated,” says CRFA chairman Clint Reid. “While vaccines are an important tool in the fight against COVID-19 we are still a free society where one should not be held at ransom to the tune of $500 if they do not feel the vaccine is the best course of action for them. We call on Birmingham-Southern College to drop this outrageous fee.”

The college’s email goes on to direct students who have been immunized against the virus to complete a “Vaccination Report Form.” BSC stated that the school’s goal is to achieve an 85% vaccination rate among students, faculty and staff.

Portion of the email sent to BSC students as follows obtained by Yellowhammer News:

Birmingham-Southern College did not respond to a request for comment. Yellowhammer News has inquired with the Attorney General’s Office regarding the legality of BSC’s guidelines and will provide updates accordingly.

Dylan Smith is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL

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Tim James 12 hours ago

Tim James: A house divided against itself cannot stand

Last week the discussion of COVID vaccination burst into the news and ripped the scab right off the wound exposing the divide among Alabamians about whether to vaccinate or not. We all know there can be tense moments among friends and family when the vaccine topic comes up especially when there are differing opinions in the room.

Well, last week the discussion hit a fever pitch on a grand scale and landed on the front pages of the national news outlets. According to news reports, in Alabama, there are about 2.5 to 3 million people that have CHOSEN NOT to take the vaccine out of the state’s population of 5.1 million. Approximately 60% of all Alabamians have made this their personal health choice.

I am writing this letter today to express my distaste for those bent on shaming people in which they disagree on the vaccine issue. They divide Alabamians into two classes: the vaccinated and the unvaccinated. The media’s contempt is in overdrive for anyone that dares to disagree and not blindly follow the government directives. So, they shame by spewing their poison proclaiming the unvaccinated are the problem. Their assertion of “Blame” by extension means the unvaccinated are responsible for the spread of COVID. If you want to blame someone or something, blame the virus and the makers of it. As everybody knows, it was not the bats.

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The problem is not the unvaccinated, but rather those spawning division among the population. It’s the BLAME GAME.

They shake their fingers in the face of millions of Alabama citizens for refusing to take the vaccine and are beside themselves when everyone does not fall in line like sheep. I guess the unvaccinated are the “New Deplorables.”

I’ve listened to their shaming long enough and felt it was time to stand up for millions of Alabamians that have made their decision, over the many months, NOT to take the vaccine. I fall into this category; however, like most families I have family members that have chosen TO take the vaccine. Alabamians know full well what is going on in their communities, local hospitals, nursing homes and churches. They are not ignorant to the medical realities and associated risks. Neither are they reckless or selfish.

Every unvaccinated person has considered whether to take the vaccine for months. They have discussed the matter with others, prayed about it and even may have tolled back and forth on the decision. In the end, their “call” was to not take the vaccine for their own personal reasons. I can’t help but wonder why so many vaccinated people lecture everyone else when they themselves have marginal health risk as they are the vaccinated class.

Has it occurred to them that their shaming is certain to follow children into the classroom in the form of bullying? Do they care about young women in childbearing years who are rightfully cautious about what goes into their bodies? It’s ironic that people that CHOOSE NOT to take the vaccine are labeled dissenters even though they are the majority in Alabama and cross all races and political lines.

Going forward I want to encourage people to take a deep breath and stand back from the situation. COVID, of course can be lethal, but at the same time the odds of fatality are extremely low. This is one of those times when we must not succumb to fear. Fear is the root from which anxiety and worry bud.

Fear is a weapon used to manipulate the public, and the press is its enabler. The Lord speaks to the issue of fear through the Apostle Paul. “For God hath not given a spirit of fear but of power and sound mind” – 2 Timothy 1:7

I also would like to take this opportunity to say something about Governor Ivey’s statement last week concerning unvaccinated Alabamians. She said, “It’s time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks, not the regular folks. It’s the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down.”

The unvaccinated people represent approximately 60% of the population in our state. The Governor’s comments triggered uncontrollable elation and gaiety from politicians and news anchors at CNN, NBC and others. As one could expect, President Biden and Dr. Fauci were ecstatic at Alabamians being scolded by their Governor over this issue. I believe the Governor’s comments were off-base. I also believe she likely misspoke in the heat of the moment; something any of us could do. As we navigate forward, we need to lower the tone and not take the bait of those whose goal is to sow seeds of division amongst Alabamians.

I have a message for the American press corps concerning their hysterical, fear-based coverage of the pandemic.

It’s a quote from Edward R. Murrow, the great broadcast journalist during the first half of the 20th century.

He effectively warned his fellow journalists what would happen if the free press became compromised. He wrote: “No one can terrorize a whole nation unless we are his accomplices.”

Tim James, the son of former Gov. Fob James, is a Greenville, Alabama businessman. He was a 2010 GOP candidate for governor.

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Tim Howe 13 hours ago

Regions names Jason Isbell senior vice president of state government affairs and economic development

Regions Bank has tapped one of the state’s foremost experts on banking law and government affairs to serve as senior vice president of state government affairs and economic development.

Jason Isbell comes to the Birmingham-based bank brandishing nearly two decades of legal and government affairs experience in the public and private sectors.

Elizabeth Taylor, head of government affairs and economic development for Regions, highlighted Isbell’s depth of knowledge and relationships throughout the industry.

“Regions Bank has a strong history of working with government leaders and other stakeholder groups on issues impacting our associates, customers and communities,” Taylor said in a statement to Yellowhammer News. “Jason Isbell brings a wealth of knowledge and experience on a variety of financial services matters to this role. His work building relationships and navigating a myriad of legislative issues will serve us well. We look forward to his service advancing economic development opportunities that move our communities forward while also building on the strong relationships we have in the areas Regions serves.”

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Isbell most recently worked with Maynard Cooper & Gale where he represented a wide array of clients, including Regions, as an attorney and lobbyist in the firm’s Government Solutions Group.

Prior to his time at Maynard Cooper, he held the position of vice president for legal and governmental affairs at the Alabama Bankers Association (ABA). Isbell was charged with implementing ABA’s legislative and regulatory agendas at both the state and federal levels. He honed his skills in public policy during his 11 years in state government, first as a fiscal analyst for the Alabama Legislative Fiscal Office and then as general counsel to the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Isbell is a member of the Faulkner University board of trustees and is a graduate of the school’s Thomas Goode Jones School of Law.

Regions Financial Corporation recently reported $748 million in second quarter earnings. The company cited strategic decisions in high-growth areas, such as Florida, Texas and Tennessee, as contributing to those earnings.

Isbell noted the momentum of the bank’s growth and influence throughout its footprint as he prepares for this new endeavor.

“I’m excited to represent an institution with such a rich history and stellar reputation,” he told Yellowhammer News. “Regions Bank is poised to continue making a positive impact on communities in Alabama and beyond. I’m grateful for this opportunity and look forward to being part of the Regions team.”

Isbell is set to officially join the bank in mid-August.

Tim Howe is an owner of Yellowhammer Multimedia

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Wes Allen 13 hours ago

State Rep. Wes Allen: Biden administration’s mixed message on COVID shows he doesn’t put Americans first

The Biden administration is issuing warnings to Americans regarding the increasing number of COVID cases across the country. Calls for a return to mask-wearing and social distancing are becoming more frequent from the President and his advisors.

Businesses, large and small, fear the possibility of mandated shutdowns that plagued our nation last year. Parents are wondering if they will be forced to face the inadequacies and challenges of remote schooling again. These are all worries that are being forced upon law-abiding, tax-paying Americans by the Biden administration.

But it goes further. Our northern border with Canada remains closed to non-essential travel for fear of spreading the virus. Biden and his team cited concerns over the Delta variant as the reason for banning travel from 26 nations including most of Europe, South Africa and Brazil.

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This all seems like a concerned President who is trying to save our nation from the death and damage of a pandemic. But a closer look at Biden’s policies proves that his concern is not for Americans and he has little to no desire to stop the spread of COVID from coming across our border.

His policy that allows thousands of illegal immigrants to move freely across our southern border and into our towns, neighborhoods, restaurants and schools without any regard for their immigration status or their COVID test results prove that the Biden administration doesn’t care about America or Americans. Is the health of Americans, the success of our economy and the fate of our schools and health care system of any concern to this President or his advisors?

I think not.

State Rep. Wes Allen is a Republican candidate for Alabama Secretary of State.

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Dylan Smith 14 hours ago

Alabama League of Municipalities launches Economic Development Academy

The Alabama League of Municipalities (ALM) on Thursday announced the creation of its Economic Development Academy, which will partner with local leaders in an educational capacity to offer their assistance regarding business and industry recruitment practices.

Developed in conjunction with the Alabama Community College System (ACCS) and supported by an advisory council of industry leaders, the Academy will engage local leaders and help them further understand their role in the economic development process.

The Academy is specifically designed to educate and engage municipal officials and designated community business leaders on best practices and strategies for successful economic and community development. Additionally, the ALM says the Academy will focus on the role of elected officials regarding evaluating abatements, legal processes and implications, correctly marketing the community, gaging the community’s expectations, workforce development as well as other key aspects of the development process.

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ALM says the Academy is unique from other economic development programs in that it is tailored to municipal officials using a team model. The mayor or another designated elected or administrative official and at least two council members are required to participate from each community to form a team of up to five members.

In promoting the new program, ALM executive director Greg Cochran conveyed the importance of economic development efforts that take place at the local level.

“Our organization is pleased to collaborate with the Alabama Community College System and Neal Wade to launch the ALM Economic Development Academy,” said Cochran. “It is our goal for the Academy to develop intentional programming and identify resources to empower our municipal officials so they can create legacy programs and projects within their cities and towns. Municipalities are the foundation of our state’s economy, and it is the League’s mission to provide our members the necessary tools to build a community where citizens can live, work, play and prosper and where businesses can thrive.”

The Academy will take place over a full year and consists of an orientation; four one-day sessions that include community assignments; and a special graduation ceremony. To graduate, participants must conduct an economic vitality survey of their communities; complete a community assessment/project; and attend all sessions.

At the conclusion of the year-long program, graduates will be presented a certificate of municipal economic development from the League and ACCS.

Neal Wade, former head of the Alabama Development Office as well as a consultant for Alabama Power, The St. Joe Company and the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama, has been tapped to develop the Academy’s curriculum and conduct the classes.

“The objective is for Alabama communities to be the best they can be and competitive for growth and new revenue,” Wade said. “Setting realistic expectations for each community will be foremost.”

In addition to working with Wade, the League has developed a partnership with ACCS to provide classroom space and workforce development resources for Academy participants. The four mandatory sessions for selected municipalities will be conducted at ACCS campuses throughout the state based on each region.

Chancellor Jimmy Baker praised the partnership and expressed his optimism on the potential growth opportunities he believes can stem from the Academy.

“At Alabama’s community colleges, everything we do is workforce development – from education and training to providing wraparound services and hosting community events,” Baker said. “We are honored to work alongside the Alabama League of Municipalities to launch the Economic Development Academy and host its participants at our campuses across the state. Education is so often the linchpin to positive change and the resources and training this effort will provide will have a positive impact on Alabama for years to come.”

An Academy Advisory Council has been developed to add input, assist with training and provide additional resources to the process. The Council consists of state and federal government agencies, ACCS presidents, utility partners, League strategic partners, local economic developers and statewide business associations.

Academy applications will be accepted via the League’s website July 29 – August 31. Applicants will be thoroughly evaluated and candidates chosen by mid-September. There is a community fee to participate.

Those interested in attending the Academy may apply via online application at almonline.org.

Dylan Smith is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL

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