Clinton Says Abortion Access Is More Important Than Religious Liberty?

Our religious liberties in America have been quickly eroding as our culture becomes increasingly intolerant of those who stand for biblical values. Well, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign has reportedly said that “Hillary will fight to make it easier, not more difficult, for women and families to get ahead and ensure that women are not discriminated against for personal medical decisions.” And Clinton allegedly said in a recent speech that “Yes, we've cut the maternal mortality rate in half, but far too many women are still denied critical access to reproductive health . . . . Rights have to exist in practice, not just on paper . . . . Laws have to be backed up with resources, and political will . . . . Deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs, and structural biases have to be changed.”

So what Clinton seems to be saying is that women’s so-called “reproductive health”—by this she largely means abortion—is more important than the religious freedoms of others. So people who disagree with abortion will simply have to change their beliefs? If this implication is correct, her comments are deeply disturbing coming from a presidential candidate! The President is supposed to uphold the constitution—which guarantees freedom of religion—and not try to force everyone to agree with the government! But this is a growing trend in our culture. Either you agree with man’s version of morality or you face the wrath of the government and culture.

Will Christians Acquiesce to Abortion Next?

Now, Hillary Clinton’s comments garnered a lot of attention from Christians across the nation who were understandably and rightly upset that Clinton would even suggest such a thing. But one writer pointed out that Clinton might not be too far off:

The last six years has been a disaster for the evangelicals in this country. Religious freedom has never been under more scrutiny, nor has it ever been more acceptable to personally attack Christians and their livelihoods for their beliefs. There is no longer any institutional refuge for the religious. It is not at all surprising, then, that significant numbers of Christians have learned to adapt as a result. Nowhere is this more apparent than the same-sex marriage debate. Christians cannot ignore the stable numbers in polls showing support for gay marriage among young evangelicals. According to Time magazine, young evangelicals’ support for gay marriage has gone from 20 percent in 2003 to 43 percent in 2014.

This is certainly a scary trend, and we are beginning to see it with abortion as well. This writer points out that, based on polls about Christian views on abortion, “If 77 percent of ‘born-again’ Christians aren’t in an existential crisis over killing the unborn, how far-fetched is it to conceive of a time when Christians might even argue abortion isn’t murder? I submit, not that far-fetched.” It seems the writer sees Clinton’s comments as a warning to Christians that, just like many of them have changed their views on homosexuality despite what God’s Word says, so might they change their views on abortion to avoid government punishment and public displeasure. She says, “My hope is that profoundly religious people will recognize what candidate Clinton’s suggestion portends. My fear is that the profoundly religious will acquiesce, because they have done so before.”

This writer has a point. As the church continues to reject God’s clear words in Genesis (e.g. teaching of the sanctity of human life as we are image bearers of God) we are seeing more and more Christians reject other parts of the Bible. If we can just reinterpret what God’s Word says in Genesis, why not reinterpret what marriage means? After all, the definition of marriage comes from Genesis! And why not reinterpret when life begins and what murder is? After all, the value of life is grounded in our being created in God’s image (), which comes directly out of Genesis! The church’s reinterpretation of what God has clearly told us in Genesis has had drastic effects in many other areas as well. Unless the church repents and renews its commitment to God’s Word and its authority in all areas, we will only continue to see Christians accept sinful man’s ideas and accommodate God’s Word to fit them.

Abortion Coverage by Employers May Soon Be Required

Now, Clinton’s comments come at the same time as an attack on religious freedom in regard to abortion. In Washington, DC, the District of Columbia Council recently passed legislation called the Reproductive Heath Non-Discrimination Amendment Act (RHNDA). While Congress has authority to disapprove legislation passed by the DC Council (since it is a federal district), only the House of Representatives (but not the Senate) passed a resolution disapproving the legislation, so it is now law in the District. Reportedly, this law could now effectively force religious—even pro-life—organizations to hire someone who agreed with abortion and force them to provide insurance coverage for their employees to get an abortion! This is a direct infringement and attack on the freedom of conscience of pro-life people, and it “infringes on the guaranteed First Amendment rights of freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of association.” We are still waiting to see if there will be challenges to the law in the federal district court in DC, or if the House will block implementation of the law by restricting its funding.

I encourage you to be bold in standing for God’s Word in a culture that is moving further and further away from biblical truth. God’s Word—not man’s ideas—needs to be our authority in all areas. And please pray for our nation and the decisions of our government!

Also, check out AiG’s battle with the state of Kentucky over the free exercise of religion at AnswersForFreedom.org.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.