Originally published in Baptist Press
President Donald Trump affirmed unborn children as image bearers of God and urged the US Congress to ban late-term abortions in his second State of the Union speech.
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Though Democrats and Republicans are deeply divided over abortion, the president asked for unity of effort “to build a culture that cherishes innocent life.”
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“And let us reaffirm a fundamental truth: All children — born and unborn — are made in the holy image of God,” he said.
Trump also endorsed legislation in that cause. “To defend the dignity of every person, I am asking Congress to pass legislation to prohibit the late-term abortion of children who can feel pain in the mother’s womb,” he told senators and representatives.
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Trump’s endorsement apparently was for the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would prohibit abortions on babies 20 weeks or more after fertilization based on scientific evidence that a child in the womb experiences pain by that point in gestation.
In addressing abortion, the president referred to recent events in New York and Virginia in which Democratic officeholders endorsed the procedure until birth or even the refusal of medical care for children who survive abortions, thereby allowing them to die.
When the New York Senate passed a bill protecting abortion until birth, many observers in the gallery there cheered and gave the members a standing ovation.
The scene in New York and comments from Virginia Governor Ralph Northam in support of what pro-lifers described as the infanticide of abortion survivors were “chilling displays” to America, Trump said. “These are living, feeling, beautiful babies who will never get the chance to share their love and their dreams with the world.”
In his comments on children as image bearers, Trump affirmed “one of the most fundamental doctrines of Scripture and definitional truths about humanity,” R Albert Mohler Jr, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, stated in an article posted yesterday.
The president “made very clear that the grounds for human dignity and the protection of the unborn flow from a biblical worldview — that all humanity is made in the image of God,” Mohler wrote.
Other pro-life leaders also commended the president’s remarks about unborn children.
Trump “once again demonstrated the paramount importance of protecting mothers and their unborn children,” Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee, said in a written statement.
Catherine Glenn Foster, president of Americans United for Life, said in written comments Trump “showed why he may be the most pro-life president in American history.”
‘Nothing short of historic’
In an opinion article published in Lifesite News, speaker, author, and radio host Dr Michael Brown writes that Trumps pro-life State of the Union comments were “nothing short of historic”.
Even if the president was just simply saying what his constituents wanted to hear, “it would be still highly significant, given the power of the President’s bully pulpit”, says Brown.
He continues: “But the truth is that Trump has backed his words with actions. He has appointed pro-life justices to the courts. He has signed pro-life bills. And he has been consistent in his stance throughout his presidency.
“In that respect, whether he really means what he says and does is secondary. What matters is that he is both saying it and doing it.”
