Do No Harm

I have been a physician assistant for 14 years now.  I started my education/training at Gannon University and then spent a year training/working at Johns Hopkins solely in surgery, the specialty I had chosen for my career.  I remember being in awe learning the history of the great doctors and the legacy they left for us at Hopkins.  Many wings in the hospital were named after them like Alfred Blalock, a Hopkins surgeon who with pediatric cardiologist Helen B. Taussig, devised a surgical treatment for infants born with the condition known as the tetralogy of Fallot or “blue baby” syndrome.  Even some of our surgical instruments were named after them, like DeBakey forceps, named after Michael DeBakey a cardiovascular surgeon, educator, international medical statesman, and pioneer in surgical procedures for treatment of defects and diseases of the cardiovascular system.  I was so proud to be a medical professional; to be part of this legacy in learning, researching, diagnosing and treating patients.  It was also terrifying to realize people’s lives were in our hands, I took that very seriously.  And thus began my experiencing first hand life and death.

What is life?  This seems like a simple question, right?  But is it?  In our current culture right now, there are ALL kinds of opinions on how to answer this.  Webster’s dictionary defines life as “the quality that distinguishes a vital and functional being from a dead body; an organismic state characterized by capacity for metabolism, growth, reaction to stimuli, and reproduction.”  (All things a growing baby starts in the womb and throughout life by the way). 

The Bible defines life many ways, “God created it” (Genesis 1-2, John 1:3, Hebrews 11:3) and specifically “created man” (Genesis 2:7, Jeremiah 1:5, Psalm 139:14-16), “Jesus is life” (John 11:25,14:6), a “gift from God” (Romans 6:23).

God’s words to Jeremiah apply to all mankind: He knew us, formed us, and consecrates us as His own.  We have value because God created us in His image.  Doctors used to understand this.  It is very disturbing, and deeply grieves me, that medical institutions like the AMA (American Medical Association) and ACOG (American College of OB/Gyn), to name a few, are siding with the murdering of children.  We took an Oath to protect our patients.  You can read what the Hippocratic Oath USED to say before its revision, and what it says now. (1)

The classical Hippocratic Oath involves the triad of the physician, the patient, and God, while the revised version involves only the physician and the patient.  Is it a surprise then, that the phrase “I will give no sort of medicine to any pregnant woman, with a view to destroy the child” has been removed?  When God is removed, there is no reason to value life.  And sadly this atheist, nihilistic worldview has not only taken over our culture, but taken over the medical field as well.  The institutions that I once held in high regard now train medical students that abortion is health care and euthanasia is now becoming a “merciful” way to “assist” one in dying.  When we devalue life at any stage, we devalue it all together.

There is conflict in the medical field; “product of conception” vs baby.  During medical school lectures, in one instance they “ooo” and “ahh” the baby on screen, yet the week before they were talking about termination of “product of conception.”  When the “medical experts” don’t recognize life at conception anymore, even though science overwhelmingly shows that at conception a zygote forms, which has its own unique DNA separate from the parents…new life (2).  They take the humanity away by saying the heartbeat that begins around 4 weeks gestation is just “electrical activity”.  Or they question if a baby can only become “human” once they develop “consciousness.”  It’s no wonder than that lawmakers can get to the point of voting against laws that would protect a baby that survives an abortion, like 210 did in the “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act” that just passed the House last week (1-11-23). (3)

Abundant LIFE

Now, add on a culture that thinks it has a “right to abortion”, celebrates it even, and has turned its back on God and considers the Bible, and those who follow it, “outdated”, “archaic” or even “foolish.”  “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”  1 Corinthians 1:18.  Then some say, “Well, we don't find the life issue in Scripture.  So, we can go with whatever the culture says.”  We want to make sure you DON’T do that.  The Bible has plenty of principles that speak to plenty of issues in our day. 

Let me share some insight from Roland Warren, the CEO of Care Net (nonprofit organization that empowers women and men considering abortion to choose life for their unborn children and find abundant life in Christ.)

“In John 10:10, Christ said that He came not just to give us life but abundant life.  In the Greek, there are two primary words for life.  Bios and Zoe.  Bios refers to our physical life.  This is the root of the word biology.  Zoe on the other hand refers to a unique spiritual life.  In the Greek, it was the divine life uniquely possessed by God.  When Christ says in John 10:10, ‘I have come that they may have life and may have it abundantly,’ He is speaking in terms of both Bios and Zoe.  Indeed, Christ came to give this kind of life to all—both inside and outside the womb.”

“[Approximately] 2,500 unborn babies will lose their lives in abortions today.”

“These children need more than laws to protect them, they need men and women whose hearts have been transformed by the Gospel, ready to disciple any parent considering abortion.  As Christians, we know that lasting transformation comes through the Gospel of Jesus Christ and ongoing discipleship.”

“If we really want to see abortion end or for abortion to be ‘unthinkable in this generation’ then we have to see people transformed so that they don’t just choose life (Bios) for their unborn children, but they also choose abundant life (Zoe) for their families.  This can’t happen if we are only meeting their physical and material needs.  And this can’t happen outside the church’s call to make disciples for Jesus Christ.” (4)

Spiritual Battle plan

We have to see abortion for what it really is…a sacrifice to Molech.  This is a SPIRITUAL BATTLE!  As wise King Solomon said “nothing is new under the sun.”  Today, our children may not be sacrificed to appease the gods, but they are sacrificed to idols of convenience, career, finances, etc.  Abortion is not just an attack on unborn children, it’s an attack on the sanctity of marriage and the family as God designed.  Church, we need to recognize this first and foremost if we are going to be able to do something about it.  You can’t win the battle if you don’t know your enemy and his tactics.  Paul teaches us this in Ephesians 6 with the spiritual armor.  Satan knows us…our strengths, our weaknesses…and he is an expert at deception.  It’s time for us to put on our spiritual armor and go to battle!

Let me break down practically our battle plan:

BE BOLD

While this has become a very complex issue, the answer remains the same, for every issue vexing our culture right now…JESUS.  I hope this information stirs the Holy Spirit inside of you to have compassion for the lost and boldly, in word and deed, share the Gospel.  That is the greatest need we see in each of our clients that walks through our doors.  As Toby Mac once said in their Jesus Freak album “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle.  That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” We can no longer be silent.  When God called me to leave my 12 year surgical career to use my medical skills at a pregnancy center, I learned about Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who boldly stood against the Nazis and was eventually killed.  I started reading Eric Metaxas’s book about him and ordered a poster of Pastor Bonhoeffer with this quote attributed to him, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless, not to speak is to speak, not to act is to act.”  Every time I look at it, it reminds me of what God has called me to do and encourages me to be courageous.  So BE BOLD brothers and sisters, BE BOLD!