Abortion Part 6

These following questions go hand-in-hand and they also bring us to where the emotional rubber meets the road for most people and I completely understand why. However, the Bible actually has much to say about the value of all life, even unborn life, as we have seen throughout the past blogs.

Question #5: Should we allow abortion in the case of rape or incest?

First, I think we should look at the statistics of why women have abortions (These statistics are given by the research arm of Planned Parenthood and are several years old, but all research indicates that these statistics stay relatively consistent from year to year):
- 76% concerned by how the baby would change their life.
- 68% said they could not afford a baby right now.
- 51% problems with relationships or desire to avoid single parenthood.
- 31% I am not ready for the responsibility
- 31% I don’t want people to know that I have had sex or that I’m pregnant.
- 30% Not mature enough
- 26% Have all the children I want or my kids are grown
- 23% my husband or partner wants me to have the abortion
- 13% The fetus could have health problems
- 7% I have a health problem
- 7% My parents want me to have the abortion
- 1% victim of rape or incest
You might rightly ask at this point, “So, what about the one percent who are victims of rape or incest?” I answer with a passage from Deuteronomy 24:16: Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children be put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin. Sin in the life of a father (i.e. a man raping a woman causing her to become pregnant) has no bearing on the child according to Scripture. As heinous as acts of rape or incest are, these sins do not in any way devalue the life that results! Which one of you after finding out that your father forced himself on your mother in conceiving you would conclude that your life is unworthy of being lived?

Question #6: Should we allow abortion when the pregnancy or birth may cause harm to the mother?

The issue of harm to the mother follows the same logic that I offered in question #5 above. The law currently states that a woman can have an abortion in the first three months of pregnancy for any reason when there is agreement between the woman and the doctor. Then, in the second three months the state usually controls where the abortion will happen. A woman can still have an abortion for any reason but it must happen at a hospital. In the final three months are usually only allowed in order to protect the life or health of the mother. This seems to limit the mother’s ability to have an abortion in the third trimester until we look at what the legal definition is of “protecting the health of the mother:” any factor which might damage the woman physically, socially, or psychologically.” The word “might” is enough to make any perceived limitations practically non-existent, but then the law adds the possibility of injury to a woman’s “social or psychological health” as a factor in determining the viability and legality of late-term abortions. So, in practice, the law allows for abortions for any reason and for no reason even in the third trimester.

Dr. C. Everet Coop, the former surgeon general of the United States, said in thirty six years of pediatric practice he did not he did not encounter one single case where the mother’s life was in danger. This helps us understand the miniscule percentage of abortion cases that result from true physical harm to the mother, but again, the question is rightly asked, “So, what about those few mothers who are in danger of serious physical harm or death?” To this question, I answer with a question, “What mother or father of a child would not give their life for their son or daughter?”

Question #7: Should we allow abortion in cases where the child may have severe disabilities?

Women go to their physicians every day in this country, test their unborn baby for Down syndrome, get a positive result back and choose to abort the child. Some would be quick to say, “What if the tests are wrong! What if the baby’s perfectly healthy!” Although this sound to some like a good argument, it is truly beside the point. I ask, “What if the baby is born healthy and three months later he or she is diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy?” Do we euthanize our sick and diseased? No!

In Exodus 4:11, the Lord Himself asks, “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord?” We look at disabilities from our human perspective and say “oops.” God, though, never says “oops.” God always has a redemptive purpose in everything that he allows on this earth. Do we trust him?

We label these children with diseases “dis-abled.” How many “abilities” must a human being lack before their life has no value? Deciding which lives have value or are worthy to be lived is a very slippery slope. A person who concludes that any life that inconveniences their life is dispensable is morally bankrupt.

Your turn…

Carpe Deum! (Seize God!)
Todd Phillips
www.frontline.to
www.toddphillips.net