In the United states, the issue of abortion is often
volatile and divisive. Efforts to have
intellectually honest and authentic conversations about when human life begins,
contraception, and abortion often turn into shouting matches, and worse. Then again, many people just don’t care;
until they are affected personally.
Roman Catholics believe that God’s will is interfered
with when any method of contraception is used.
Others believe that not planning pregnancy is socially
irresponsible. Most believe that abortion should not become a method of contraception. Many Protestants think
that God is sovereign, all-knowing, and all powerful. They believe that if God wills someone to be
born, they will be, and the use of contraception (not abortion) is permissible. Personally, I
believe that I will meet Jesus face to face, and I will understand all things
then. Until that time, I am to rely on
the Holy Bible as my ultimate guide to faith and practice.
Many people, however, do not believe in God, and they
oppose efforts to impose Bible based restrictions on them. Others believe there is a God, but that He
will just have to understand if they ignore Him when His rules become inconvenient.
My God says that we are not to commit murder. (Exodus
20:13) The U.S. Constitution says that no one may be deprived of life, liberty
or property without due process of law. (14th Amendment) So, the debate often centers on when human
life begins.
When a sperm cell unites with an egg inside a woman’s
body, the resultant fertilization produces a zygote that has unique DNA. That particular set of DNA never existed
before, and will never again, except in the case of multiple births from a
single egg. Is this when human life
begins? Immediately, cells begin to
divide within the zygote forming an embryo, which may become attached to the
woman’s uterus. After three months, the
attached embryo is called a fetus. Except
in the case of a miscarriage, a live birth will result, if the pregnancy is not
interfered with. When along the way does
a baby become a human being?
Pregnancy … sooner or later people are going to figure
out what causes that. Unless one or both
partners are sterile, sexual intercourse between a man and a woman always
involves the risk of pregnancy. Except
in cases like rape or child abuse, when people have sex it is because they
choose or consent to do so. Since some
object to the interjection of religion into the conversation, let’s set it
aside for a moment. Ethical people
accept responsibility for the consequences of their actions. Are not those who choose to have sex bound to
accept responsibility for the consequences?
People are human.
They make mistakes. I did. By the grace of God, I didn’t (to the best of
my knowledge) father a child outside of marriage. I was lucky, but if I had I would have taken
responsibility to care for the child or seen that it was adopted, given the
cooperation of the lady involved. Yea
me. What about the woman who gets
pregnant during an affair with a married man, or the young college student who
will have to abandon a good future to raise a child? What about the parents of a teenage daughter
who gets pregnant with a guy who will surely ruin her life further if she
marries him, or the welfare mom who already has more children than she can
provide for? Tough choices.
Since people sometimes do a bad job of dealing with tough
choices, the community (government) acts to legislate responsible
behavior. Libertarians may say that is
not an appropriate role for government.
I wish it were not necessary, however, the government is supposed to be
an expression of the will of the people in America. People here feel a corporate responsibility to
protect human life. We just can’t agree
about how to do it.
Presently, most states allow late-term (third trimester)
abortion under restrictive circumstances. Alaska, Colorado, New Hampshire, New Jersey,
New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington, D.C. allow late-term abortion
with little restriction. New York and
Virginia, have laws that allow open access to abortion, and have (or are in the
process of providing for) abortion up to and including when a woman is in
labor. Governor Ralph Northam of
Virginia is reported to have said that if a viable baby is born alive as a
result of a late-term abortion, and the mother so chooses, it should be kept
comfortable but allowed to die. When he
was a state legislator in Illinois, Barack Obama is reported to have voted “present”
on a bill that provided what Gov. Northam is currently proposing.
A large number of other states have adopted very
restrictive abortion laws. Whether the laws
are prochoice or prolife, they are already being challenged in court. There are people who think some of the prolife
laws are being passed with the intention of eventually challenging Roe v. Wade
before the supreme court.
I will be 71 years old soon. In my life I have found that heartache,
misery, and shame follow when we don’t do what God tells us to. It isn’t always easy, but it is better than
the chaos caused by a sinful way of life.
One thing we can learn from the nasty fight we have been having in America
over abortion is that, when the blind lead the blind they all fall into a pit.
(Matthew 15:14) God gave us sex and
children for our happiness. I urge that
we handle sex and procreation the way God has told us to.
“But if serving
the Lord seems undesirable to you,
then choose for
yourselves this day whom you will serve …
But as for me and my
household, we will serve the Lord.”
(Joshua 24:15 NIV)
