January 28, 2003
Shinkle addresses right-to-life memorial service at state Capitol
JEFFERSON CITY – Monte Shinkle, president of the Missouri Baptist Convention, says his opposition to abortion is an opposition that comes from deep within.
Shinkle made his remarks at a Missouri Right to Life memorial service in the state Capitol rotunda on Jan. 22, the 30th anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in the United States.
"I stand before you today not as pastor of Concord Baptist Church nor as President of the Missouri Baptist Convention, but as a common man who 30 years ago this past fall experienced the grace of God for forgiveness of my own sin," Shinkle said.
"I am not any better than anyone else. I sometimes am wrong and I am far from perfect. But deep in the heart of this common man is the knowledge of the difference between right and wrong. I have learned the lessons of cause and effect, of truth and consequences.
"And abortion is wrong. Partial birth or otherwise … it is wrong."
The memorial service was organized by the Missouri Right to Life organization. Susan Klein, wife of Dusty Klein, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church at Sedalia, serves as the lobbyist for the organization.
With a contingent of state lawmakers looking on, Shinkle said the voices of 40 million babies cry out to us that it is wrong.
"If today we were to introduce a bill that would eliminate everyone under 30, it wouldn’t stand a chance. You legislators would see to it that it didn’t stand a chance. Our governor would veto it. The Supreme Court wouldn’t allow it," Shinkle said.
"We would know that in a land that promises life, liberty and pursuit of happiness there would be 40 million who would never know life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness or a choice. Forty million have had no choice."
Patty Skain, executive director of Missouri Right to Life, told the Capitol gathering that 43,358,592 abortions had been performed in the United States since the Roe v. Wade decision. The Missouri total, she said, is 465,001.
‘We know wrong when we see it," Shinkle said. "We tremble at what we see in the Bible. The false God’s Chemosh and Molech devoured children on their altars of pagan worship. Herod killed babies in an attempt to get to Jesus. And Pharaoh threw boy babies in the Nile for population control."
Shinkle said history and current events record that Hitler killed six million, terrotist and tyranny snuff out lives and lead us to the brink of war, child abuse increases in our nation and racial injustice and sexual discrimination plagues our land.
"But there is more mental anguish today than I have seen in all my years of ministry," Shinkle said. "Today, the most dangerous place in America remains in a mother’s womb."
Quoting Jeremiah, Shinkle said: "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou comest out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee as prophet unto the nations."
"God has a plan for all of us," the pastor concluded. "He had a plan for 40 million that never discovered it. They never had a chance because they didn’t have a choice."