Josh DeGroote, pastor from Real Life Church in Ankeny, quoted Proverbs 31:8-9.
“Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth and judge righteously; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”
He said he was here to urge the legislators to do the right thing.
Abortion, he said, is a great and gross injustice. Legislators are called to promote justice as God’s servants.
“Abortion is a gross injustice and it’s foisted upon the most helpless of all human beings,” he said. “The language of this amendment makes it clear that it is to defend the dignity of all human life. Who could argue with that?”
DeGroote said there is no group of people more destitute than the preborn. They are mute and need us to speak for them. They are weak and need us to be strong for them. They are defenseless, and they need to be defended by us, he said.
“To be clear, abortion is the intentional and gruesome dismemberment and killing of an innocent human being who is made in the image of God,” he said. “That’s what it is. It’s a boy or a girl. It’s a son or a daughter.”
DeGroote said the conscience of every human attests to this.
“You and I know this,” he said. “Therefore to deny it is to simply suppress the truth that’s before us. You, as elected representatives are God’s servants and called to promote justice in the state of Iowa. Just laws, which commend good behavior and punish evil behavior. The book of Romans chapter 13 says that governing authorities act as God’s servants.”
Perhaps, he said, the legislators have never considered that or heard of that before. But that is how God views them.
“You may think you’re accountable merely to your constituents and to your districts and to your donors, but that’s not true,” he said. “The judge of all the Earth, the judge of all human history is the God who made you and He’s watching. You will stand before Him and give an account of what you’ve done here. And make no mistake, He is a God of impeccable justice. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne, His eternal throne. So, I urge you to judge righteously, do what’s right, protect the life of the most needy and helpless among us. Pass this amendment and see it all the way through until it’s ratified and added to the constitution.”
Debbie Griffin, a pastor at Downtown Disciples, said she wanted to respond to the previous speaker and say she would like to disagree with “just about everything that he said.”
She said there is much disagreement not only among citizens of Iowa, but among Christians themselves about the Scriptures and judging and judging others and being called to respect our neighbors and their ability to make decisions for themselves.
“The way that I honor my maker,” she said. “Is by respecting their freedom.”
