The Issue That Won't Go Away

There are two moral and political issues that we could include under the "issues that won't go away" title. The first is abortion, the second is homosexuality. This post will focus on the abortion issue.

I just finished reading an excerpt from an upcoming book by Jane Chastain, titled "Abortion, the Bible and the Church." You can go to WorldNetDaily to read the entire article, however, for this post I want to concentrate on the following portion.

Quote from article:

"Abortion is an issue fought by the religious right and championed by the religious left. Who are these people and where do most people of faith fit in? Most remain mired in the mushy middle. This is a dangerous place to be because it is moral quicksand.

When it comes to the issue of abortion, Christians can be divided into two categories: those who have carefully examined the issue, biblically and scientifically, and those who have not.

Those who have not fall into these five sub-categories:

Those who maintain the Bible is silent on this issue

Those who accept only certain portions of the Bible as true

Those who choose to believe that a pregnancy is nothing more than a glob of tissue – a collection of cells – which can be swept away at will

Those who maintain that, because it is a political issue, the church can't touch it – therefore, there is no need to spend valuable time looking into it

Those who find it simply too painful to examine because they already have participated in a decision to end a life

Roe v. Wade was handed down in 1973, before ultrasound imagining and fiber optics gave us a window to the womb. It was based on a "world is flat" theory. This is why the left is so nervous about this issue and willing to go to extremes to have only political ideologues pledged to defend Roe – not the Constitution – appointed to the Supreme Court.

James Madison, the primary author of our Constitution, said:

"We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government; upon the capacity of each of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.

The Sixth Commandment is "You shall not murder." The broad definition of murder is the intentional killing of an innocent human being."

It now is an accepted scientific fact that a "fetus" is alive, human and unique. Most atheists have no problem dealing with the truth of abortion because, in their economy, life, or at least some life, really isn't worth much. It's survival of the fittest.

In 1985, a mere 12 years after Roe, Newsweek magazine devoted much of its Jan. 14 issue to a special report, "America's Abortion Dilemma." It states, "It is one thing for the born to recognize the unborn as human; however, and quite another for society to vest them with moral or legal rights as persons."

Virginia Abernethy of Vanderbilt University's School of Medicine said, "I don't think abortion is ever wrong. As long as an individual is completely dependent upon the mother, it's not a person."

Newsweek pointed out that this view is shared by other pro-choice theorists, who believe that an individual becomes a person only when he or she becomes a responsible moral agent – around three or four in Abernethy's judgment. Until then, Abernethy thinks infants – like fetuses – are nonpersons. She believes that defective children, such as those with Down's syndrome, may never become persons. "The claim they have on persons," Abernethy says, "is compassion, not a moral right to life."

The left isn't anxious to publicly defend this extreme position because it is politically untenable. That is why the issue is framed as one of "privacy" or "civil rights."

Today in America, 85 percent of us self-identify as Christians. However, it is the 9 percent of self-professed atheists who rule this issue.

Why?

Atheists aren't afraid to look at the facts, while the vast majority of the people in churches simply refuse to look."

End of quote.

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As was very evident in my blog post, "Dilemma at the Checkout Stand", emotions run very high on this issue.

I have lost friends and acquaintances over this issue. I have endured the scorn and condemnation of fellow Christians because of this issue. I have had discussions with non-Christians on this issue and some have been very meaningful and heartfelt, while others ended up in an explosion of anger.

Why is this so? What makes this issue so volatile, argumentative , divisive and fills people with rage?

I think that the following quote from the article says a lot:

"Newsweek pointed out that this view is shared by other pro-choice theorists, who believe that an individual becomes a person only when he or she becomes a responsible moral agent – around three or four in Abernethy's judgment. Until then, Abernethy thinks infants – like fetuses – are nonpersons. She believes that defective children, such as those with Down's syndrome, may never become persons. "The claim they have on persons," Abernethy says, "is compassion, not a moral right to life."

I would extend this "compassion" argument even further. I would say that the left, pro-abortion advocates believe that they are taking the moral high ground (so to speak) by being compassionate towards the woman who seeks an abortion in order to get out of the dilemma she has brought herself into (with the help of the impregnator, mind you) and THIS "need" of hers outweighs any other need (e.g. the unborn child's helplessness, no voice to articulate that he/she WANTS to live) purpose, or moral view that would trump what she can do 'with her own body'.

My view is that a woman who gets pregnant LOSES that right to do 'with her own body' what she wills. That life inside of her is NOT part of her body, it is separate and will become (if allowed) a life of his/her own when ready to leave that body.

With all of the birth control available today, there really is no reason to have to use abortion as a 'too late' birth control method. As I stated in my last post, there can be exceptions such as dangerous ectopic pregnancies, the mother would die, rape and incest. But 98% of abortions are NOT done for any of those reasons.

In 1973, I remember hearing the supporters of Roe vs. Wade saying that legalized abortion will be, "the lesser of two evils". They also said that they wanted to make abortion safe, legal and rare. They got the legal part, but safe and rare are lies.

It is fatal to the baby, of course, but statistics are now showing how botched abortions are taking the choice and ability for women to have future children away from them as well as the ultimate tragedy of death for women who's abortions have gone wrong. Also, go to Botched abortion survivors

and read about abortion survivors.

Also, look at the mental anguish of those who have regretted having an abortion.
Regretting That Abortion


Abortion is not safe.

Rare?

Since Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion in all 50 states in 1973, over 47,964,944 (the number as of 10/6/05 at 10:15 a.m. Pacific time) babies have been killed. Go to this site to see the amount of abortions that have been added to this total since my post.

Survivors of the abortion holocaust

That is a website set up by children who were born since legalized abortion and consider themselves survivors of the abortion holocaust.

Their website page states:

"Survivors is a Christian, Pro-life activism organization designed to both educate and activate High School and College age individuals.

If you were born after 1972, we challenge you to consider yourself a Survivor of the Abortion Holocaust. It's time to take an active stand on behalf of those that have already been lost and for those scheduled to die."