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Revisiting Abortion

Revisiting Abortion

The advocates of abortion have got me thinking again. The other day, a story on the new legislation—which gives U.S. citizen rights to the fetus of an immigrant mother—was on the television. There has also been the heated controversy, which came from the law passed about multiple counts of murder being charged when a baby is killed along with his mother in the Lacy Peterson trial. Both of these incidents, along with other examples, have given rise to a deeper look into the psychology of the pro-choice stance.

Personally, I believe abortion is wrong. I believe a fetus is a “future human,” regardless of the time spent between conception and actual birth. When I was in college, an incident occurred on campus in one of the dorms. A dead fetus was found in the trashcan of a women’s bathroom. Stories ran in the student newspaper and investigations went underway to discover who could do such a thing. There was outrage. I wrote an editorial to the student newspaper, observing how it was ironic that so much justice could be called for in this case when thousands of fetuses were terminated daily in abortion clinics nationwide. The day the article came out, I was in the student center when I overheard two people reacting to what I had written. They were angry that I could compare the two events. Seeing as how I was anonymous to them, it was interesting to hear, firsthand, what people had to say.

As a young man, my parents took me to a protest against abortion. I stood alongside the road holding a poster showing a fetus and some figures about abortion rates. Distinct in my memory are the insults, the curses and the faces of those that were vehemently opposed to what I represented. Some even spat at us. This was in the ’80s, when the lines were being drawn in the abortion issue and politicians were chosen or rejected because of their personal beliefs on the subject.

Needless to say, I have a history of involvement with this kind of debate. Since that time as a young man, I haven’t been involved in any marches or protests, but I do keep abreast of the issue in the media. The one thing that always strikes me as odd is the psychological contradictions arising from the people on the side of pro-choice. If these very people, who advocate the right to terminate a fetus, were themselves a victim of this procedure, they wouldn’t even be alive to debate the issue! They would have been terminated.

This leads me to two conclusions. At the very heart of this issue is a deep sense of self-hatred. Those that fight for the right to have abortions are advocating what amounts to murder—the termination of a life. Now, we can get into the semantics of murder and the debate over whether a fetus is a “real person” or not, but that seems superfluous. Those of us who walk the earth and have daily lives and families today were once fetuses. That’s how we all start. It’s how we were created. If someone has it in their soul to fight with all they have for the right to terminate a pregnancy, they are indirectly stating that they should’ve possibly been terminated. It seems that self-hate exists where someone wants to see himself or herself non-existent. Do they really believe their lives aren’t worthy of being lived?

On the other side of the coin is the issue of rights. Most people on the side of pro-choice would rather not say its murder, I would assume. They would state it in such a way as to put their rights ahead of everything and everyone else. It’s not that their lives aren’t worthy; rather, it’s their adamant belief that their lives are very worthy and they don’t want to deal with the consequences of pregnancy or the responsibility and sacrifice that a child requires. It’s their right to live their lives and do what they want, even to get rid of anything that would impede their own happiness. Right?

This comes down to the old question of rebellion against God. We are all fallen in the human race. Our tendency is to do everything except what God wants. God has created us to bear children through pregnancy at his timing, yet we want to call the shots when it comes to parenthood. If it’s not in our agenda, we want the ability to do away with “it” without anyone saying we shouldn’t. The anger and rage that results from the debate over abortion stems from the moral dilemma of whether it is right or wrong. Those who believe God created us as individuals and loves us and has a plan for our lives are staunchly opposed to those who believe we are a result of chaos and chance by an indifferent and impersonal universe.

Far from being finished, this debate will continue to inspire passionate responses and arguments. We, as Christians, who are called to love, must be prepared to defend our faith and to communicate the heart of God to those who don’t know Him. In light of this, we must be compassionate toward those who believe differently than we do about abortion. The easier way to go is to bolster our logical and intellectual reasons why we don’t agree and to fight, tooth and nail, to convince them that we are right and they are wrong. However, the wiser and more difficult way is to ask God to convict their hearts and consciences of the truth. We must pray for them. We must ask God to give us a heart of love for them, despite our own feelings. We must, as Jesus did, sometimes suffer in the face of persecution and hate … even if it means getting spit on.

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