Our Local Chapter

St. Paul’s Anglicans for Life Zoe Chapter is committed to defending and celebrating life from conception to natural death.

The abortion debate remains at the forefront, since the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. In that light, we would like to emphasize that the Saint Paul’s Zoe chapter of Anglicans For Life is supporting pro-life efforts that will lead to an end to abortions in SC and it’s traumatic after effects. On average, there are over 5,000 abortions annually in SC, the majority of which occur after the baby’s heartbeat can be detected. With God’s guidance, our foremost goal is to offer help and hope to the mother, father and baby. We want to change hearts and minds by focusing on life affirming initiatives, educating ourselves and others by understanding how abortion affects us all, separating fact from fiction and being advocates for life in our everyday walk.

Embracing a Life Affirming Culture

We hear the phrase “life affirming” often these days. What exactly does it mean?  “Life affirming” means that life, in and of itself, has value and dignity. It is a natural right, i.e., one that is given by our Creator.  Genesis tells us that God created male and female in his own image, blessed them and gave them his first commandment, go forth and multiply.  Go; spread this wondrous gift of life that has been given to you.  America’s Declaration of Independence avows “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”  We have a right to life simply by being human, given to us by God, not given by government, but to be protected by government.

Our Christian beliefs and the accepted science of embryology agree that the human embryo is fully human at the moment of conception.  It is a whole, distinct, living organism capable of functioning in a coordinated way to achieve its own development.  It is the natural outcome of sex between male and female as God intended and as science confirms.  The embryo is exactly what it is supposed to be (a human), where it is supposed to be (in the mother’s womb), doing what it is supposed to be doing (growing and developing).  The baby in the womb is fully human.  It is not a cyst or an impacted tooth to be extracted, not a random glob of nonspecific misplaced cells, not a part of the mother’s body. The mother doesn’t suddenly have 4 arms or two heads.  The baby is only being nurtured by the mother, as it will be after birth. The baby is only 9 months and a short eight inch birth canal away from being held in its mother’s arms.

None of us are any more valuable than our neighbor. Certainly, we have different talents, skills, abilities/disabilities, different shapes and sizes, different color of skin, hair, eyes.  What of it?  Do any of these attributes make us any less human?  Of course not.  Then, why would some have us believe that just because the human embryo is small, still developing, in a different environment and dependent on another that he/she isn’t human?  When external attributes are used to determine the value of a life, history shows us it can lead rapidly to genocide, forced sterilization, selective breeding, discrimination and a culture of death. Who then decides who is valuable and who is not?

Our role in securing a life-affirming culture is to educate ourselves on the facts, be articulate in the defense of the unborn, ensure our laws reflect a respect for life and give protection to the defenseless, innocent babies – born and unborn.  Most of all, we must act with empathy, love and compassion in finding creative ways to help people choose life. This is work God has given us to do.

Jill Ferguson

(Reference material:  The Case for Life, by Scott Klusendorf; Tearing Us Apart, by Ryan Anderson and Alexandra DeSanctis)