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Historically

No one knows just when the first abortion happened. Nor have we any record of when the first unwanted pregnancy occurred; but we are aware that sin began in the Garden of Eden, and that since that time, murder, deceit and idolatry have all come naturally to the sin-corrupted human heart. Although the word ‘abortion’ doesn’t appear in the Bible, church fathers such as Augustine, Luther and Calvin spoke against it.

“ but we are aware that sin began in the Garden of Eden, and that since that time, murder, deceit and idolatry have all come naturally to the sin-corrupted human heart. ”

Yet, through the ages, it has been practiced—pretty much for all the same reasons it is practiced today. Consider this quote by Aristotle: “…when couples have children in excess, let abortion be procured before sense and life have begun; what may or may not be lawfully done in these cases depends on the question of life and sensation” (Aristotle, Politics 7.16).

In our own country’s early history, there is evidence that various cultures in our melting pot of nations practiced traditional methods of ending a pregnancy. Those who possessed the knowledge sold their services to anyone interested. Because there was no scientific evidence to confirm just when a fetal heart began beating, it was generally held in secular society that the preborn child had no soul until the mother felt fetal movement, called ‘quickening.’ However, this was never at any point a biblically founded belief.

In the late 1850’s, the newly formed American Medical Association (AMA) began to campaign for criminalizing abortion except in cases where a woman’s life was at risk. Scientific evidence was taking precedence over the idea that life began at quickening. Rather, it was realized that a new human life would take shape if no one interrupted its development. The AMA felt that any taking of life was morally wrong; and so state by state, abortion became illegal. With their influence, by 1880, abortion across the country had been criminalized because of state laws against it (Stearns, Mary; Florida State University College of Law).

“ The AMA felt that any taking of life was morally wrong; and so state by state, abortion became illegal. ”

Politically

This discussion is greatly abbreviated due to lack of space. Surely the political impact the issue of abortion has brought to the forefront of current events has many nuances. There are just two I want to mention here:

  1. Scientific evidence for the beginning of life.
  2. The constitutional right of women to choose abortion.

Since the mid-19th century and the founding of the AMA, both science and technology have progressed by leaps and bounds. It is now a scientific fact that the fetal heart begins beating around 21 days after conception, which becomes detectable three to six weeks after the first day of the mother’s last menstrual period. At the moment of conception, the baby has its own unique genetic code, its DNA already determining everything from sex, to hair color, to individual personality traits! By the end of the first trimester, all of the fetal organs are present and the heart has begun to pump blood with the baby’s own blood type.  (In the Womb, National Geographic, 2005).

“ At the moment of conception, the baby has its own unique genetic code, its DNA already determining everything from sex, to hair color, to individual personality traits! ”

Scientific studies confirm that a baby can feel pain by 20 weeks, and some scientists believe this occurs even earlier. Ultrasounds have shown the baby to move away from objects approaching it, i.e. during an abortion procedure (Unplanned, Soli Deo Gloria, 2019). Finally, babies with a gestational age of 20-22 weeks have been known to survive (“Mom pleads with doctor to resuscitate baby delivered at 21 weeks. ‘Miracle’ daughter is now a healthy toddler”, USA Today, Nov. 14, 2017). As medicine advances, the odds of survival for preemies get better and better.

“ Ultrasounds have shown the baby to move away from objects approaching it, i.e. during an abortion procedure. ”

The constitutional right of women to choose abortion is a little more complicated. In the last century, women have fought for equal rights, winning the right to vote and making great strides in job equality and compensation. Paid compensation for pregnancy and maternal leave have come a long way just in my lifetime. Courts have found that these rights are guaranteed in the constitution.

But does a woman have the right to violate her own ability to carry and birth children, and literally kill the offspring within her? Can that be considered health care? Do unborn children have any constitutional rights? The Supreme Court, through Roe v. Wade, maintained that reproductive rights belong to women alone, and that unborn children have no rights whatsoever. However, if science has now determined that a life separate from the mother’s is viable in the womb—constitutionally these unborn members of our society also have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Certainly ending their lives is no form of health care, for anyone.

“ if science has now determined that a life separate from the mother’s is viable in the womb—constitutionally these unborn members of our society also have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. ”

While I understand that nowhere in the Constitution are the rights of the unborn mentioned, the rights to life and liberty found in the 14th Amendment  are equal for men and women. If the woman alone is allowed to determine when and how she will birth life, then doesn’t that take away a man’s right to father a child? After all, a woman does not become pregnant by herself.

This kind of reasoning brings the Book of Judges to mind, when the Israelites were without a king and “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25).

Morally

What Roe v. Wade then mandates is that women alone can decide what to do reproductively, and that men have no say unless given a say by women. Legally, men lose rights—not to mention that the idea of family and love-based relationships are undermined.  Doesn’t this perpetuate a self-love that dictates what a woman wants, putting her desires above everything else? And what about the first act that precedes pregnancy? There is a choice that legally and morally belongs to men and women.  Yet after that choice, only the mother can say whether or not the baby is wanted, and only she can determine whether the unborn life has any value. Logic seems to have left the court chambers!

Studies should be done to determine how many families, how many relationships, have been torn apart as a result of abortion. From my years in pregnancy center work, I can tell you of fathers and mothers who threw their children out of the house because they wouldn’t have an abortion; children who never let their parents know they had an abortion; husbands/boyfriends who told their partners to get an abortion or the relationships would end; wives/girlfriends who had abortions against the wishes or knowledge of their partners. Relationships often end in these situations. And don’t be so naïve to think that the woman having the abortion is actually having it because she wants it—many times she is pressured into the decision. Studies should be done, but the fear factor of exposure would make such a study ineffective.

“ Studies should be done to determine how many families, how many relationships, have been torn apart as a result of abortion. ”

Why do women choose to have abortions?  “The Guttmacher Institute is a research organization started in 1968 that works to study, educate, and advance sexual and reproductive health and rights” (according to Guttmacher Institute). They document the reasons women give as to why they have abortions from year to year. Their statistics seem to gloss over more specific reasons given and the anti-abortion side has accused them of not giving accurate information (Save the Storks, Michael Speilman, TheAbort73Blog). Nevertheless, each year the same two reasons are publicized.

Reason #1: having a baby interferes with life plans.

Reason #2: can’t afford a baby.

While these may be the reasons so effectively voiced by the pro-abortion side, the same reasons could easily be categorized as an expedient means to end an unwanted pregnancy.

Spiritually

Sixty million unborn lives have been lost since 1973. Their sacrificed ashes have drifted away from our sight, but not from God’s sight (Deuteronomy 18:10). We have carelessly unraveled what He has so wonderfully knitted together in a mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13-14). Like the Israelites, we have placed ourselves in the high place. ‘Self’ is our idol and we are serving it well. We so desperately need a King!

 But as for you, O man of God, flee these things….Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,…he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords,… To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

—1 Timothy 6:11-16, English Standard Version

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