“Deliver those who are drawn toward death and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, ‘Surely we did not know this,’ does not He who weighs the hearts consider it?” –Proverbs 24:11-12.

Christians, and specifically pastors, have been called by God in the Holy Scripture to lead God’s people to cultivate a Biblical worldview, shepherding them as the flock of God, being an example for them to follow (I Peter 5:1-4), imparting to them the knowledge and understanding in God’s ways true to God’s own heart (Jeremiah 3:15), and not neglecting to declare unto them the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27). The whole counsel of God would include the application of Biblical standards of morals and ethics that are consistent with, and a natural outgrowth of a Biblical world view, in all spheres of life and human activity; for as the Scriptures declare, “The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein." (Psalm 24:1)
And, “Who has preceded Me, that I should pay him? Everything under heaven is Mine.” (Job 41:11)

Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ exhorted us in His Great Commission to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20).

Affirming that we are called to live out our Christian worldview in our own personal lives, our marriages, our families, our churches, and our communities, this call also extends to the realms of civil government and the marketplace of ideas. The issue of the protection of innocent life has been a moral imperative to God’s people, since time immemorial, as chronicled in the pages of Scripture. And whereas the issue of the protection of innocent life in the womb before birth has been hotly contested and fought for by the Church in America since the signing into law by the Supreme Court of Roe v. Wade in 1973, as followers of Jesus Christ and as pastors, we now in the 21st century, in the state of California find ourselves engaged in a new, colossal struggle for innocent life that erodes the sanctity of human life even further. Now, with the California legislature's recent attempt to not just legalize the practice of abortion (the taking of innocent life within the womb) have incredibly gone further than that in the attempt to pass California Assembly Bill 2223, the premeditated killing of children outside the womb for up to 28 days.

The ‘perinatal death’ language (included in the original bill) could lead to an unintended and undesirable conclusion; the bill could be interpreted to immunize a pregnant person from all criminal penalties for all pregnancy outcomes, including the death of a newborn for any reason during the ‘perinatal’ period after birth, including a cause of death which is not attributable to pregnancy complications.

In other words, it could effectively legalize infanticide up to 28 days after the baby is born “for any reason.” In short, AB 2223 allows for the murder of infants, the revival of an age-old sin and horror of infanticide. The Scripture’s prohibition against this practice could not be clearer:

“Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man.” (Genesis 9:10)

“You shall not murder.” (Exodus 20:13)

“And you shall not let any of your descendants pass through the fire to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. (Leviticus 18:22)

“Also he made his son pass through the fire, practiced soothsaying, used witchcraft, and consulted spiritists and mediums. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger…” (II Kings 21:6)

“Also, he caused his sons to pass through the fire in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom…;
…He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger.” (II Chronicles 33:6)

“They served their idols, which became a snare to them. They even sacrificed their sons

and their daughters to demons, and shed innocent blood, The blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood.”  (Psalm 106:36-38).

“And they built the high places of Baal which are in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I did not command them, nor did it come into My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.’” (Jeremiah 32:35).


“But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” (Matthew 15:18-19).


“Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. (Romans 12:19).

“But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Revelation 12:8)

Thus, being that children born outside the womb, including infants under 28 days old, which are permitted to be killed under the scope of the language of AB 2223, are fully fledged human beings and God’s image bearers, and Scripture designates them as such from the moment of conception and even unto the early days subsequent to their birth, as evidenced by continuity of the terms for children, both before and after birth, and additionally the use of personal pronouns, they therefore innately possess supreme value and worth. They are to be guarded and protected, and as Scripture commands, AB 2223 therefore constitutes the morally unjustified, indefensible taking of innocent human life; in short, the provisions of AB 2223 are the revitalizing of infanticide and allow for the murder of the most vulnerable. We as pastors, our conscience held in captivity to the Word of God, do therefore repudiate and deny any teaching that infanticide due to rape, incest, birth defects, gender selection, birth or population control, or the physical or mental well-being of the mother are permissible for the people of God, or to corroborate or give financial support or any sort of theological, ethical, moral or civic participation in any such way, or support for political candidates or current office holders who endorse such a view. The church, based upon clear Biblical teaching and by obedience to the Holy Scriptures, believes that life is to be preserved without exception.

We as followers of Jesus Christ, as pastors, and watchmen, whose names appear below, refuse to mute our voice (Isaiah 56:10) on this sin being promoted by the California state legislature.

Signers,

Sign the Declaration in Defense of Newborn Life