RUNNING THE RACE
Dear CWA of Washington Members,
Does it seem to you that we are indeed running a race? For whom are you running? Let these words encourage you:
“and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)
And lest we grow weary, let Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 4:7 exhort us:
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
HAVE A BLESSED RESURRECTION DAY!!!
**********************************************************************
Resurrection, life, hope, running the race, and keeping the faith all bring to mind the recent story about the fifteen-year-old girl at Seattle’s Ballard High School. If you have been reading these action alerts for a while, you might remember that CWA of Washington has been supporting and promoting bills such as HB 1688 re: underage abortion for many years without success. In the February 13, 2009, action alert, I wrote this about HB 1688:
HB 1688 relating to abortion procedures and treatments performed on minor females and females subject to guardianship
Washington is one of only six states plus the District of Columbia without any parental involvement laws for underage abortions. This law would bring consistency to state laws requiring physicians to obtain informed consent from the parents or guardians, in the case of a minor, before any medical procedure or surgery. This bill also adds “voluntary informed consent” for underage abortions and requires a mandatory ultrasound with the ultrasound clearly visible to the minor.
It will be challenging to move this bill through the committee because the majority leaders support abortion rights without any restrictions at all. Please contact your state senator and two representatives about this bill and ask them to support parental rights and protect our children’s health.
In the February 24, 2009, action alert, I wrote this:
HB 1688 relating to abortion procedures and treatments performed on minor females and females subject to guardianship.
WHY is abortion the only medical treatment that requires NO PARENTAL OR GUARDIAN involvement in Washington State? Why is it necessary that parents send a well-documented note for a child to take medication for diabetes or even a cough, yet our daughters can undergo a life-destroying procedure which produces long-term consequences for them without our knowledge or consent? Our legislators should respect parental rights and allow us to be responsible for our families in all ways. We are expected to keep them out of trouble and pay their expenses, yet we are left out of the loop for abortion!
This bill has been stopped in the Health Care and Wellness Committee, chaired by Eileen Cody from the 34th Legislative District (LD). She has held similar bills hostage for years! Pray, pray, pray that Rep. Cody will realize the damage done to families by her pro-abortion stance and that she will reverse course soon.
You might have heard about the recent situation at Ballard High School in Seattle where a fifteen-year-old girl went to the school’s health center and took a pregnancy test. When the test was positive, the girl was told that if she wanted an abortion, she could be transported to a local abortion clinic where she could obtain a no-cost abortion on the condition that she would not tell her parents. She agreed; the school called a taxi, and she was taken to the abortion clinic and then returned to the school within hours of the abortion. Over the next few months, the girl was in the emergency room twice with an erratic heartbeat and other unexplainable symptoms. She finally revealed her secret, and now her pro-choice mother is very upset that her daughter was able to obtain that abortion without her knowledge. The mother had signed a permission slip for her daughter to visit the in-school clinic but did not realize that “reproductive” services included abortion with absolutely no parental involvement needed.
In 2010, HB 1688 was re-introduced in the Washington State Legislature, but it never moved at all, due to the stranglehold pro-abortion legislators have on the legislative process. The Scriptures exhort us to pray for the governing authorities that we might lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence (I Timothy 2:1-3). However, we are also warned to submit to God’s Word, running the race and keeping the faith. When the priest in Acts 5:28 asked, “Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name?” the next verse records this response, “Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, ‘We ought to obey God rather than men.'” In our American culture, we have authorities telling us it’s even good to disobey God’s laws, yet our first loyalty must be to our Almighty God and Creator.
Concerned Women for America of Washington has been and will be on the front lines in God’s spiritual armor to defend the sanctity of human life from conception through natural death. This is CWA’s first core issue and each person’s first right according to our U. S. Declaration of Independence. The statistics regarding sanctity of life have changed in our favor over the past generation and now a majority of Americans no longer support unlimited abortion rights. For starters, legislation supporting parental authority and rights need to be submitted and re-submitted until our representatives finally respond to our common-sense and heartfelt demand to put our families first.
PRAY:
PRAY for the Ballard High School student and her family as they deal with the effects of her abortion. God can use this tragic story to bring about His good. We can watch for His guidance and respond accordingly.
PRAY for God’s people to take His Word seriously and to engage in the battle to reverse the moral decline in this nation.
PRAY for God’s church to awaken and to promote and protect Biblical values in the culture.
PRAY that our governing authorities will once again realize that all power comes only from Almighty God and they are held accountable to Him.
“For You have formed my inward parts; You have covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works. And that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. (Psalm 139: 13-16)
TAKE ACTION:
EDUCATE yourself and others. Check in frequently at www.cwfa.org for current issues. Talk to your church community, friends and family, share this action alert, build the wall against the unbiblical values being imposed upon our families by governing authorities, stand in the gap to protect your family and the culture from further damage.
VOTE YOUR VALUES! Attend upcoming campaign activities; ask specific questions of candidates about sanctity of life, parental authority, definition of the family, pornography, religious liberty and national sovereignty.
CONTACT YOUR FEDERAL AND STATE REPRESENTATIVES and kindly express your opinions about their stance on the issues listed above. Hold them accountable for their votes on those issues.
JOIN US for greater action. Join a local Prayer/Action Chapter, renew your membership and support CWA of Washington (membership form attached or you may renew at http://wa.cwfa.org).
In His Service,
Maureen Richardson
CWA of Washington State Director
P. O. Box 143 Woodinville, WA 98072
425-869-1923
***********************************************************
James 5:16 “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” James 2:17 “Faith by itself, if not accompanied by action, is dead.”