Hawaii Pastor speaks out against pro-abortion bill requirement
Derald Skinner is the pastor at Calvary Chapel Pearl Harbor in Waipahu, Hawaii and he is speaking out against a piece of pro-abortion legislation that would affect his church and free speech in a very bad way.
Public domain image/Perry-Castañeda Library
One of the church ministries is called “A Place for Women”. It is a pro-life pregnancy care and Biblical counseling center.
According to the church website, it offers women of all ages a safe and confidential environment to provide women with a FREE line-up of support services such as pregnancy testing, ultrasounds, pregnancy counseling, adoption referrals, abstinence education, post-abortive recovery classes, Biblical counseling and more. The center is run by trained volunteers and is located on the second floor of Calvary Chapel Pearl Harbor.
Here is the problem. The Hawaii Senate, in a 22-3 vote, approved a piece of legislation that would require Calvary Chapel Pearl Harbor that would mandate them put up an abortion referral sign in the reception area.
Excerpts of the legislation, SB 501, read as follows:
Because family planning decisions are time sensitive and care early in pregnancy is important, Hawaii must make every possible effort to advise women of all available reproductive health programs (these include publicly-funded family planning services, contraception services and education, abortion services, prenatal care, and birth-related services).
Requiring facilities that provide pregnancy- or family planning-related services but that are unable to directly enroll individuals in Med-QUEST coverage or department of health programs to provide accurate health information and to inform clients of the availability of and enrollment procedures for reproductive health programs will help ensure that all women in the State can quickly obtain the information and services that they need to make and implement informed, timely, and personally appropriate reproductive health decisions.
A “limited service pregnancy center”, like Calvary Chapel Pearl Harbor would be required to put up a sign stating the following:
“Hawaii has public programs that provide immediate free or low-cost access to comprehensive family planning services including all FDA-approved methods of contraception, prenatal care, and abortion for eligible women. To determine whether you qualify, contact the appropriate Med-QUEST division eligibility office.”
Clearly this is unacceptable and Pastor Skinner made that very clear in a video: “They are dictating to us what we can and cannot say, will they give me my sermon next and tell me what I can preach, Skinner said.
“This may affect all of us as Pastors, and besides that, this is completely against our first amendment rights, the freedom of religion and the freedom of speech.
“The State of Hawaii should not be involved in our pro-life centers, nor especially in the Christian church”.
