The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reversed a policy
decision of the Bush Administration.
Seventeen-year=olds will soon be able to buy a "morning after" pill to
be used as an emergency contraceptive. Fox News reported the story this way on
April 22:
WASHINGTON -- Seventeen-year-olds
will soon be able to buy the "morning after" emergency contraceptive
without a doctor's prescription, after the Food and Drug Administration bowed
to a federal judge's order Wednesday.
Reversing a contentious policy of
the Bush administration, the FDA said in a brief statement it will not appeal a
judge's order that overturns restrictions limiting over-the-counter sales of
"Plan B" to women 18 and older.
U.S. District Judge Edward Korman
ruled last month in a lawsuit filed in New York that Bush administration
appointees let politics, not science, drive their decision to restrict
over-the-counter access.
Korman ordered the FDA to let
17-year-olds get the birth control pills. He also directed the agency to
evaluate whether all age restrictions should be lifted.
Using Judge Korman's logic it is fair to say that the
decision to have sex is is considered a scientific issue, not a moral issue.
This may seem to be a stretch, but it is not. If science can be cited as the
reason to provide contraceptive medication without age restrictions or parental
oversight, then science must also be the basis for having sex in the first
place. In other words, if one is physically able to engage in sex, then there
is no reason to restrict sexual activity for anything other than scientific
reasons. Certainly, age and parental consent are not appropriate criteria to make
these decisions! What is left but science? In the judge's decision, moral and
ethical standards have been reduced to political standards. These political
standards are then obviously subject to change with each new election cycle.
What remains constant is science.
Welcome to 2009 and secular America! The actions of this
judge and the FDA indicate that the role of the family is nothing more than
that of a caregiver. Morality has become a function of science. Without a
biblical worldview, the family exists simply as a convenient social institution
to provide food and shelter for children. The family itself can be defined as
the political climate dictates. Father and mother are not terms
that can be used to define family. The new understanding of family must be
directed by science and defined by what it allows. Moral absolutes, like the
Bush administration, belong to the past.
We can be grateful to God that folks like Judge Korman do
not determine how we should live. The Judge has done the church a service. He
has reminded us that government is not a refuge and is not the place to look
for safety. The American way has become the way of the pragmatist. This has not
happened overnight. Eighty years ago, John Dewey said that the time for moral
absolutes has passed. From a human standpoint, his labors have been successful.
Thankfully, our citizenship is first in heaven, and only secondarily on earth. The church has a clear mission to be salt and light. This is a time for Christians to rejoice that we have a clear vision of the family to bring to an increasingly broken world. We have Plan A contained within the pages of Scripture. This plan is neither determined by nor subject to elections or court rulings. Your family is an important trust from God; it is under attack. But the church will prevail against the gates of hell itself. Our King is the One who can bring peace to a world enslaved by the desire for change.
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This post is from last week's Shepherd Press Newsletter. You may subscribe to the newsletter here. Encouraging your friends to subscribe is a great way to introduce them to Shepherd Press.
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