This month, March, brings First Image, along with the PRC movement, to a crossroads.
When The Supreme Court of the United States makes its decision on this case between now and June, the PRCs in Portland, Oregon, and the whole nation, will either lose their freedom of conscience or will have their freedom reinforced to present alternatives to abortion to thousands of women facing pressure to abort their babies.
On March 20, SCOTUS begins to hear oral arguments in the NIFLA v. Becerra case. In 2015, California passed a law requiring PRCs to refer women to abortionists. Watch the video below from Alliance Defending Freedom to find out more about this law and its impact.
Planned Parenthood had attempted such a law in Oregon twice before but had failed to get it beyond the committee level. This was due to God’s mercy and the forming of the Oregon Pregnancy Centers Association, which banded together 38 PRCs across Oregon to protect and promote our common mission through unity and integrity in offering alternatives to abortion.
We found that most of our public legislators didn’t want to publicly censure PRCs when they saw the cumulative good that we and our supporting individuals and churches provide at no charge to the women and families of their communities. Most of them recognize that the misinformation fed to them by Planned Parenthood was false and self-serving.
But, in California, the PRCs had not yet banded together, which left them vulnerable to the concerted campaign to force them to serve the pro-abortion industry by referral. Since then, NIFLA, ADF, and other legal organizations defending freedom of speech, conscience, and religion, have challenged the California law, which has now been taken up by SCOTUS.
It’s not enough that the abortion industry strong arms every public institution (medical, legislative, entertainment, education, news, etc.) to promote abortion and to demonize those who seek to protect women and babies and families from abortion – they insist on silencing voices that do not conform to their agenda.
Oregon is already the worst state – it has no restrictions whatsoever on abortions and is now the only state that requires its citizens to pay for abortions. Unless SCOTUS overturns the California law, we know that Planned Parenthood will accelerate pushing the same law in Oregon, which would seek to marginalize one of the last voices that provide accurate, life-affirming information that helps abortion-vulnerable women be fully informed about their pregnancy decision.
All of this highlights why it is vital to preserve the freedom and capacity of First Image and others doing this work around the country.
So, I appeal to you to pray for those in authority – that SCOTUS will do what’s right in protecting the freedom to extend mercy and life to those facing unplanned pregnancies. Pray the California law will be overturned and set the precedent that would protect all PRCs from this ludicrous attempt to silence and eliminate our compassionate ministry to our communities.
We also need to pray for those in bondage to the abortion industry. Pray God opens their eyes to the reality of the full personhood of the babies conceived in the wombs of women they are harming by promoting abortion as if it is “reproductive healthcare.”
I write to you because you are already engaged in the mission of First Image by your prayers and your giving. Thank you! Now, more than ever, we ask for your continued, and deepened partnership in this mission.
I believe that we need a fresh awakening of compassion and conviction for realizing the truth that every person conceived in the womb is created in the Image of God. If those who know Christ are passive in offering these women and their babies a way out of the abortion lie, where else will they encounter this hope?
Thank you for not being passive in this work. In this season I encourage you to sign up to join our ministry in prayer on a regular basis if you have not already. And as tax returns are coming in and many are seeing increases in their take-home pay as a result of the changes in the tax code, I ask that you would consider giving to keep the work we are doing to provide alternatives to abortion strong in our city. We will keep you informed as we receive updates.
-Larry Gadbaugh, CEO
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