Don’t Be Me
In June of 2022 Roe V Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court. Whether you celebrated or despaired over the decision, the general belief was that it would stop abortions in the United States.
Headlines about it said things like, “Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, ending right to abortion for decades” (npr Newsletter, June 22, 2022[i]). President Biden called it “the taking away of a constitutional right that is so fundamental to many Americans.” Nancy Pelosi said it was, “a slap in the face to women about using their own judgment about their reproductive freedom.” Protesters said they had taken away liberty.
The general misunderstanding was that this was going to affect the accessibility of women to abortions “in large swaths of the country.” Two and half years later, it is obvious that they were wrong.
With the availability of medicinal and surgical abortions, there is no lack of places for women to go to kill their unwanted children. In spite of the fact that some states are limiting abortions, the numbers have actually gone up since the ruling on Roe v Wade.
Sadly, many of the women and their “rides” who show up for abortions claim to be Christians. What is being taught in our churches?
After coming to faith in Christ in my late thirties we were in a church that allowed the local crisis pregnancy center to come once a year and describe their ministry. We filled baby bottles with coins and felt we had done our fair share.
Even when approached about it, I would say out loud, “Abortion isn’t really my issue.” Looking back I’m ashamed of that but at the time, no one in my church was teaching about it. I had, as an unbeliever, thought that the medical community and elected officials must know what they’re doing (ay, yi, yi! How could I have been so naïve?) and after my coming to faith, the more mature Christians around me were silent.
We left that church for unrelated reasons and went to one that takes the whole issue of abortion very seriously! The Lord sent an abolitionist couple to our congregation. They challenged my thinking and because it sounded too radical to me, the Lord sent more access to more teaching. Russell Hunter was invited to speak to our church. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtHf7zFac2c&t=20s)
Mr. Hunter goes to scripture and in no uncertain terms spells out God’s Word that leaves us with no wiggle room; the Bible calls killing of babies in the womb murder and the shedding of innocent blood. In fact, the complacent attitude I had was as much an abomination to God as the abortion, as I sat silently (thinking it’s not my issue) and allowed truly the most innocent blood to be shed in the land in which I lived.
I could see that I could be accused of being an accessory to murder because I knew it was happening and said nothing. My fear is that there are many Christians sitting in the local assemblies who have the same apathetic attitude that I once had.
In 2023 (there are no numbers yet for 2024) there were 1,037.000 child sacrifices in the form of abortion in the United States. This is reported to be an 11% increase since 2020.[ii]
With this many abortions in a year, we are at risk of drowning in a sea of innocent blood in our nation. This is not a time for Christians to think that it’s someone else’s issue or that we can be silent because we don’t have the power to change the laws, even though we do not, but God can do as He wills.
We do, however, have a responsibility to do what we can to speak up and attempt to rescue the babies “stumbling to slaughter.” And, we must educate the Church of Jesus Christ so more people can hear the truth of the premeditated murder that it is. It cannot be a forbidden topic to talk about to our kids.
Deliver those who are drawn toward death, And hold back those stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, “Surely we did not know this,” Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to each man according to his deeds? Proverbs 24:11-12
Please, do not be apathetic as I was – be an abolitionist, teach others that abortion is murder and we are watching it without even attempting to stop it.
[i] https://www.npr.org/2022/06/24/1102305878/supreme-court-abortion-roe-v-wade-decision-overturn
[ii] https://www.guttmacher.org/2024/03/despite-bans-number-abortions-united-states-increased-2023
Beth,
I have had the most success in pointing out to the local authorities that there is a difference between a “legal right” and a “moral right.”
Most will defend their “legal right” to an abortion by saying I have a legal right because I have a legal right. But the question is, do you have a moral right, and if you do who gives you this right? Rights are granted by someone, so who grants a woman the right to an abortion?
You cannot grant yourself the right to an abortion. These pro-abortion and pro-choice elected officials ought to be able to state where the right to abortion comes from.
When pressed these officials have to admit their claim of this right to abortion is based on personal preference. They want to be able to choose. It is one thing to say I want to choose and abortion it another thing to say I have been granted the right to choose.
This all comes from a relativist worldview. No one in a relativistic society has the right to impose his standards on someone else. Why not? Because everything is relative to each individual. In the end, you have a right to an abortion because morality itself is relative in a pluralistic society.
Pluralism not only says that all views of morality are equally acceptable under the law but that all different views are equally valid and lawful. in which case truth itself is destroyed. If anything and everything can be equally valid then truth itself is impossible and the word “truth” has lost all meaning. And, if truth has lost all meaning then life itself becomes an effort in futility.
Two conflicting views of truth cannot both be true at the same time because they conflict with one another. They could both be wrong but never could both conflicting views be right in the areas in which they differ.
This relativist worldview throws society into a state of chaos and how can we continue to live in chaos when conflicting views are to be accepted as equally true.