Saving babies

Tomorrow I will wake up and head to a local park to walk with hundreds of other supporters of A Women’s Pregnancy Center.  I am excited to take part in the walk and show my support for a place women can turn in times of crisis.  I want to financially help keep open facilities where women can go to lean on the shoulder of someone who will promote the good news that there is hope and grace even in the midst of struggle and shame.

I have found myself very focused on the subject of abortion this week.  It must be because this walk has been on my mind.  I don’t seek out controversy and so this subject rarely comes up with anyone whom I think might have differing opinions than me.  I know that is the coward’s path, and that it is not pleasing to God, so I wanted to write down some of the strong thoughts I have had this week and hopefully by virtue of doing so I will be better prepared for a conversation should the opportunity present itself.

The most dominant thought for me has been an argument for accountability.  As a child we (well, most of us) learn that if we take something from a store we are going to have to return it and apologize.  We learn that we will face more serious consequences if we do that when we are older – so we learn not to steal.  In school we learn that if we cheat on an exam we will get a zero and that might cause us to fail the class – so we learn not to cheat.  From all kinds of places we learn the dangers of drinking and driving and that if we selfishly still choose to engage in this behavior and get caught we will suffer very severe penalties – so most of us don’t drink and drive.  Obviously there are a ton more examples, but the point is, we understand that there are true consequences for our actions.  Abortion being a form of birth control creates a consequences loop-hole that way too many people take advantage of.  Just like you should not steal unless you are prepared to go to jail and you should not cheat unless you are prepared to fail and you should not drink and drive unless you are prepared to lose your license and possibly your life (or someone elses), you should not have sex unless you are willing to be a parent.  I know that is very simplistic and naive in some ways – but it really is that simple.  Sex was not created for recreation but for procreation.  God did give us a beautiful and pleasurable act, but he never intended for it to result in the murder of millions of babies.

I don’t know what the exact statistics are on abortions that are performed after rape or incest, but my hunch is that is a very small number.  I am not in favor of that option being eliminated.  I do believe however, that even a baby created in such a way, if given the chance to be born, would be a gift!   Not aborting that baby would give God the opportunity to do what he loves to do – turn all things to good.