In this age of trends, buzzwords and memes we Americans are eager to show what we believe in ways that often fail to think through what we are really saying. I recently saw a bumper sticker that read “Protect Abortion Rights-Don’t Criminalize Women.” The ideas, presuppositions, and implications in those six words are powerful. They reflect the zeitgeist of our time. I am distressed at the way we, as supposed “enlightened” and “educated” people, have succumbed to such shallow thinking, careless logic and complete moral blindness.
Let’s pull apart the thoughts in this bumper banner. The well-coifed and immaculately groomed driver of the upscale (and upsized) SUV is shouting at every driver and passerby what she believes. I daresay it is likely she has never thought through the implications of what she is saying.
The “right” to an abortion is a legal perversion of our time. When a child is conceived, sexual intercourse has taken place. With very rare exception (rape or incest) these interactions have been a CHOICE for the parties involved. Each partner has consented to an act in which human beings have engaged since the beginning of time with the full knowledge that the conception of a human child is a possible or even likely outcome. Until very recently in human history the taking of the life of an unborn or newly born child was considered murder. Our society has thrown off the “shackles” of admitting we live under the Creator who has declared the taking of human life a heinous moral wrong. (One of the 10 Commandments: Thou shalt not kill. Exodus 20:13) As a result our lowest, twisted moral selves have legally sanctioned self-indulgent and irresponsible behavior and even called the evil of murdering the weakest and most defenseless of us “good.”
The couple who CHOOSE to have sex which results in pregnancy can CHOOSE to carry the baby to term. Then, in a few days or months, if they find the baby is inconvenient or not perfect, they can CHOOSE to “terminate” it. “WAIT!” you cry. “That’s murder!” Yes. So what is the difference? What makes killing a baby who is 9 weeks from conception different from one that is 9 months and one hour from birth and one who is 9 years old? Absolutely nothing except time, nutrition and location.
We “enlightened” and “educated” people of the 21st century have taken leave of our sense. We have abandoned our God-given conscience regarding life and the moral imperative for its preservation.
Consider that bumper sticker: “Don’t Criminalize Women.” Why not? If a woman CHOOSES to murder her child, why not recognize she has committed a criminal act? She has violated what humans have known for millennia: the unborn child is a living human being. The “tissue” in a woman’s womb, from the moment egg and sperm unite, is a living being created in God’s image. That “unwanted” or “inconvenient” child did not CHOOSE to be conceived. We “already-born” “former fetuses” have the obligation to CHOOSE to care for those we conceive. Self-indulgence may run headlong into personal responsibility and “Adulting” may be hard, but there are so many resources and ways to deal with “mistakes” or “problems” that none has an excuse worthy of murder.
QUESTION: What do you believe? Are you giving thought to what is behind the clever saying you posted or “liked” on Facebook? Is it morally true?