SC Supreme Court OKs Heartbeat Abortion Ban, Sunrise Children’s Services’ Legal Battle Ends & An Idol By Any Other Name

South Carolina’s Supreme Court upheld the state’s latest fetal heartbeat abortion ban Aug. 23, although the court in January struck down a previous and nearly identical version of the ban.

Both bills limit abortion after the detection of a fetal heartbeat with exceptions, including to save the mother’s life and in cases of rape, incest and fetal abnormalities. Both bills allow for criminal penalties for doctors and patients.

The new law goes further in protecting the life of the unborn, limiting to 12 weeks of pregnancy abortions allowed under the rape and incest exceptions, while the previous ban allowed abortions until 20 weeks of pregnancy.
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A 25-year-old legal dispute has finally been settled in favor of Sunrise Children’s Services. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati unanimously affirmed the final dismissal of all the plaintiffs’ claims against Sunrise with prejudice in a ruling Tuesday.

The dismissal with prejudice is the functional and legal equivalent of a final judgment on the merits in Sunrise’s favor following a full-blown trial. This was Sunrise’s fifth trip to the appeals court, and it prevailed each time.

The case dates to 1999 when the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled for Sunrise in a dispute involving former employee Alicia Pedreira.

Pedreira and the ACLU then sued Sunrise and the Commonwealth of Kentucky in federal court in 2000, falsely accusing Sunrise of LGBT and religious discrimination.
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In her book about Gideon, Priscilla Shirer says “idolatry is very much alive today, no matter what terminology we attach to it.”

In Gideon’s case, after he led the Israelites to victory over the Midianites, they asked him to “rule over us” (Judges 8:22). They didn’t use the word king, but they described what a king would do, and they did so at a time before God had approved a king for His people. They wanted a man rather than God to rule over them.

For his part, Gideon said the right thing: “I will not rule over you. … The LORD will rule over you” (v. 23). But what did he do? He began to live and behave as if he were king.

He requested part of the spoils of war as would a national leader (v. 24). He willingly received the opulent ornamentation for himself and his camels that only kings with national wealth behind them could afford (v. 26). He made himself an ephod, a symbol of priestly authority, and allowed people to worship it (v. 27). Then he named his new son Abimelech, which means son of the king (v. 31).

We might use positive and innocent-sounding words for an object of our devotion. But regardless of what we call it, anything we put ahead of God carries the stench of idolatry.

Find the full piece at Baptist Press.