Issues I must address - Abortion

Greetings Dear Reader,

I realize that I am about to hit a hornets nest with a stick and then just stand there.  Please remember that I am not telling anyone else how to live but rather speaking about my own thoughts on an issue.  I am not going to ask anyone else to change his or her mind.  I am going to explain why I think that we have a terrible problem here.

I recently read an excellently reasoned article concerning the simple reasons why being pro-choice is a violation of human rights.  The article, The Abortion Debate: A Reasoned, Scientific Pro-Life Argument avoided emotion and rhetoric by presenting a simple syllogistic argument for disallowing abortions.

This argument alone is reason enough for me to be pro-life.  If there is a chance that abortion takes a human life without it being guilty of anything and without its consent, should I not err on the side of protecting that life?  I realize that there are things like ectopic pregnancies that justify the ending of a pregnancy.  One cannot apply a position with a broad stroke that ignores the genuine need of another.  That, however, does not mean that the “right” to choose negates another human’s right to life.

I must also address the issue of what is a right and what is not.  I am sure that we can raise situational arguments such as assault and incest that would be exceptions to the rule but how did avoiding consequences become a right?  I do not mean consequences in terms of negative outcomes but rather in the literal sense of that witch naturally follows; that which comes in sequence.  Since our science gives us very successful forms of contraception (I do not believe that this is wrong) failure to use them has natural consequences.  Since contraception can be applied in multiple layers one can make the possibility of conception statistically improbable.  The choice not to do so has a binary consequence: One conceives or one does not.  If one conceives how is it a right to avoid this consequence at the cost of another human life?

Again, I can hear the hornets buzzing with emotional arguments about body, rights, and lifestyle but can we truly say it is not a matter of choosing to avoid the consequence of another choice?  

If the aforementioned article’s reasoning is not enough for me then the simple math is.  I am going to be very conservative with these numbers so that I am not accidentally dishonest.  What this means is in every case I have rounded down.  As I ponder this whenever I think about the issue of abortion the weight of it crushes me.  Please honestly think about these numbers.

65 – Average life expectancy of someone born in the USA

40 million – Legal abortions since Roe versus Wade

2.4 Billion – Years of potential life destroyed by a choice

How many lives do we take before it is considered genocide?  One can be as emotional or non-emotional as one wishes over an issue but the numbers alone give me pause.  As I ponder the number 2,400,000,000 I wonder what we have lost along with those lives.  Were a nation to kill 40 million toddlers, teens, or adults systematically I believe there would be a much louder outcry against it. 

I would be remiss if I did not address my fellow believers in this issue.  Again the Church does not do enough to provide kind, safe, and respectful alternatives.  I am not saying it does nothing, but instead of attacking those who make this choice we must provide for the needs of those about to make.  If we do not offer an alternative that is viable and loving then we must not demand that someone face the issue unsupported.

I am not asking anyone else to change what he or she thinks.  I am simply explaining why I feel that aborting a child before birth is an illogical and homicidal choice.  We are so bipolar on this issue.  We have seen people tried for two counts of murder when they have killed an expectant mother.  How can they be guilty of murder when the mother could have chosen to end the pregnancy if she wished?  I cannot help but think that just as we are quietly disposing of millions of humans in sterile clinics and operating rooms we are also disposing of the humanity that is so vital to our survival as a free society.  

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."