I did not watch this year's State of the Union address. In fact, I have never watched a State of the Union address. I always wait to read the transcript afterwards instead. I have found that reading a transcript of a speech allows me to focus on the actual content of the speech without the distraction of the speaker's theatrics. And when I read this year's State of the Union address from Donald Trump, I found that this practice of separating content from theatrics gave me a fairly unique perspective of a speech that many of my friends were describing as the greatest State of the Union address they've ever heard.
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I am glad that Trump attended the March for Life instead of the Planned Parenthood gala like Obama did, and I'm glad that he gave a speech proclaiming that "Every child is a precious and sacred gift from God." I just have one small question:
Alabama Representative Terri Collins, along with 66 cosponsors, has introduced a bill in the Alabama state house which would make abortion a felony in the state of Alabama. As you are well aware, I have been trying to get abortion banned from Alabama ever since I moved back to the state 10 years ago. You would think, then, that I would be ecstatic to see our legislature finally promoting a bill that would accomplish that goal, but this bill is a very dangerous bill. Let me explain why.
There's an old pro-abortion argument that has received a lot of attention on twitter lately. It goes something like this: Imagine that you are in a burning building along with a five year old child and an incubator of human embryos. You know that you can save either the single child or the entire incubator full of embryos, but you cannot save both. Which one will you choose to save? If you chose to save the child, then you have proven that a child is more valuable than a human embryo which means that unborn humans do not have as much moral value as born humans. There have been several excellent responses to this argument, but I'd like to point out the two responses that I think are the best of the lot.
![]() A review of the book "Life's Work: A Moral Argument for Choice" by Dr. Willie Parker. Let me begin this review by pointing out that Dr. Parker would take exception to my use of the word “children” in the title. He made it very clear in his book that he does not like people using “the loaded term ‘unborn child’ interchangeably with the more medically accurate ‘embryo’ or ‘fetus’” According to Dr. Parker, “Before twenty-two weeks, a fetus is not in any way equal to ‘a baby’ or ‘a child.’” Of course, he also says that he sees nothing wrong with abortions after twenty-two weeks either, so I’m not real sure why he objects to using the term “child” in reference to prenatal humans prior to twenty-two weeks of gestation.
On April 4th, 2017, yet another book was published which claimed to present a moral argument for abortion. Dr. Willie Parker – the book’s author, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, and a nationally celebrated child killer – claims that he is “doing God’s work” by providing abortions. I disagree. I think that Parker’s “God” is a construct of his own imagination and that his so called “moral argument for choice” is a farce. I’ve challenged Dr. Parker to a public debate in Birmingham, and I am eagerly awaiting his response.
Recently, a friend of mine asked me for my thoughts on Dr. Wayne Grudem's article answering objections to voting for Donald Trump. Dr. Grudem responded to 11 objections and then wrote a lengthy comparison of the proposed policies of Trump and Hillary followed by an appeal for Christians to "seek what is best for the nation." I read Dr. Grudem's article and jotted down the following thoughts in response to his answers:
UPDATE (Jan. 29 - 10:00 AM): I just received a very encouraging phone call from Terry Lathan, the chairman of the AL Republican Party. She assured me that the state party is deeply and securely committed to ending abortion in our state. She is contacting everyone who works in her office and attempting to reach the president of the Eastern Area Republican Club to find out who, if anyone, advised him to oppose my resolution. UPDATE (Jan. 29 - 11:45 AM): Mrs. Lathan called me back to say that she has heard from everyone in her office, and no one can recall ever discussing my resolution with the President of the Eastern Area Republican Club. As a former counselor for Sav-A-Life, She was very upset that anyone would even suggest that her office was opposed to a resolution calling for a bill to end abortion. I appreciate Mrs. Lathan's quick response, and I hope that she is able to get in touch with the President of the Eastern Area Republican Club in order to resolve this issue. ________________________________________________
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Bill Fortenberry is a Christian philosopher and historian in Birmingham, AL. Bill's work has been cited in several legal journals, and he has appeared as a guest on shows including The Dr. Gina Show, The Michael Hart Show, and Real Science Radio.
Contact Us if you would like to schedule Bill to speak to your church, group, or club. "Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning." (Proverbs 9:9)
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