Israel to Provide Free Abortions

The Israeli government has announced that it will begin offering free abortions to women between the ages of 20 and 33. Dr. Yonatan Halevy, head of Israel's Health Ministry commission, said, "When pregnancy occurs and it is undesired or inadvertent, I think we should supply the means to end the pregnancy properly" ("Israel's Abortion Law," The Times of Israel, Jan. 6, 2014). Women will not be required to present any medical reason for an abortion. The policy means that free abortions will be available to an additional 6,000 women per year, including "single women, young women who are unable to ask their parents for the funds, or those who fall pregnant as the result of an extramarital affair but are financially dependent on their husbands." More than 1.5 million Jewish babies have been aborted since Israel formed its modern state in 1948 (Christian News, Jan. 13, 2014). The decision reminds us that Israel is back in the land, but she is in a spiritually-dead condition and will remain so until she repents during the Tribulation prior to the return of the Messiah. "And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn" (Zechariah 12:9-10).

(Friday Church News Notes, January 24, 2014, www.wayoflife.org [email protected], 866-295-4143)

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