Amendment #3

Weekly Update – October 31st, 2024

As many of you have recognized over the years, my main objective in communicating to you, whether from the pulpit or through this newsletter, is to make Christ known and how knowing him applies to our lives.  Therefore, I don’t stump for political candidates, nor do I advocate for certain political measures.  Yet, I want to delve into this area with you today because the amendment that is up for a vote this coming Tuesday goes directly against the Biblical principles of justice, human value and care for the weak.

Amendment 3 is on voting ballot and if affirmed, it would make the following changes to the state constitution:

• Establish a right to make decisions about reproductive health care, including abortion and contraceptives, with any governmental interference of that right presumed invalid;
• Remove Missouri’s ban on abortion;
• Allow regulation of reproductive health care to improve or maintain the health of the patient;
• Require the government not to discriminate, in government programs, funding, and other activities, against persons providing or obtaining reproductive health care; and
• Allow abortion to be restricted or banned after Fetal Viability except to protect the life or health of the woman.

You can read the full amendment HERE.

Here is what the current law states about abortion in Missouri:

• Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, no abortion shall be performed or induced upon a woman, except in cases of medical emergency.

As the current law reads, an abortion is allowed in the case of a medical emergency.  This is 0.3% of the time. That means that 99.7% of the time, an abortion is not necessary to save the life of the mother.  Cases where an abortion might be necessary include: placental abruption, bleeding from placenta previa, preeclampsia or eclampsia, and cardiac or renal conditions. I’m not going to argue about the commonality or the validity of these conditions, I’m simply saying that these could be conditions that doctors might say necessitate an abortion.  Yet again, the current law allows for these exceptions.

That means that this amendment is not creating exceptions for the 0.3%, because the exception is already there.  What this amendment will do is open the door up to abortion for any reason up until around week 24 of the pregnancy.  Week 24 is typically when a baby is capable of living outside womb, or the time of Fetal Viability.  After week 24, the restrictions are fuzzy. An abortion can occur after week 24 and even all the way up to seconds before birth, in the case of the “health of the mother.”  In the Supreme court case Planned Parenthood Association of Central Missouri vs. Danforth, the health of the mother is defined to include all factors physical, emotional, psychological, familial and the woman’s age.  In other words, you can fit any reason into the category of “the health of the mother” to allow for an abortion. 

As men and women, we are image bearers of God (Gen. 1:26) from conception (Gen. 4:1; Job 3:3; Psalm 51:5). God places value upon the baby within the womb as he is the one who intricately knits and forms our “inward parts” and “frame” (Psalm 139:13-16). In terms of value or, what some might call personhood, the Bible sees no difference with a child in the womb (Lk. 1:41-44) verses a child outside the womb (Lk. 2:16).  Therefore, we should protect the weak and defenseless (Ex. 23:6-7; Amos 2:6-7) and stand against this notion of individualistic self-autonomy that reigns supreme in the world around us. 

As destructive as it is, what is on the ballot this coming Tuesday shown through Amendment 3 is much bigger than “reproductive rights.”  The slippery slope that the right to an abortion argument leads to is a denial of life based upon a “right to privacy” and “bodily freedom.”  This opens the door to furthering, what we might call, a culture of death when it comes to how we view issues such as euthanasia and even how we view the weak and vulnerable of society.  I strongly encourage you to vote “NO” on this measure, not for political reasons, but for life and the promotion of a culture of life that lines up with a Biblical worldview. 

Serving Him with You,
Pastor Michael Nelson

P.S. Thank you so much for the gifts, the cards and the appreciation that you all showed on Sunday morning.  My family and I were overwhelmed with the love that we received.  We are grateful to serve with you all in seeking to proclaim and display Christ to one another and to the world around us. You all have been a blessing to us and we are truly thankful for you.