Some Thoughts on Abortion
First of all, I personally know several wonderful Christian women who chose, at some time ago in their
past, abortion over life. This section is not an attack on their past choice, it is meant to help people (future tense) avoid
making this same mistake. We have all made mistakes and all fall short of what we should be.
Decisions can be very difficult. We all know and understand that. Consider these five examples, of
difficult decisions, listed below. What you do if you were them?
1.There's a preacher and wife who are very, very poor. They already have 14 children. Now she finds
out she's pregnant with their 15th! They're living in tremendous poverty. Considering their poverty and the excessive world
population, would you recommend she get an abortion?
2.The father is sick, the mother has TB. They have four children. The first child is blind, the second
is dead. The third child is deaf, the fourth has TB. She finds she's pregnant again. Given the extreme situation, would you
consider recommending abortion?
3.A white man raped a 13 year old black girl and she became pregnant. If you were her parents, would
you consider recommending abortion?
4. A 40 year old single woman is raped by a drunk. She is under-employed and cannot afford to raise
a child. The child will have to go to foster care. She wants an abortion. What would you recommend.
5.A teenage girl is pregnant. She's not married. Her fiancee is not the father of the baby, and he's
very upset. Would you consider recommending abortion?
If you would have recommended abortion in any of these situations, you should know that...
1 .In the first case, you recommended killing John Wesley, one of the great evangelists of the 18th
century.
2. You recommended killing Ludwig Von Beethoven, one of the most famous musical composers of all time.
3. You recommended killing Ethel Waters, one of the nations leading gospel singers.
4. You recommended killings James Robison, President of Life Outreach International, an organization
that feeds over 300,00 children a year in Africa. Without him, thousands of children would die from starvation.
5. Lastly, you have just recommended killing Jesus Christ. Many children rise to greatness from difficult
circumstances.
In time, they will start killing grown-up people, disabled people and so on.-- Mother Teresa
"The cemetery of the victims of human cruelty in our century is extended to include yet another vast
cemetery, that of the unborn."
Pope John Paul II, London, 9 June 1991
I want to tell a story about a man who is now in his 50s. His mother was a practical nurse who attended
to an ill man at the man's home. The man's son was an alcoholic who raped the nurse and caused a pregnancy. The nurse, 40
years old and single, went to a physician wanting an abortion. The doctor was against it and urged her to go home and pray
about this decision. She did and God put it in her heart to "Have this little baby and it will bring joy to the world." The
nurse carried the child to term, a child that was the product of a rape. Because of her circumstances the baby went to foster
care and only learned about his beginnings years later. He had a hard start to life but lived into adulthood. His name is
James Robison and his story is told in his new book, "The Absolutes."
James Robison is now the President of Life Outreach International that feeds 400,000 children in Africa.
This same organization is a charity that also builds wells, again mainlyin Africa, so the people living there can drink clean
water. He and his wife Betty host Life Today (http://www.lifetoday.org/) that goes into more than 100 million homes on several continents. Would these children eat if Mr. Robison had
been aborted? I wonder if the person who would have discovered a cure for Aids, or you name the disease, has already been
aborted.
I do child abuse investigations for the State of Iowa. We have a number of calls each year about people
wanting to report prenatal abuse. These calls often involve concerned citizens who would like the State to do something about
some pregnant mother abusing illegal drugs. The State can do nothing because unborn children have ZERO rights.
So is abortion really about women's rights or is it about human rights? When does life start, or for
that matter, when does it end? And on what basis do you decide? And who should make that determination. The Supreme Court
made that decision in 1973 without any vote by the People or their elected representatives. There is supposed to be a separation
of Powers between the legislature, executive and judiciary branches of government. When activist courts make legislative determinations
democracy is endangered. But that is itself a whole different issue covered elsewhere here.
Women and men do have equal rights before the law. Should unborn children have some rights? They currently
have less rights than a deer, eagle, rabbit or about anything you could name. And people are more important than any animal,
even an endangered specie. Women should and do have the right to determine if they have sex, with whom and where. They can
use birth control or not. Is abortion really a women's rights issue?
About 145 years earlier, slavery existed legally in this country. Looking back, we all wonder how decent
Americans could have tolerated this practice. Slavery was about people not having human rights. And so is abortion. I suspect
people will, about 145 years in future, look back and ask themselves how could a great country allow this violation of human
rights.
Having your own children often vastly changes your perspective. Watching a child grow will also change
your attitude. Children are truly God's work in progress. They are distinctive from birth, even twins or siblings. They are
more than distinctive, they are each unique and cannot be replaced when lost. They are God's gift to their parents.
Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth.
Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they content with
their enemies before the gate. Psalm 127: 3-5.
I will not give a woman an instrument to procure abortion.--Hippocrates (c. 460–c. 377 b.c.)
We are fighting abortion by adoption. We have sent word to the clinics, to the hospitals, to the police
stations. "Please do not destroy the child. We will take the child."--Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910– 1997)
"Wisdom consists of the anticipation of consequences." Norman Cousins, Saturday Review, 15 Apr 1978.
Enough said.
