Arizona's Apologia Church Pastor Jeff Durbin confronted the Colorado legislature on the truth about abortion during a hearing held last February 23 for House Bill 22-1079 or the "Abolishing Abortion In Colorado" bill.
Charisma News highlighted that Durbin, who has worked with Colorado Representative Dave Williams to submit the bill, is facing an uphill battle out of him being a pro-life advocate. The pastor also happened to be the leader of End Abortion Now, which is an upshoot of Apologia Church's ministering to local abortion clinics. End Abortion Now has become a global movement reaching Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and South Africa, among others.
The Abolishing Abortion In Colorado Bill, also called HB 1079, aims to abolish abortion in a state that is regarded as a very liberal state. The bill corrects many pro-choice movements' claims, which involves, first of all, the definition of a "person" that excludes the unborn.
In a video of the hearing's proceedings uploaded by Apologia Studios, the church's media arm, Durbin stressed that his presence is on behalf of the millions of children murdered by abortion since the United States Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. Durbin testified on behalf of the bill to point out that Roe v. Wade is not a law because only Congress has the power to make laws. As such, it is no constitutional right to have an abortion, which is the murder of children in the womb.
"I'm speaking on behalf of over 60 million pre-born human beings murdered since the tyranny of Roe (Roe v. Wade) and the thousands killed daily, upwards of 3,000 killed per day in this nation. Science is on our side. We know it's a fact, irrefutable, and the heads of Planned Parenthood and other organizations admit, 'Yeah, it's fully human at conception, but we still have the right to kill children in the womb,'" Durbin said.
Durbin pointed out that it is not right to kill others, even if they are small, have disabilities, or are still in the womb. Durbin disclosed adopting Augustine, now a two-year-old child who was diagnosed with spina bifida before he was born. The mother already had two abortion appointments. The pastor pointed out that no matter how painful a circumstance may be-such as having a child with a disability or genetic abnormality-the right to kill will never be justified. This still does not give anyone the right to allow others to kill their child.
In addition, Durbin also rebuked the pro-choice claim of bodily autonomy women have as an alleged right to abortion, which he finds a self-defeating argument.
"We don't kill other human beings because they're small...We don't kill other human beings because of their level of development...We don't kill other human beings because of simply where they're located. What is in the womb is fully human. And what's being killed in our nation is about 3,000 per day," Durbin continued.
"All arguments from humans that we have bodily autonomy are pro-life arguments because what's in the womb is human. If your argument is that humans have bodily autonomy then humans in the womb have bodily autonomy. So every time you hear it, it's self-refuting, every single time. The decision of Roe v. Wade is not law. Congress legislates in our nation. Congress creates law, not the Supreme Court," he added.
Durbin criticized that people resist the federal government for marijuana laws but would not stand up for children in the womb or for the dignity and value of human life. Durbin summarized that abortions are 98% done because of convenience-meaning its is willfull-and 2% because of rape, incest, or the life of the mother. This is based on the 3,000 daily abortions as per statistics.
The pastor emphasized that these ill beliefs justifiying abortion is a sin and a crime, which reveals people's need to turn to Christ to "do what's right and establish justice." He also pleaded that legislators listen to the arguments he raised so that the murder of children will end.
During cross examination, Durbin pointed out that it is wrong to give capital punishment to a child for the father's sin of rape. He also mentioned that several children born from rape are grateful they were not aborted for they lived beautiful lives.
