The Issue of Abortion
In 1973 the Supreme Court of the United States of America handed down
judgment in a case named Roe vs. Wade. Since then there have been many
reinforcing judgments that have resulted in the present day situation in
our country where a woman has a legal right to abortion on demand.
Tragically, the demand is so high that 1.5 million abortions are performed
each year and a total of over 40 million have been performed since 1973.
Today I would like to explore the issues surrounding abortion, and whether
you are pro-life, pro-choice or pro-abortion rights I urge you to examine
your beliefs today with an open mind. This is a subject that deserves the
most careful consideration and I believe that it is imperative that we
understand not only what we believe, but also why we believe it. This is
not an issue on which minds will be changed by a slogan or a bumper
sticker. Careful reasoning and patient persuasion will be required at the
least. If you are pro-life, I hope to give you some support in defending
your beliefs. You live in a society where you are sure to encounter those
who disagree with you. If you are pro-choice or pro-abortion, I say
without shame that I hope to change your mind.
The Great Divide
The people of our nation have been divided in the past over great issues.
One hundred forty years ago, a war broke out in our country. What we now
call the Civil War caused state to wage war against state and even brother
to kill brother over the issue of slavery. So terrible was that conflict
that more Americans were killed than have died in all of our other wars
combined. But in spite of that great conflict, one hundred years later, in
the 1960’s, we once again were forced to deal with racial issues in the
Civil Rights struggle. Racism is a difficult issue – a watershed issue –
over which there are very strong beliefs and emotions. Great things were
accomplished in both of these struggles because people of principal were
willing to give up their comfort zone to do something about a moral wrong.
Today, there is another watershed issue, an issue that divides our country
as deeply as slavery and racial equality, and that issue is abortion. It
is not a war over freemen and slaves, and it is not a war over color or
equality of races. It is a war of ideas rather than violent conflict and
it is very simply a matter of life and death.
The Positions
It is difficult to know how to begin a discussion of abortion, but the
most logical way to begin is by defining the major positions. Let’s start
with the pro-abortion position, sometimes now called the “reproductive
rights” position. Typically, people who take this position appeal to the
right of women to control their own bodies, including the right to control
whether a pregnancy, obviously within their own bodies, should continue or
not. For them, the new life within the mother is inconsequential when
compared to the well being of the mother herself. Well being is a broad
term, which, for them, includes the physical health, mental health,
economic condition, and even the convenience of the mother. If the baby is
thought to be defective, has the wrong father, or is the wrong sex for
instance, abortion is a perfectly acceptable option.
Next we have the pro-choice position. People who are pro-choice consider
their position to be “middle of the road”. You might hear a pro-choice
person say “I would not have an abortion myself, but I think that a woman
should be given the choice to have an abortion if she wants one.” Or they
might say”The government has no business telling a woman what to do with
her own body”. This position is, in effect, the same as being pro-abortion
because the choice they would permit is a choice that has a moral
dimension and moral consequences. It is not like choosing one shirt over
another or one car over another. To allow the choice of abortion is to
approve of abortion. As much as the pro-choice person may want to sit on
the fence, I believe that this is a choice with which one cannot be
neutral.
Finally there is the pro-life position. The core belief of those taking
this position is that the unborn child is a living human being. When an
abortion is performed they believe that a human life is being destroyed
which makes abortion a form of homicide.
Now, that is an overview of the major positions, so let’s take a few
minutes to analyze each one in a little more detail.
What is Right
When an abortion advocate says to me that a woman has a right to an
abortion, it brings up a question: What exactly do you mean when you say
right to abortion? What is the nature of this right and from whom or where
does this right come? I don’t believe that their position is that abortion
is just a legal right. After all, if that were their position, all that
would be necessary to eliminate that right would be to change the law of
the land. Then they should be against abortion because it is no longer a
legal right, right? Wrong! Surely they believe that women have a moral
right to abortion. But where does this moral right come from in the mind
of the pro-abortionist? They do not claim it comes from God or from the
law of the nations. No civilized nation has ever condoned and promoted
abortion until the 20th century. Their belief is that the right to
abortion proceeds from women’s rights. It is a sad fact that women were
once considered to be the property of their husbands or fathers. They were
neither allowed to vote nor to own property. In effect, they were slaves.
And one symbol of their servitude was the requirement that they bear and
rear children for their husbands. In 1920, the right of women to vote was
established by the 19th amendment to the Constitution, but the societal
position of women as inferior to men has persisted in the minds of many to
this day. Unfortunately, this position is attributed, I think unfairly, to
the Christian Church. Christ never said or even implied that women were
inferior to men, but there is an obvious difference between women and men;
for one thing, women bear children and men do not. In terms of what is
right and wrong, men do not have the moral right to own women or to force
women to bear children, and women do not have the moral right to abort
their children. Women carry unborn children inside their bodies and
deliver them at great expense of time, effort and pain. Women are also the
primary care givers of small children and the ones most likely to bear any
economic consequences of bringing a child into the world. We all have life
as a result of the pain and sacrifices of our mothers and we owe them a
debt of gratitude. But I believe that even though women have the right and
the responsibility to control reproduction and to control their own
bodies, once they are pregnant, they do not have the right to destroy the
new human life that is then involved. So, what is a woman to do when she
unexpectedly becomes pregnant? What is legal, what is available and what
she thinks is right will mold her choices. We cannot immediately change
what is legal, so we must work to make alternatives to abortion readily
available and try to convince everyone possible that abortion is morally
wrong.
Privacy and Intrusion
The right to privacy is also a major consideration of the pro-abortion
position. None of us wants unwarranted government intrusion into our
private lives. We would like to make our own decisions and live our lives
as we see fit as long as we don’t intrude into the rights of someone else.
The thought of government intrusion into our intimate and personal
decisions is distasteful to all of us. After all, this is America, “land
of the free”. But the law against child abuse, for example, intrudes into
our personal lives and restricts our actions and our choices. In fact,
every good law restricts our liberty in some way, but it does so for a
good reason, and that is to promote the greater good. Our Declaration of
Independence asserts the God given rights of “Life, Liberty and the
Pursuit of Happiness”. This certainly sounds like a hierarchy of rights
since you need life to have liberty and you need liberty to pursue
happiness. If that is the case, then the right to life is more important
than any other right. Our society and all civilized societies reflect that
truth in their laws. Murder is against the law almost everywhere because
governments recognize that life is precious. The greater good must always
be to protect life, and the innocent and defenseless are the ones in most
need of protection. The pro-abortion position elevates the right to
“Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” of one human being above the right
to Life of another human being and that is contrary to the law of nature
and nature’s God.
Is This a Living Human Being?
The problem is that very few of those who take the pro-abortion or
pro-choice position actually believe that the unborn child is a living
human being. They instead take the position that anything inside a woman’s
body is a part of her body and her right to control her own body takes
precedence. But how can the unborn child be an actual part of the mother’s
body when genetically, this is a separate person? Half of the time, the
child is male. How can a male child be an actual part of a female’s body?
Of course, that is impossible, but when your philosophy denies the
humanity of the unborn child, the mother is free to choose to end the life
of the unborn for any reason whatsoever.
We Are What We Allow
As for the pro-choice person, I will just say that it is a false
moderation. Pro-choice would allow a woman to choose or not choose
abortion at her discretion. And once again, this position is only possible
if they deny that an unborn child is a living human being. To allow a
woman to choose abortion is for all practical purposes to be pro-abortion.
We don’t allow husbands to choose to batter their wives because that is an
assault on a living human being. In fact if we were to allow that, it
could be said that we are participating in that wrongdoing. Similarly, I
believe that the pro-choice position is not a middle of the road stance,
but is in effect promoting and supporting abortion.
What is Pro-Life?
If you have followed this issue closely, you know that the definition of
life is a central question. What is a living human being? The way that
question is answered defines the way a society functions. Nazi Germany
denied the humanity of the Jew, the Gypsy, the homosexual, the mentally
retarded and many others. As a result, the killing of these people was not
considered to be homicide at all, but rather a service to society. In our
country today, the laws protecting human life are not extended to the
unborn, and now some even take the position that children who have not
achieved the ability to reason are not really human. The elderly are
thought by some to be useless and therefore worthy of destruction. Women
bearing children thought to be defective are routinely advised to
terminate their pregnancy. Can we be far from the day when those who
disagree with these positions are considered to be somehow mentally
defective and also worthy of destruction?
The pro-life position is that human life of all ages is valuable and
worthy of protection. God is pro-life. He created human beings and He made
a covenant with His creation after the flood. This is part of what He
said:
"Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in
the image of God has God made man." - Genesis 9:6
God considered human life so valuable that He prescribed the death penalty
for anyone that took a human life. But the Bible does not mention abortion
so how can I say that God is pro-life? Let’s look at a few scriptures and
try to discover God’s heart in this matter.
In Genesis 16:7-12 we read the story of Hagar’s flight from Abraham’s
house:
The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the
spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, "Hagar, servant of
Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?" "I'm running
away from my mistress Sarai," she answered. Then the angel of the LORD
told her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her." The angel added,
"I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to
count." The angel of the LORD also said to her: "You are now with child
and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has
heard of your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be
against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in
hostility toward all his brothers."
Now in verse 12, the angel of the Lord describes Ishmael as a man. This is
not just a prediction that by chance happened to turn out right, but an
accurate description of a man known by God while he was still an unborn
child.
In Genesis 25:21-26 we once again see the humanity of the unborn.
Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren.
The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. The
babies jostled each other within her, and she said, "Why is this happening
to me?" So she went to inquire of the LORD. The LORD said to her, "Two
nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be
separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will
serve the younger." When the time came for her to give birth, there were
twin boys in her womb. The first to come out was red, and his whole body
was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. After this, his brother
came out, with his hand grasping Esau's heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac
was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.
Now God not only knew Rebecca’s unborn children, but He knew the entire
history of their lives and He considered their lives from unborn children
to their death as continuous. In verse 23 He describes the twins as “two
nations”. This is not a reference to two inanimate objects, but to two
human beings whom God knew would eventually become great. If God considers
the unborn child as a living human being, how can we consider them to be
less?
(Other scriptures you might want to study are Psalm 139 and Romans chapter
9.)
If we can establish that the unborn child is a living human being, it is
very difficult for the pro-abortion or pro-choice person to maintain their
position. But many of our ideological adversaries will not accept the Word
of God as truth, so how can we convince them. Should we give up in that
case? Absolutely not! It is, as I said before, a matter of life and death.
First we need to find out how they define a living human being and work
from there. Is it heartbeat? The unborn child has a heartbeat. Is it
brainwave activity? The unborn have detectable brainwave activity from the
time they are six weeks old. Must they be viable? Viability changes with
time. Many of the babies who died as preemies in the past could be saved
today. What about infants? Aren’t they totally dependent on their parents?
Is abortion just a woman’s rights issue? If so, aren’t half of all unborn
babies female? What about their rights?
If you want to make a difference on this issue, you must be willing to
work on at least two fronts. First, know your adversaries and know their
arguments. You must be prepared to answer every point they make or you may
miss an opportunity to change one heart, and that is what it will take:
the changing of hearts. Second, you must be willing to put your efforts
and your money into the battle. I said before that this struggle is a war
of ideas, but just having an opinion does not make you a soldier in this
war. You may have the right ideas but be unwilling to participate, or you
may be too busy fighting with your friends to fight the common enemy. In
order to succeed, you have to be trained, you have to be prepared, you
have to be equipped and you have to be determined. Otherwise you will
lose, and this is not a war that we can afford to lose. I reject violence
as a tool in this struggle, but I advocate action. And what are our
weapons? We can pray. We can speak the truth to those who are deceived. We
can work to help pregnant mothers having problems; to make it easier for
them to choose what is morally right. These are all things we can do. But
if you are pro-life, you have to do something. God hears the voices of the
40 million already dead. Let’s make sure that not one more baby dies
because we are not willing to work for them.
There are two groups of people that I would like to address at this time.
Some of you reading this have either had an abortion or encouraged someone
else to have an abortion. God’s good news is that He, who so values human
life of all ages, is also the God who sent His Son to die for this sin.
Abortion is not an unforgivable sin. God will forgive your sin and cleanse
you from all unrighteousness for the sake of His Son if you repent and
trust Jesus to save you. All sin has consequences and one of the most
destructive of those consequences is guilt. If you suffer from the guilt
of any past sins, I want you to read and re-read 1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our
sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
If you read this passage and still do not feel forgiven, read it again and
read it again until you believe what God is saying to you. If you are in
Christ and feel guilty, this is not God’s will, because He has forgiven
you and has purified you for Himself.
The second group I would like to address is those who now or may in the
future contemplate having an abortion. Whatever problems are driving you
to consider this option, I beg you, please think carefully about what you
will do. Abortion will create more problems for you than it will solve. Go
to your Pastor, or a Deacon, or any Christian that you trust and ask for
help. Someone like me will thank you someday for allowing him or her to
have life. You see my mother became pregnant with me when she was 16 years
old and she decided to give me birth. It wasn’t easy for her, in fact her
whole life was a struggle, but I thank God that she made that decision and
that abortion was not the way of the world at the time. Now I have
children and my children have children because she chose life. I hope you
will, too.
May God bless each and every one of you.
- Dennis Petticrew
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