California

Pastors Commit Sanctity of Life Sunday to Petitioning for Preborn Lives
Washington D.C., January 13, 2010 – Pastors across the nation have committed to using January 24 – traditionally Sanctity of Life Sunday – as an opportunity to put their faith in action and gather signatures for the Personhood movement.

“At First Baptist Jackson, we are thrilled to give our people the opportunity to sign a petition to put the Personhood Initiative on the ballot,” stated Pastor Stan Buckley, Senior Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Jackson, Mississippi. “Abortion - the taking of innocent human life - is one of the most important issues facing our state and our nation. We encourage more Christians and more churches to get involved in the fight for life. Getting the Personhood initiative on the ballot is a huge step because we believe the people of Mississippi, if given the opportunity, will choose life!”

Petition drives in Colorado and Mississippi are getting close to having enough signatures to put personhood amendments on the ballot. “In every Personhood campaign, churches are the key,” explained Keith Mason, cofounder of Personhood USA. “This year, we are very excited that hundreds of churches around the country will be honoring the sanctity of life.”

“By default, we are called to protect human life with our God given rights and resources,” added Pastor Adam Briggs of Damascus Road Bible Fellowship in Indiana. “Let all pastors join together and publicly declare the personhood of all human beings!”

Currently Montana, Colorado, Mississippi, Florida and California are all gathering signatures to put personhood amendments on their state’s ballot. In these states pastors can celebrate Petition for Life Sunday by collecting signatures to protect every child by love and by law.

In other states, pastors can encourage their flocks to restore the dignity of every human person, by supporting or even leading the personhood efforts in their state. Over 40 states are working towards Personhood for all human beings.

More information about Petition for Life Sunday is available at www.PersonhoodUSA.com.

“We will win the battle and restore dignity to every human person in America! Let’s use the coming sanctity of life Sunday to protect children not just in word, but also in deed by affirming their personhood rights in our law and by love,” concluded Mason.

Personhood USA is a grassroots Christian organization founded to establish personhood efforts across America to create protection for every child by love and by law. Personhood USA is committed to assisting and supporting Personhood Legislation and Constitutional Amendments and building local pro-life organizations through raising awareness of the personhood of the pre-born.

California Has Started To Gather Signatures! Visit www.CaliforniaHumanRights.com to get your petition today!

Why I Can’t Wait

On more than one occasion it has been suggested to me … to wait.

The cause is just, but wait.

The cause is worthy, but wait.

The cause is righteous, but wait.

That is, wait for a more opportune or favorable time to pursue the just, worthy and righteous cause of the California Human Rights Amendment.

This suggestion to wait, has come to me by way of men and women:

• Who love me and have proven themselves under trying circumstances to be my friends.
• Whom I highly respect, whose moral credentials are infinitely greater than mine.
• Whose wisdom has been tried, forged in the raging fires of spiritual warfare and found true.
• Whose commitment to our Lord Jesus Christ is beyond question.
• Whose lives reflect the sacred beauty of sacrifice for “love’s sake” itself. (Philemon 1:9)

To each and everyone of these wonderful saints of God, I want to say thank you for the time you have spent with me. Thank you for your wisdom, for your prayers and for your love. I want you to know that I have taken every word to heart.

Yet, I cannot wait.

With all due respect, I cannot wait for a more opportune or favorable time to pursue the just, worthy and righteous cause of the California Human Rights Amendment.

You see, my people are dying.

Arnold M. Culbreath, the Urban Outreach Director for “Protecting Black Life,” reports since 1973, over 14.5 million black babies have been killed by abortion and that 1,200 black babies die by abortion daily.

My people are dying.

According to Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI), the research arm of Planned Parenthood, Black women are nearly five (5) times as likely as non-Hispanic white women to have an abortion.

My people are dying.

According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) report entitled, “Abortion Surveillance — United States, 2006,” the abortion ratio among black women, defined as the number of abortions per 1,000 live births, is 450 abortions per 1,000 live births. The abortion ratio for Black women far exceeds the abortion rate for any other people group.

Considering the fact that abortion is not the only reason a baby in the womb of his or her mother dies, today a Black American child has less than a 50% chance of being born. It is safer on the streets for a Black child in the worse neighborhoods America has to offer than on the inside of the womb of his or her mother.

My people are dying.

Abortion remains the leading cause of death in the Black America. Abortion alone accounts for three (3) times more deaths in our community than HIV/AIDS, Violent Crimes, Accidents, Cancer, and Heart Disease combined.

My people are dying.

The U.S. fertility rate is an indicator that shows the potential for population change in the country. A rate below 2.1 indicates populations decreasing in size and growing older. Today, according to the 2006 U.S. Census, our fertility rate is below the replacement level at 1.9. Black America is no longer replacing herself.

My people are dying.

According to the National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 48, No. 11, the abortion rate among married Black American women is three (3) times greater than it is among white women.

My people are dying.

Again, according to the National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 58, No. 4, October 14th, 2009, today for every 100 Black babies born alive, there are another 77 Black babies killed by abortion. Said another way, for every 1 Black baby born alive, practically 1 Black baby is killed by abortion.

My people are dying.

According to the archives at the Tuskegee Institute, between 1882 and 1968, 3,446 Negroes were lynched by the Klu Klux Klan (KKK) in the United States of America. Today, abortion in the Black community kills more Black Americans in less than three (3) days than the Klu Klux Klan could kill in eighty-six (86) years.

My people are dying.

According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI), since 1973 (i.e., the year abortion was legalized in the U.S.) more Black American babies have been killed by abortion than the total number of Black American deaths from all other causes combined.

My people are dying.

If we were to ask the average high-school student how many U.S. soldiers died in the Vietnam War, the most probable answer would be roughly 58,000. This is the number of American military personnel deaths. Today more black babies are killed in less than two (2) months from abortion than the total number of American military personnel that died in the Vietnam War.

My people are dying.

According to a study in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, Volume 13 Number 4, Winter 2008, entitled “Does Induced Abortion Account for Racial Disparity in Preterm Births, and Violate the Nuremberg Code?” Black American women have three (3) times the risk of suffering an early preterm birth (EPB, birth under 32 weeks) and four (4) times the risk of an extremely preterm birth (XPB, birth under 28 weeks).

This report, authored by Brent Rooney, M.Sc., Byron C. Calhoun, M.D., M.B.A. and Lisa E. Roche, J.D., reports a “statistically significant” increase in the risk of EBP or XPB in women who have a history of induced abortion (IA) when compared to women with no history of induced abortion.

When one considers the fact that XPB babies have a 129 times higher risk of being born with the horribly debilitating effects of cerebral palsy (CP) and that according to Rooney, Calhoun and Roche, “about 43% of pregnancies in Black American women end in induced abortion” alone and when you understand that these numbers describe a rate of death in the Black community that only reflects the impact of induced abortion, you are at a point where you are beginning to understand that …

My people are dying.

The targeting of Black America by eugenic minded, pro-abortion forces is easy to see when you consider that black Americans make up about twelve (12) percent of the population of the United States of America and yet according to Planned Parenthood’s Alan Guttmacher Institute, 37 percent of all abortions in the country are performed on Black American women and their preborn children.

In other words, twelve (12) percent of the population of this country, Black Americans, is responsible for thirty-seven (37) percent of all abortions in the United States of America.

If you consider about half of Black America is female then you’re looking at around six (6) percent of the population of this country being responsible for thirty-seven (37) percent of all abortions in the United States of America.

If you consider child bearing age from 15 to 44 then you’re looking at around three (3) percent of the population of this country, Black Americans, being responsible for thirty-seven (37) percent of all abortions in the United States of America.

Tony Perkins, the President of the Family Research Council says:

“Preliminary data currently being compiled on all abortion facilities in the U.S. shows that over twenty (20) states have abortion facilities in areas where the African-American population is fifty (50) percent or higher,”

Tony goes on to say:

“In fact, ten (10) states and in Washington, D.C. have abortion centers located exclusively in minority areas.”

I cannot wait, my people are dying.

Abortion is the Darfur of the Black American community.

If nothing changes.

If America does not become more efficient at killing babies in the womb of their mothers in the future.

If we do not take into consideration the number of chemical abortions.

If the rate of death, due solely to the impact of induced abortion in the Black community, remains constant and does not increase or decrease over time.

Black America will face the very real possibility of being an endangered species by the year of our Lord Jesus Christ two thousand one hundred (2100).

That is, I said, if nothing changes …

However, everything is changing.

If President Obama is successful in his efforts to install his health care vision for America, the numbers of Black babies killed by abortion will skyrocket.

Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has said:

“Those of us who care about the civil rights of all Americans, born and unborn, oppose Obamacare because we oppose the expansion of the most racist industry in America – the abortion industry.”

Frankly, time for my people is running out.

The time for me to act is now.

I simply cannot wait.

Perhaps others can afford to wait.

Nevertheless, I cannot wait because the abortion numbers are higher in my community, among my people than in any other people group.

Perhaps others can tell the future.

However, I do not have the power to tell the future.

I can only tell you about the One who holds the future.

Perhaps others are wiser than I am.

After all there are “certain political realities” at work in our world today and the mere presence of such realities surely calls for an experienced hand.

While I am sure others are wiser, have more experience and know how to come in and go out, I still cannot wait.

I cannot wait for …

• Public opinion to favor me.
• Political equity or capital necessary to guarantee victory to be voted into office.
• Proper funding required to meet the surely inevitable challenges that will come.

America is changing, my people are dying and I cannot wait.

I believe faith in Christ along with a repentant heart will allow us to receive His forgiveness and boldly face the wickedness in high places that walks among us today.

I believe such faith in Christ will allow His Body and Bride to perform the works of life that will overcome the works of death.

I believe the California Human Rights Amendment, by embracing the issue of “Personhood,” addresses the most profound and the most serious ethical dilemma this country has ever faced.

I believe the California Human Rights Amendment offers all of us an unprecedented opportunity for dialogue centered on the core issue of the abortion debate, the “humanity” of us all.

Imagine the power of Christ at work in us as we engage the culture for His sake by asking such questions as:

What does it mean …

• To be made in the image of God?
• To be fearfully and wonderfully made?
• To be respected as a person?

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in defense of his belief in “Nonviolence” said:

“Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. It is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals. Both a practical and a moral answer to the Negro’s cry for justice, nonviolent direct action proved that it could win victories without losing wars, and so became the triumphant tactic of the Negro Revolution of 1963.”

I believe the California Human Rights Amendment today is what nonviolent direct action was to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s. It is a powerful, just and righteous weapon.

I believe the California Human Rights Amendment “ennobles the man who wields it.” It is the kind of weapon that God favors and will honor as His people engage the world around them in dialogue for Christ’s sake.

I believe the California Human Rights Amendment is both a practical and moral answer to the preborn’s cry for justice, for righteousness and for life itself.

I believe, on this side of heaven, it is never too late to start doing right.

Maybe you believe in God the same way I do and/or maybe you see the same divinely inspired opportunity that is set before us today, as I do?

If you can, then help me today, because you cannot wait either.

Stay tuned, there is more to come.

(Pastor Walter Hoye is Sponsoring the California Human Rights Amendment which affirms the personhood rights of all humans. More blog posts from Walter can be found at www.issues4life.org )