The single most important election issue

The Australian Labor Party this week announced a new campaign policy: their intention to make abortion on demand legal and free across Australia. With this single policy they have made it impossible for any authentic Christian to vote for them, much less stay silent on the sidelines of this impending federal election.

Labor outlined plans to build a new abortion facility in Tasmania, the only state without one. They also heralded their intention to change the state law in NSW, completely dismissing the rights of the residents of that sovereign state to make their own decisions about state laws, but perfectly in line with historical examples of centralised authoritarian regimes. Labor’s hard left has decided federalism no longer suits their socialist agenda. So much for the constitution.

The model of laws liberalising abortion preferred by socialist regimes around the nation essentially means women can kill their preborn children for any reason at any time, right up until birth with the tiny requirement of a second doctor’s approval, including via email or phone.

According to such Labor laws, women can kill their children because they’re having a girl but only want a boy. They can procure an abortion because their partner or parents are coercing them to; or for their own reasons such as disruption to a career or more commonly, a perceived lack of support for an unplanned pregnancy.

To be clear, we are not talking about a minor operation to remove any part of the woman’s body. The object of the intention to terminate is always a unique and innocent living human with her own DNA, blood type, brain and heart. It is invariably fatal for one of the two individuals affected by the abortion choice.

There is no room for negotiation on God’s position on the intentional killing of an innocent living human. There are many policies we Christians can debate the wisdom of, but murder is not one. It is an essential doctrine, and one should point out foundational to Western common law traditions.

Any person claiming Jesus or His Word who supports abortion is a heretic without the most basic grasp of either Scripture or science. Indeed, it is regard for the indisputable evidence and testimony of embryologist, geneticists and biologists that leaves zero room for doubt exactly what it is in the mother’s womb.

Pro-abortion ideologues attempt to dehumanise the preborn baby by calling him other technically correct names such as “fetus”, but a different name does not change his nature. He is observably living, and fundamentally human.

It is grotesque immorality to treat an entire subclass of humanity as less than human and subsequently deny them fundamental human rights. Such willful ignorance is validly compared to slavery in that it concludes an innocent living human is nothing more than someone else’s disposable property.

Again, the most important question in regards to the rights and wrongs of abortion is what is the nature of the object of the termination. Any intellectually honest assessment must conclude it is a living human.

In light of this inescapable fact and the commandment, “Don’t murder,” it is unconscionable for a Christian to vote for any political candidate who cannot promise to (or ever failed to) vote against any pro-abortion legislation while ever there is any other candidate who can.

To prioritise any other policy over the gross injustice of the ongoing holocaust of preborn people is to say you would have also looked the other way if slavery was still a legal trade. It is to fail to faithfully steward the political freedom and influence every voter enjoys in an inclusive, pluralistic democracy.

If assaults upon children has ever upset you and you wished you could do something to protect them before they were hurt, here is a chance you must not stay silent through.

It is abundantly clear that this is the hour where the Church, comprised of Christians of conscience, must rise up with one voice and communicate to every candidate in every electorate that we will not give our silent approval to the industrial slaughter of another generation of Australians.

The simplest and most effective action possible is to genuinely determine to vote for a candidate who can promise to vote against any measure designed to make killing preborn children legal or free or easy, and to then write an email to every candidate seeking your vote and ask them how they will vote on this legislation.

Silence is a deafening reply, as they have assumed they cannot give you a satisfactory answer and prefer you uncertain about their intentions. But if you find there is only one pro-life candidate in your electorate, you can be certain that is who Jesus would vote for given the same choices, regardless of their party.

It is essential for the defence of the fundamental human right to life that such candidates be given not just votes, but donations and volunteers and every assistance possible to win that seat in the new Parliament. If there’s more than one, than we can weigh secondary considerations such as leader and party and other policies.

This is a call to arms. This is the hour of need. This is the neighbour in need of a Good Samaritan willing to invest their time, effort, money and long term interest in her justice. If we the Church do not act as well as pray we are kidding ourselves that our faith is of any real value.

I urge you now to do the basic internet search, starting with the major parties’ websites, of who the candidates are in your local electorate, as well as your state senate candidates. Write an email to every one of them genuinely offering your vote if they can best reflect your values and promise to vote against abortion at every opportunity. Offer them not only your vote but whatever donations you can afford, your fence for their sign, and two hours to help them hand out how to vote cards on Election Day or at pre-polling.

If only 10% of Christians who go to church every week did this, every federal candidate would receive over a thousand unique emails and potentially new votes, donors and volunteers. Only the most calloused candidates could resist that offer of support in exchange for genuine representation of their electorate. It is our fault if this bill becomes law. We cannot say we did not know.

Please share this urgent call to arms widely, via email and SMS, pulpits and social media platforms.

Finally, please let me know the responses you get. Email fed19@pellowe.com.au, and I will prepare a collated summary for those who do not make their voice heard but wish to vote for life anyway.

There is no time to waste. This battle is winnable. It was vocal Christians who gave politicians the imprimatur to abolish slavery. We must not think it not worth the small effort if it cannot be achieved in one election, because it most certainly can and must be achieved, and we are the generation that will abolish abortion.