Sanctity of Human Life Sunday

Life is precious. Miraculous. Delicate. Created by a loving God who makes every human being unique. Life made in the image of God is a fundamental human right that begins at conception.

According to our Declaration of Independence, "all men...are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." The order is significant. Life is the FIRST God-given right of every human being. If you do not have life, you certainly cannot enjoy liberty or pursue happiness.

Unfortunately, our God-given right to life in America has been undermined in our "culture of death". More innocent human beings are put to death every day than those who died in the 9/11 attacks - 3,000. Abortion ends the lives of more than 1.2 million unborn children in America every year. Fully 22% of all pregnancies end in abortion.

The overwhelming majority of those innocent children are simply sacrificed on the altar of convenience. Nearly 50 million unborn have been murdered by abortion since the Supreme Court ruling on January 22, 1973. (taken from our Church service this last Sunday)

For Thou hast possessed my reins: Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are Thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in Thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

~ Psalms 139:13-16 ~

Yesterday is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday (SOHLS), a day set aside to celebrate the intrinsic value of all human life. January is recognized as Sanctity of Human Life month, with SOHL Sunday held on the Sunday in January that falls closest to the day on which the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion was handed down by the US Supreme Court in 1973. 

In 1983, President Reagan issued a proclamation establishing a National Sanctity of Human Life Sunday (SOHLS). Since 1983, the SOHLS proclamation has also been issued by Presidents George H.W. Bush & George W. Bush.

Proclamation 5147 -- National Sanctity of Human Life Day, 1984

January 13, 1984

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

The values and freedoms we cherish as Americans rest on our fundamental commitment to the sanctity of human life. The first of the "unalienable rights" affirmed by our Declaration of Independence is the right to life itself, a right the Declaration states has been endowed by our Creator on all human beings -- whether young or old, weak or strong, healthy or handicapped.

Since 1973, however, more than 15 million unborn children have died in legalized abortions -- a tragedy of stunning dimensions that stands in sad contrast to our belief that each life is sacred. These children, over tenfold the number of Americans lost in all our Nation's wars, will never laugh, never sing, never experience the joy of human love; nor will they strive to heal the sick, or feed the poor, or make peace among nations. Abortion has denied them the first and most basic of human rights, and we are infinitely poorer for their loss.

We are poorer not simply for lives not led and for contributions not made, but also for the erosion of our sense of the worth and dignity of every individual. To diminish the value of one category of human life is to diminish us all. Slavery, which treated Blacks as something less than human, to be bought and sold if convenient, cheapened human life and mocked our dedication to the freedom and equality of all men and women. Can we say that abortion -- which treats the unborn as something less than human, to be destroyed if convenient -- will be less corrosive to the values we hold ear?

We have been given the precious gift of human life, made more precious still by our birth in or pilgrimages to a land of freedom. It is fitting, then, on the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade that struck down State anti-abortion laws, that we reflect anew on these blessings, and on our corresponding responsibility to guard with care the lives and freedoms of even the weakest of our fellow human beings.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim Sunday, January 22, 1984, as National Sanctity of Human Life Day. I call upon the citizens of this blessed land to gather on that day in homes and places of worship to give thanks for the gift of life, and to reaffirm our commitment to the dignity of every human being and the sanctity of each human life.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 13th day of January, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and eighth.

Ronald Reagan

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 10:24 a.m., January 16,1984]

So, WHAT can WE do???

- Pray that dignity of every human life will be respected and protected - at every stage of life from conception to natural death (Proverbs 24:11-12).

- Pray for the women and men facing unexpected pregnancies in our community.

- Pray for an end to abortion.

- Stay Informed about Threats to the God-Given Right to Life - Sign up for the Washington Update at www.frc.org

- Urge your elected officials to act to protect the unborn.

• Encourage your US Representative and Senators to vote in favor of the Smith-Lipinski bill to remove all government fundiong for abortion and to fvote for bills to protect he conscience of health care workers.
• Call the US Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Or visit www.frc.org and click on contact officials.

- Support a Pregnancy Care Center in your area. To find out more about these life-affirming ministries to women who are expecting a child, check out FRS's site: www.apassiontoserve.org.

- Support our local Open Arms Pregnancy Care and Real Choices Clinic - a Christ-centered ministry, that reveals God's design for human life, sexual integrity and reproductive health to individuals, to help them make a life affirming choice through education, compassionate support and pregnancy related services. ALL of their services are free, & because Government funds are not received, there is no hindrance to sharing the Gospel.

Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.

~ Proverbs 31:8-9 ~