Is Abortion Our Right?
These are my babies. According to my country, it was my right as a woman to kill them before they were born. Since I was born towards the end of 1973, it was also “my mother’s right” to abort me before I was born, I am very thankful that she did not. This is what our laws allow right now, but even though our country says it is our right, this is NOT our God given right. The Bible says, “Before I (God) formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born I set you apart...” Jer. 1:5 “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Ps 139:13-14 “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Ps 139:16
I believe in God, and in His Word, and I know that none of us were accidents. We were created on purpose, for a purpose and God has a plan for each of us. Are we really so bold as to say that our ways are better than God’s ways? Unfortunately, I think we are, but we don’t have to be.
Here is where I admit that I purposefully have stayed away from all politics because I have felt that I am too uneducated on the issues and on the history behind them. I have stayed silent and shied away from even attempting to learn more. I was wrong to do that, especially since I see now that this is a more spiritual battle than I previously thought. I saw a post from a friend the other day that surprised me, it made me realize that I needed to watch what was going on for myself and really educate myself on the matters at hand. I started by watching the last debate and I was appalled. I’ve spent my time since then researching, and I am still appalled, how have we come this far? I’m pretty sure that in the past we wouldn’t have watched a candidate openly support something as horrific as a partial birth abortion without seriously questioning it, at least I hope we wouldn’t have.
I honestly had to look up what a partial birth abortion was, believe me, I have shed many tears in the past few days researching this subject. Hillary agreed that she thought this was acceptable up until the “last day” of a pregnancy in cases where the mother’s health was in question. After learning more about this, I can assure you that there are no cases where “in the last days” the mother’s health can be benefited by this procedure, as it involves birthing most of her child, then destroying and suctioning out, his/her brain and then crushing their skull before pulling them out the rest of the way out of the mother. The only reason the child is killed inside the mother at this point in gestation is that it would be “considered murder” if the whole baby were outside the mother. In cases where this would happen on the “last day” or even a few weeks before the last day, the baby is referred to as “viable” and could most likely (depending upon the week of gestation) survive outside the womb. There is no reason a mother’s health would be benefitted more by crushing her child’s skull inside of her than she would by just birthing a pre-term baby and allowing that child a chance to live, even if it is a small chance.
I looked up the statistics on partial birth abortions before the ban, 80% done by the main doctor that performed them were elective and not done for medical reasons at all. Of the 20% that said they were done for medical reasons most were for depression (22%). My personal thought on this is that “terminating a pregnancy” has the extreme chance to not only hormonally make the depression worse, but to also increase it through the years with the compounded guilt and shame that come with abortion (that is a whole other topic). 16% were "for conditions consistent with the birth of a normal child (e.g., sickle cell trait, prolapsed uterus, small pelvis). Those were the medical conditions of the mothers that ended pregnancies in partial birth abortion. I personally attended the beginning of a birth where a mother had a small pelvis and therefore could not vaginally deliver her child. She ended up having a c-section and both mother and child are alive and well today. I believe there are other options besides abortion.
As far as medical “complications” in the babies, here is the list:
“Twenty-four were done for cystic hydroma (a benign lymphatic mass, usually treatable in a child of normal intelligence). Nine were done for cleft lip-palate syndrome. Other reasons included cystic fibrosis and duodenal atresia (surgically correctable, but many children with this problem are moderately mentally retarded). In fact, most of the partial-birth abortions in that [McMahon] survey were done for problems that were either surgically correctable or would result in some degree of neurologic or mental impairment, but would not harm the mother. Or they were done for reasons such as: depression, chicken pox, diabetes, vomiting. ["What Constitutes A Quality Life?," Los Angeles Times, Aug. 28, 1996]”
This information was obtained from the article I am linking here, I removed the personal commentary in the article, so it’s not a full quote, look it up here for the whole article: http://www.nrlc.org/archive/abortion/pba/pbafact10.html
As for my own commentary on the above, I have a beloved family member who was born with a cleft palate which did require multiple childhood surgeries. I’m so glad that I wasn’t robbed of her existence and the existence of her precious daughters due to this medical condition. I also know a young boy, who brings joy to many lives who has cystic fibrosis. His life is a constant battle, but he has life and his family and friends are stronger for knowing him and battling alongside him. My own uncle has Down’s Syndrome, which is a “medical condition” I saw in another article that was given as reason for partial birth abortion. I know that my whole family wouldn’t be who we are today without him in our lives. Can I say that he made our lives easier? No, quite the opposite, but he made them more full and I believe that we are capable of more love, more patience, and more understanding because of him. I am so grateful that my grandmother refused to terminate the pregnancy or put him in a home after he was born, as she was counseled to do at the time.
The only reason I mentioned partial birth abortions is that they were what was being talked about at the debate. They are not the majority of abortions, they are just obviously outrageous. I am Pro-Life, regardless of the term of the pregnancy, so I looked up statistics on earlier term abortions as well, they are also heart rending. Here is a statistical website on abortions in the U.S.: http://www.abort73.com/abortion_facts/us_abortion_statistics/
We are often told that we need to have abortion be legal for reasons such as rape and medical problems, but those situations are the smallest percentages for reasons that people give for having abortions. This survey doesn’t account for what the health issues are that prompted these answers, I would be curious to know what the percentage of life threatening health issues would be. Anyway, here are the reasons given:
“ • On average, women give at least 3 reasons for choosing abortion: 3/4 say that having a baby would interfere with work, school or other responsibilities; about 3/4 say they cannot afford a child; and 1/2 say they do not want to be a single parent or are having problems with their husband or partner (AGI).
- Only 12% of women included a physical problem with their health among reasons for having an abortion (NAF).
- One per cent (of aborting women) reported that they were the survivors of rape (NAF).”
Given these reasons, it seems clear to me that instead of legalizing abortion, what we should focus on is providing more (or better) programs that help women either financially during their pregnancy so that adoptions are possible (America is full of couples who cannot conceive themselves but who are longing to adopt a baby), or come alongside women somehow to help them know that they can do this. Killing the baby is not the answer, encouraging and helping the mom is the answer. Killing the baby just promotes giving up when things get hard and giving up in this way does not leave the mother unharmed emotionally or spiritually. I believe that there is healing for this harm, but I don’t think that most women needing it know how to come to God to receive it.
I have a friend who is voting for the candidate who champions abortions because she believes that our greatest responsibility is to help the widows and orphans and somehow, she thinks that this candidate will be able to do that. However, I don’t know if there is a person more qualified to be called an orphan than an unborn child who’s mother feels more hope in killing him/her than letting them live.
We do have an economic problem in America, obviously, but I don’t think that the pro-abortion candidate is the one that can help us, as I believe that the spirit of abortion in America is one of the things that got us to the point we currently find ourselves. I’m not going to try to argue this on economic level, because I just don’t know the history, but I will say on a spiritual level, from what I have discerned from both candidates, Trump has an abundance mentality, whereas I believe that Hillary has a scarcity mentality. This is my opinion based on their statements and actions, both in the past and more recently. This won’t make sense to all of you, but I encourage you to look these terms up. I’ve personally spent years coming out of a scarcity mentality and still have further to go. It’s not easy, for me, it requires faith, some people are gifted with it naturally, most of us are not. I believe that God wants us to have an abundance mentality and that He has been moving through the nation trying to teach us what it is. I’ve heard it from many sources, whether Christian or not, it’s a real thing and it’s powerful.
I will go further and say that a scarcity mentality (opposite of the abundance mentality that we need) goes hand in hand with a spirit of abortion. This spirit convinces us to terminate the things that are difficult in life, whether it’s a pregnancy that would hinder our lifestyle, a marriage that is requiring more work than we thought it would, a job that just seems too hard, even a dream that seems unattainable. It causes us to give up in hopelessness of achieving the desired goal. We need to come against this spirit of abortion in our country and there is only one candidate who wants to do that. We don’t have to respect everything about a person to appreciate their strengths. I believe that Trump does posses a lot of the strengths that our nation needs right now, one of them is the abundance mentality.
There is no perfect candidate in this race, that is obvious, but there is one that has had a lot of financial success in life and in business and he can bring that knowledge and resource to our country. I would say that it starts with a belief of what is possible, even when it can’t be seen in the current circumstance. Trump has the ability to do that. So, if the majority of abortions are happening in our country because of a sense of hopelessness (whether economic or in general), then let’s put someone in office who aspires to give us hope, who aspires to make, “America Great Again”. Not only that, but someone who will put Justices in place that are committed to fighting for our unborn children.
Abortion is not just a small issue that only affects the people who have unwanted pregnancies, it is an overarching, spiritual issue that has taken our country by storm. It is attack against us from an enemy that we cannot see but that we have let influence our minds and beliefs and it is destroying us from within. Let us not continue to throw God out of America, instead, let’s turn back to Him by choosing life. “19This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Deut. 30:19-20